§8.1μέλλων ποτὲ τὸν Ῥωμαίων δῆμον ὡρμημένον ἀκαίρως ἐπὶ σιτομετρίας καὶ διανομὰς ἀποτρέπειν, ἤρξατο τῶν λόγων οὕτως· χαλεπὸν μέν ἐστιν, ὦ πολῖται, πρὸς γαστέρα λέγειν ὦτα οὐκ ἔχουσαν. Κατηγορῶν δὲ τῆς πολυτελείας ἔφη χαλεπὸν εἶναι σωθῆναι πόλιν, ἐν ᾗ πωλεῖται πλείονος ἰχθὺς ἢ βοῦς.
Once, when he was about to deter the Roman people who were excitedly and untimely bent on grain distributions and doles, he began his speech thus: "It is hard, my fellow-citizens, to speak to a belly that has no ears." And in accusing luxury, he said that it was hard for a city to be saved in which a fish is sold for more than an ox.
§8.2ἐοικέναι δὲ προβάτοις ἔφη τοὺς Ῥωμαίους· ὡς γὰρ ἐκεῖνα καθʼ ἕκαστον μέν οὐ πείθεται, σύμπαντα δʼ ἕπεται μετʼ ἀλλήλων τοῖς ἄγουσιν,
οὕτω καὶ ὑμεῖς,
εἶπεν,
οἷς οὐκ ἂν ἀξιώσαιτε συμβούλοις χρήσασθαι κατʼ ἰδίαν, ὑπὸ τούτων εἰς ἓν συνελθόντες ἄγεσθε. Περὶ δὲ τῆς γυναικοκρατίας διαλεγόμενος
πάντες,
εἶπεν,
ἄνθρωποι τῶν γυναικῶν ἄρχουσιν, ἡμεῖς δὲ πάντων ἀνθρώπων, ἡμῶν δὲ αἱ γυναῖκες. §8.3τοῦτο μέν οὖν ἐστιν ἐκ τῶν Θεμιστοκλέους μετενηνεγμένον ἀποφθεγμάτων, ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ἐπιτάττοντος αὐτῷ πολλὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ διὰ τῆς μητρός
ὦ γύναι,
εἶπεν,
Ἀθηναῖοι μέν ἄρχουσι τῶν Ἑλλήνων, ἐγὼ δὲ Ἀθηναίων, ἐμοῦ δὲ σύ, σοῦ δὲ ὁ υἱός, ὥστε φειδέσθω τῆς ἐξουσίας, διʼ ἣν ἀνόητος ὢν πλεῖστον Ἑλλήνων δύναται. §8.4τὸν δὲ δῆμον ὁ Κάτων ἔφη τῶν Ῥωμαίων οὐ μόνον ταῖς πορφύραις, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασι τὰς τιμὰς ἐπιγράφειν.
He said that the Romans resembled sheep; for just as those, individually, do not obey, but all together follow those who lead them, "so also you," he said, "are led when gathered together by those whom you would not deign to use as advisers in private." And speaking about the rule of women, he said: "All men rule their wives, and we rule all men, but our wives rule us." This, then, has been transferred from the sayings of Themistocles; for when his son was demanding many things of him through his mother, he said: "Wife, the Athenians rule the Greeks, and I rule the Athenians, and you rule me, and your son rules you; therefore let him be sparing of his authority, through which, foolish though he is, he has the greatest power among the Greeks." And Cato said that the Roman people inscribed honors not only on purple robes, but also on pursuits.
ὡς γὰρ οἱ βαφεῖς,
ἔφη,
ταύτην μάλιστα βάπτουσιν, ᾗ χαίροντας ὁρῶσιν, οὕτως οἱ νέοι ταῦτα μανθάνουσι καὶ ζηλοῦσιν, οἷς ἂν ὁ παρʼ ὑμῶν ἔπαινος ἕπηται §8.5παρεκάλει δʼ αὐτούς, εἰμὲν ἀρετῇ καὶ σωφροσύνῃ γεγόνασι μεγάλοι, μηδὲν μεταβάλλεσθαι πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον, εἰ δʼ ἀκρασίᾳ καὶ κακίᾳ, μεταβάλλεσθαι πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον ἱκανῶς γὰρ ἤδη μεγάλους ἀπʼ ἐκείνων γεγονέναι.
"For just as dyers," he said, "most dye that color in which they see people rejoicing, so the young men learn and emulate those things with which praise from you is joined." And he exhorted them, if they had become great by virtue and temperance, not to change at all for the worse, but if by intemperance and vice, to change for the better; for they had already become sufficiently great through those things.
