Marcus Porcius Cato

Enrica Sciarrino (University of Canterbury)

Ed. by Thomas Habinek, University of Southern California
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.2: Ancient Roman Writing and Culture (Republic and Empire), -750-476.
Vol. editors: William John Dominik (University of Otago), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Thomas Habinek (University of Southern California), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Sophia Papaioannou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Jula Wildberger (The American University of Paris)

Dates

Born -234
Died -149
Activity -204--149

Places

Born in Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire)
Active in Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire)

Activities

Primary

Essayist
Historian / Chronicler

Resources

Marcus Porcius Cato also known as “Cato the Censor” and “Cato the Elder” was one of the most prominent figures in the political and cultural life of Rome in the first half of the second century BC. Although he came from a family that lacked a history of political achievements, Cato was able to achieve the highest offices by appealing to ancestral virtues. He is often remembered for his hostility to Greek learning and poetic practices, but he is also considered the virtual founder of Latin prose literature.

Cato was born in 234 BC at Tusculum fifteen miles south of Rome in the Sabine country. Thanks to the support and patronage of L. Valerius Flaccus, Cato embarked on a career in public life by achieving in 204 BC the …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1599 words

Citation: Sciarrino, Enrica. "Marcus Porcius Cato". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 September 2007 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=789, accessed 21 November 2024.]

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here