Cato the Younger

It was approved of by the two Lucullai, by Marcus Crassus, by Quintus Hortensius, by Gaius Curio, by Gaius Piso, by Marcus Glabrio, by Marcus Lepidus, by Lucius Volcatius, by Gaius Figulus, by Decimus Silanus, by Lucius Marena, who at that time were the consuls elect.

The same consulship, which was also approved of by those men of consular rank, was approved of by Marcus Cato, who escaped many evils by departing from this life, and especially the evil of seeing you consul.

But above all, my consulship was approved of by Gnaeus Pompeius, who, when he first saw me, as he was leaving Syria, embracing me and congratulating me, said that it was owing to my services that he was about to see his country again.

But why should I mention individuals? It was approved of by the Senate, in a very full house, so completely that there was no one who did not thank me as if I had been his parent, who did not attribute to me the salvation of his life, of his fortunes, of his children, and of the republic.

But if fortune had not taken from us not only Servius Sopicius, and before him his colleague Marcus Marcellus, what citizens, what men, if the republic had been able to retain the two consuls, men most devoted to their country, who were driven together out of Italy, and Lucius Afranius, that consummate general, and Publius Lentulus, a citizen who displayed his extraordinary virtue on other occasions, and especially in securing my safe return, and Bibulus, whose constant and firm attachment to the republic has at all times been deservedly praised, and Lucius Domitius, that most excellent citizen, and Appius Claudius, a man equally distinguished for nobleness of birth and for attachment to the senate, and Publius Scipio, a most illustrious man, closely resembling his ancestors.

Certainly with these men of consular rank the senate which supported Pompeius was not to be despised.

Which, then, was more just, which was more advantageous for the republic, that Gnaeus Pompeius, or that Antonius, the brother who bought all Pompeius' property, should live? And then what men of praetorian rank were there with us, the chief of whom was Marcus Cato, being indeed the chief men of any nation in the world for virtue.

Why need I speak of the other most illustrious men? You know them all.

Apollo, unable to recall his rash gift, yet enraged to be outwitted by a girl, annexed this penalty to it.

that though she should always prophesy true she should never be believed whence her divinations were always slighted even when she again and again predicted the ruin of her country explanation this fable seems invented to express the insignificance of unseasonable advice for they who are conceited stubborn and intractable and listen not to the instructions of apollo the god of harmony so as to learn and observe the modulations and measures of affairs the sharps and flats of discourse the difference between judicious and vulgar ears and the proper times of speech and silence let them be ever so intelligent and ever so frank of their advice or their counsels ever so good and just yet all their endeavours either of persuasion or force are of little significance and rather hasten the ruin of those they advise but at last when the calamitous event has made the sufferers feel the effect of their neglect they too late reverence their advisers as deep foreseeing and faithful prophets of this we have a remarkable instance in cato of utica who discovered afar off and long foretold the approaching ruin of his country both in the first conspiracy and as it was prosecuted in the civil war between caesar and pompey yet did no good the while but rather hurt the commonwealth and hurried on its destruction which cicero wisely observed with these words cato indeed judges excellently but prejudices the state for he speaks as in the commonwealth of plato and not as in the dregs of Romulus.

the wisdom of the ancients a series of mythological fables by francis bacon typhon or the rebel explained of rebellion the fable runs that juno enraged at jupiter's bringing forth pallas without her assistance incessantly solicited all the gods and goddesses that she might produce without jupiter and having by violence and importunity obtained the grant she struck the earth and thence immediately sprung up typhon a huge and dreadful monster whom she committed to the nursing of a serpent as soon as he was grown up this monster waged war on jupiter and taking him prisoner in the battle carried him away on his shoulders into a remote and obscure quarter and there cutting out the sinews of his hands and feet he bore them off leaving jupiter behind miserably maimed and mangled but mercury afterwards stole these sinews from typhon and restored them to jupiter hence recovering his strength jupiter again pursues the monster first wounds him with the stroke of his thunder when serpents arose from the blood of the wound and now the monster being dismayed and taken to flight jupiter next darted mount etna upon him and crushed him with the weight explanation this fable seems designed to express the various fates of kings and the turns that rebellion sometimes take in kingdoms for princes may be justly esteemed married to their states as jupiter to juno but it sometimes happens that being depraved by long wielding of the sceptre and growing tyrannical they would engross all to themselves and slighting the counsel of their senators and nobles conceived by themselves that is govern according to their own arbitrary will and pleasure this inflames the people and makes them endeavour to create and set up some head of their own such designs are generally set on foot by the secret motion and instigation of the peers and nobles under whose connivance the common sort are prepared for rising whence proceeds a swell in the state which is appositely denoted by the nursing of typhon this growing posture of affairs is fed by the natural depravity and malignant dispositions of the vulgar which to kings is an envenomed serpent and now the disaffected uniting their force at length break out into open rebellion which producing infinite mischiefs both to prince and people is represented by the horrid and multiplied deformity of typhon with his hundred heads denoting the divided powers his flaming mouths denoting fire and devastation his girdles of snakes denoting sieges and destruction his iron hands slaughter and cruelty his eagle talons rapine and plunder his plumed body perpetual rumors contradictory accounts c and sometimes these rebellions grow so high that kings are obliged, as if carried on the backs of the rebels, to quit the throne and retire to some remote and obscure part of their dominions, with the loss of their sinews, both of money and majesty.

But if now they prudently bear this reverse of fortune, they may in a short time by the assistance of Mercury recover their sinews again, that is by becoming moderate and affable reconciling the minds and affections of the people to them by gracious speeches and prudent proclamations which will win over the subject cheerfully to afford new aids and supplies and add fresh vigor to authority but prudent and wary princes here seldom incline to try fortune by a war yet to their utmost by some grand exploit to crush the reputation of the rebels and if the attempt succeeds the rebels conscious of the wound received and distrustful of their cause first betake themselves to broken and empty threats like the hissings of serpents and next when matters are grown desperate to flight and now when they thus begin to shrink, it is safe and seasonable for kings to pursue them with their forces, and the whole strength of the kingdom, thus effectually quashing and suppressing them, as if it were by the weight of a mountain.