τοὺς δὲ πολλάκις ἄρχειν σπουδάζοντας ἔφη καθάπερ ἀγνοοῦντας τὴν ὁδὸν ἀεὶ μετὰ ῥαβδούχων ζητεῖν πορεύεσθαι, μὴ πλανηθῶσιν.
And of those who were eager to hold office often, he said that like people who did not know the way, they always sought to walk with lictors, lest they should go astray.
§8.6ἐπετίμα δὲ τοῖς πολίταις Τοὺς αὐτοὺς αἱρουμένοις πολλάκις ἄρχοντας.
He censured the citizens who chose the same men as magistrates many times.
δόξετε γάρ,
ἔφη,
μὴ πολλοῦ τὸ ἄρχειν ἄξιον ἢ μὴ πολλοὺς τοῦ ἄρχειν ἀξίους ἡγεῖσθαι. Περὶ δὲ τῶν ἐχθρῶν τινος αἰσχρῶς καὶ ἀδόξως βιοῦν δοκοῦντος
ἡ τούτου μήτηρ,
ἔφη,
κατάραν, οὐκ εὐχήν, ἡγεῖται τὸ τοῦτον ὑπὲρ γῆς ἀπολιπεῖν. §8.7τὸν δὲ πεπρακότα Τοὺς πατρῴους ἀγροὺς παραλίους ὄντας ἐπιδεικνύμενος προσεποιεῖτο θαυμάζειν ὡς ἰσχυρότερον τῆς θαλάττης· ἃ γὰρ ἐκείνη μόλις ἔκλυζεν, οὗτος,
ἔφη,
ῥᾳδίως καταπέπωκεν. ἐπεὶ δὲ Εὐμένους τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπιδημήσαντος εἰς Ῥώμην ἥ τε σύγκλητος ὑπερφυῶς ἀπεδέξατο καὶ τῶν πρώτων ἅμιλλα καὶ σπουδὴ Περὶ αὐτὸν ἐγίνετο, δῆλος ἦν ὁ Κάτων ὑφορώμενος καὶ φυλαττόμενος αὐτόν.
"For," he said, "you will seem either to think that ruling is not worth much, or to believe that there are not many worthy of ruling." And concerning one of his enemies who was thought to live shamefully and disgracefully: "This man's mother," he said, "regards it as a curse, not a prayer, that he should leave her behind on earth." And pointing out a man who had sold his ancestral lands by the seaside, he pretended to admire him as stronger than the sea; "for what that sea washed away with difficulty, this man," he said, "has easily swallowed down." And when King Eumenes came to Rome, and the senate received him wonderfully, and there was rivalry and eagerness among the leading men about him, Cato was clearly suspicious and on his guard against him.
§8.8εἰπόντος δέ τινος
ἀλλὰ μὴν χρηστός ἐστι καὶ φιλορρώμαιος,
ἔστω,
εἶπεν,
ἀλλὰ φύσει τοῦτο τὸ ζῷον ὁ βασιλεὺς σαρκοφάγον ἐστιν. οὐδένα δὲ τῶν εὐδαιμονιζομένων ἔφη βασιλέων ἄξιον εἶναι παραβάλλειν πρὸς Ἐπαμεινώνδαν ἢ Περικλέα ἢ Θεμιστοκλέα ἢ Μάνιον Κούριον ἢ Ἀμίλκαν τὸν ἐπικληθέντα Βάρκαν.
And when someone said: "But indeed he is a good man and a friend to Rome," "Let it be so," he said, "but by nature this animal, a king, is carnivorous." And he said that none of the kings who were congratulated on their wealth was worthy to be compared to Epaminondas, or Pericles, or Themistocles, or Manius Curius, or Hamilcar surnamed Barca.
§8.9αὑτῷ δʼ ἔλεγε Τοὺς ἐχθροὺς φθονεῖν, ὅτι καθʼ ἡμέραν ἐκ νυκτὸς ἀνίσταται καὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἀμελῶν τοῖς δημοσίοις σχολάζει, βούλεσθαι δʼ ἔλεγε μᾶλλον εὖ πράξας ἀποστερηθῆναι χάριν ἢ κακῶς μὴ τυχεῖν κολάσεως, καὶ συγγνώμην ἔφη διδόναι πᾶσι τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι πλὴν αὑτοῦ.
And he said that his enemies envied him because he rose daily from the night and neglected his private affairs to attend to public ones; and he said he would rather, having done well, be deprived of gratitude, than, having done poorly, escape punishment; and he said that he forgave all who erred except himself.