§16.1τῆς δʼ ὑπατείας κατόπιν ἔτεσι δέκα τιμητείαν ὁ Κάτων παρήγγειλε.
Ten years after his consulship, Cato sued for the censorship.
κορυφὴ δέ τίς ἐστι τιμῆς ἁπάσης ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τρόπον τινὰ τῆς πολιτείας ἐπιτελείωσις, ἄλλην τε πολλὴν ἐξουσίαν ἔχουσα καὶ τὴν περὶ τὰ ἤθη καὶ τοὺς βίους ἐξέτασιν.
This office was the summit of all honor and, in a way, the consummation of political life, holding other vast powers and especially the examination of morals and modes of life.
οὔτε γὰρ γάμον οὔτε παιδοποιίαν τινὸς οὔτε δίαιταν οὔτε συμπόσιον ᾤοντο δεῖν ἄκριτον καὶ ἀνεξέταστον, ὡς ἕκαστος ἐπιθυμίας ἔχοι καὶ προαιρέσεως, ἀφεῖσθαι.
For they did not think that anyone's marriage, procreation, daily life, or banquets should be left unregulated and unexamined, according to each man's pleasure and preference.
§16.2πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον ἐν τούτοις νομίζοντες ἡ ταῖς ὑπαίθροις καὶ πολιτικαῖς πράξεσι τρόπον ἀνδρὸς ἐνορᾶσθαι, φύλακα καὶ σωφρονιστὴν καὶ κολαστὴν τοῦ μηδένα καθʼ ἡδονὰς ἐκτρέπεσθαι καὶ παρεκβαίνειν τὸν ἐπιχώριον καὶ συνήθη βίον ᾑροῦντο τῶν καλουμένων πατρικίων ἕνα καὶ τῶν δημοτικῶν ἕνα.
Believing rather that a man's character is seen in these things much more than in his public and political actions, they chose, as a guardian, corrector, and chastiser to prevent anyone from turning aside to pleasures and departing from the ancestral and customary way of life, one from the so-called patricians and one from the plebeians.
τιμητὰς δὲ τούτους προσηγόρευον, ἐξουσίαν ἔχοντας ἀφελέσθαι μὲν ἵππον, ἐκβαλεῖν δὲ συγκλήτου τὸν ἀκολάστως βιοῦντα καὶ ἀτάκτως.
These they called censors, who had the power to take away a horse, or to expel from the senate anyone who lived dissolutely and disorderly.
§16.3οὗτοι δὲ καὶ τὰ τιμήματα τῶν οὐσιῶν λαμβάνοντες ἐπεσκόπουν, καὶ ταῖς ἀπογραφαῖς τὰ γένη καὶ τὰς πολιτείας διέκρινον· ἄλλας τε μεγάλας ἔχει δυνάμεις ἡ ἀρχή.
These men also took the valuations of estates and inspected them, and by their registers distinguished families and civic statuses; and the office had other great powers.
διὸ καὶ τῷ Κάτωνι πρὸς τὴν παραγγελίαν ἀπήντησαν ἐνιστάμενοι σχεδὸν οἱ γνωριμώτατοι καὶ πρῶτοι τῶν συγκλητικῶν.
Wherefore, when Cato sued for the office, almost the most famous and first of the senators met him in opposition.
τοὺς μὲν γὰρ εὐπατρίδας ὁ φθόνος ἐλύπει, παντάπασιν οἰομένους προπηλακίζεσθαι τὴν εὐγένειαν ἀνθρώπων ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ἀδόξων εἰς τὴν ἄκραν τιμὴν καὶ δύναμιν ἀναβιβαζομένων, §16.4οἱ δὲ μοχθηρὰ συνειδότες αὑτοῖς ἐπιτηδεύματα καὶ τῶν πατρίων ἐκδιαίτησιν ἐθῶν ἐφοβοῦντο τὴν αὐστηρίαν τοῦ ἀνδρός, ἀπαραίτητον ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ χαλεπὴν ἐσομένην.
For envy grieved the patricians, who thought that their noble birth was completely insulted if men of undistinguished origin from the beginning should be raised to the highest honor and power, while those who were conscious of their own wicked practices and deviation from ancestral customs feared the severity of the man, which was bound to be inexorable and harsh in power.
διὸ συμφρονήσαντες καὶ παρασκευάσαντες ἑπτὰ κατῆγον ἐπὶ τὴν παραγγελίαν ἀντιπάλους τῷ Κάτωνι, θεραπεύοντας ἐλπίσι χρησταῖς τὸ πλῆθος, ὡς δὴ μαλακῶς καὶ πρὸς ἡδονὴν ἄρχεσθαι δεόμενον.
Therefore, having conspired and prepared, they brought forward seven rivals to Cato for the candidacy, who courted the multitude with fair hopes, as though it stood in need of being ruled gently and for its pleasure.
§16.5τοὐναντίον δʼ ὁ Κάτων οὐδεμίαν ἐνδιδοὺς ἐπιείκειαν, ἀλλʼ ἄντικρυς ἀπειλῶν τε τοῖς πονηροῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ βήματος καὶ κεκραγὼς μεγάλου καθαρμοῦ χρῄζειν τὴν πόλιν, ἠξίου τοὺς πολλοὺς, εἰ σωφρονοῦσι, μὴ τὸν ἥδιστον, ἀλλὰ τὸν σφοδρότατον αἱρεῖσθαι τῶν ἰατρῶν τοῦτον δὲ αὐτὸν εἶναι καὶ τῶν πατρικίων ἕνα Φλάκκον Οὐαλλέριον· μετʼ ἐκείνου γὰρ οἴεσθαι μόνου τὴν τρυφὴν καὶ τὴν μαλακίαν ὥσπερ ὕδραν τέμνων καὶ ἀποκαίων προὔργου τι ποιήσειν, τῶν δʼ ἄλλων ὁρᾶν ἕκαστον ἄρξαι κακῶς βιαζόμενον, ὅτι τοὺς καλῶς ἄρξοντας δέδοικεν.
But Cato, on the contrary, yielding no leniency, but openly threatening the wicked from the rostra and crying out that the city stood in need of a great cleansing, demanded that the people, if they were wise, should choose not the most agreeable but the most severe of physicians; and that this was himself, and Valerius Flaccus, one of the patricians; for with him alone he thought that by cutting off and cauterizing luxury and effeminacy like a hydra he could do some good, whereas he saw that each of the others was striving to rule badly because he feared those who would rule well.
§16.6οὕτω δʼ ἄρα μέγας ἦν ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ μεγάλων ἄξιος δημαγωγῶν ὁ Ῥωμαίων δῆμος, ὥστε μὴ φοβηθῆναι τὴν ἀνάτασιν καὶ τὸν ὄγκον τοῦ ἀνδρός, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἡδεῖς ἐκείνους καὶ πρὸς χάριν ἅπαντα ποιήσειν δοκοῦντας ἀπορρίψας ἑλέσθαι μετὰ τοῦ Κάτωνος τὸν Φλάκκον, ὥσπερ οὐκ αἰτοῦντος ἀρχήν, ἀλλʼ ἄρχοντος ἤδη καὶ προστάττοντος ἀκροώμενος.
So great indeed and truly worthy of great leaders was the Roman people, that they did not fear the threat and gravity of the man, but rejecting those agreeable candidates who seemed likely to do everything for their pleasure, they chose Flaccus along with Cato, listening to him not as one who was asking for office, but as one who was already ruling and commanding.