Character Analysis: Cato The Elder

Cato the Elder
By: Plutarch

The Plutarch basically says that Cato's family background was great. That he came from a good stock of men. The Plutarch says, " his grandfather, Cato, often won prizes for soldierly valour, and received from the state treasury, because of his bravery, the price of five horses which had been killed under him in battle. " This explains the kind of family that Cato came from. His grandfather was a much respected soldier. The Plutarch also says, " His ancestors commonly passed for men of no note whatever, but Cato himself extols his father, Marcus, as a brave man and good soldier." His men ancestors have been great men in the past, yet Cato want to be like his dad who was a brave man and a great soldier. The Plutarch…show more content…
Almost all of the public officials stood against him in jealousy. The other seven campaigners tried everything they could to get into office while Cato simply said, " that the city had need of a great purification. He adjured the people, if they were wise, not to choose the most agreeable physician, but the one who was most in earnest. He himself, he said, was such a physician, and so was Valerius Flaccus, of the patricians." Cato said called out all of the wrongdoers and said that it was time for a change for the better. The people did not fear what Cato had said, and listened to him, but tuned out all of the lies from the other candidates. Cato won the election and became censor. Cato was a very strict ruler, he fired many consuls because of various questionable acts. He set taxes on the rich and regulated the water pipes in each house. Even though he was a strict leader the people still seemed to love him. They respected him a…show more content…
Cato was there every time his wife gave his son a bath. Plutarch says' " Cato thought it not right, as he tells us himself, that his son should be scolded by a slave, or have his ears tweaked when he was slow to learn, still less that he should be indebted to his slave for such a priceless thing as education. He was therefore himself not only the boys' reading-teacher, but his tutor in law, and his athletic trainer, and he taught his son not merely to hurl the javelin and fight in armor and ride the horse, but also to box, to endure heat and cold, and to swim lustily through the eddies and billows of the Tiber." Cato believed such things as mentioned above should be done by the boy's father and no one else. For it’s the fathers job to raise his son properly. Cato mocked Greek learning and culture. He disliked the Greek culture and even their philosophers. He also believed the Greek physicians had it out for him and his countrymen. Cato was said to have caused the destruction of Carthage. He went to mediate an argument between the two countries and saw that carthage was rising like they once had and road back to Rome and said he thought they needed to be defeated, before they became too powerful. They were already