§6.1ἥν τοίνυν πλείστοις ὁ Κάτων κεκόσμηκε καὶ καλλίστοις ἐπαίνοις ἀεὶ σωφροσύνην Ἀριστείδης μὲν ἄθικτον ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ καθαρὰν ἐτήρησεν, αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ Κάτωνος ὁ παρʼ ἀξίαν ἅμα καὶ παρʼ ὥραν γάμος οὐ μικρὰν οὐδὲ φαύλην εἰς τοῦτο διαβολὴν κατεσκέδασε.
Now, the temperance which Cato always adorned with the most numerous and beautiful praises, Aristides kept truly untouched and pure, whereas the marriage of Cato himself, which was both unbefitting his dignity and untimely for his age, cast no small or mean slander upon him in this regard.
πρεσβύτην γὰρ ἤδη τοσοῦτον ἐνηλίκῳ παιδὶ καὶ γυναικὶ νύμφῃ παιδὸς ἐπιγῆμαι κόρην ὑπηρέτου καὶ δημοσιεύοντος ἐπὶ μισθῷ πατρὸς οὐδαμοῦ καλόν, ἀλλʼ εἴτε πρὸς ἡδονὴν ταῦτʼ ἔπραξεν εἴτʼ ὀργῇ διὰ τὴν ἑταίραν ἀμυνόμενος τὸν υἱόν, αἰσχύνην ἔχει καὶ τὸ ἔργον καὶ ἡ πρόφασις.
For that a man already of such a great age should marry a young girl, the daughter of a father who was a hired servant and public clerk, when he had a grown-up son and a young daughter-in-law, was by no means honorable; but whether he did this for the sake of pleasure, or in anger to take revenge on his son because of the mistress, both the deed and the pretext carry shame.
§6.2ᾧ δʼαὐτὸς ἐχρήσατο λόγῳ κατειρωνευόμενος τὸ μειράκιον, οὐκ ἦν ἀληθής, εἰ γὰρ ἐβούλετο παῖδας ἀγαθοὺς ὁμοίως τεκνῶσαι, γάμον ἔδει λαβεῖν γενναῖον ἐξ ἀρχῆς σκεψάμενον, οὐχ ἕως μὲν ἐλάνθανεν ἀνεγγύῳ γυναικὶ καὶ κοινῇ συγκοιμώμενος ἀγαπᾶν, ἐττει δὲ ἐφωράθη ποιήσασθαι πενθερὸν, δν ῥᾷστα πείσειν, οὐχ ᾧ κάλλιστα κηδεύσειν ἔμελλεν.
The words which he himself used in mocking the young man were not true; for if he wished to beget good children in like manner, he ought from the beginning to have taken a noble marriage after careful consideration, and not, as long as he escaped notice, to have been content with sleeping with an unbetrothed and common woman, and then, when he was discovered, to make a father-in-law of one whom he could most easily persuade, rather than of one with whom he would make the most honorable alliance.