Editing Cato the Elder (section)

===Later years===
From the date of his censorship (184) to his death in 149, Cato held no public office, but continued to distinguish himself in the Senate as the persistent opponent of the new ideas. He was struck with horror, along with many other Romans, at the licence of the [[Bacchanalian]] mysteries, which he attributed to the influence of [[Hellenistic civilization|Greek]] manners, and he vehemently urged the dismissal of the philosophers [[Carneades]], [[Diogenes of Babylon|Diogenes]], and [[Critolaus]], who had come as ambassadors from [[Athens]], on account of what he believed was the dangerous nature of their ideas.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=535}} He also uttered warnings against the influence of Chaldean astrologers who had entered Italy along with Greek culture.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02018e.htm Astrology, Catholic Encyclopaedia]</ref>

He had a horror of physicians, who were chiefly Greeks. He obtained the release of [[Polybius]], the historian, and his fellow prisoners, contemptuously asking whether the Senate had nothing more important to do than discuss whether a few Greeks should die at Rome or in their own land. It was not until his eightieth year that he made his first acquaintance with Greek literature,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=535}} though some think after examining his writings that he may have had a knowledge of Greek works for much of his life.

In his last years, he was known for strenuously urging his countrymen to prosecute the [[Third Punic War]] and to destroy [[Carthage]]. In 157, he was one of the deputies sent to Carthage to arbitrate between the [[Carthaginians]] and [[Massinissa]], king of [[Numidia]]. The mission was unsuccessful and the commissioners returned home, but Cato was so struck by Carthage's growing prosperity that he was convinced that the security of Rome depended on its annihilation. From then on, he began concluding his speeches in the Senate—on any topic whatsoever—with the cry, "[[Carthago delenda est|Carthage must be destroyed]]" (''{{lang|la|Carthago delenda est}}'').<ref>[[Florus]], ''Epitome'', [http://thelatinlibrary.com/florus1.html#31 i. 31].</ref> Other times, his phrase is fully quoted as "Moreover, I advise that Carthage must be destroyed" (''{{lang|la|Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam}}'').<ref>{{cite journal|last=Thürlemann|first=S.|date=1974|title=Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam|journal=Gymnasium|volume=81|pages=465–476|language=de}}</ref> [[Cicero]]'s [[dialogue (fiction)|dialogue]] ''[[De Senectute|Cato the Elder on Old Age]]'' also depicted Cato's antipathy to Carthage.{{refn|group=n|"...I enjoin upon the Senate what is to be done, and how. Carthage has long been harbouring<!--sic--> evil designs, and I accordingly proclaim war against her in good time. I shall never cease to entertain fears about her till I hear of her having been levelled<!--sic--> with the ground."<ref>[[Cicero|Tullius Cicero, Marcus]] (44&nbsp;BC), ''[http://www.bartleby.com/9/2/1.html On Old Age]'', ''[[Harvard Classics|Five Foot Shelf of Classics]]'', {{nowrap|Vol. IX,}} {{nowrap|Pt. 2,}} New York: translated for P.F. Collier & Son by Evelyn Shirley Shuckburgh in 1909, [http://www.bartleby.com/9/2/1.html#15 §15].</ref><br>''{{lang|la|...Senatui quae sint gerenda praescribo et quo modo, Carthagini male iam diu cogitanti bellum multo ante denuntio, de qua vereri non ante desinam, quam illam excissam esse cognovero.}}''<ref>[[Cicero|Tullius Cicero, Marcus]] {{nowrap|(44 BC),}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=gbnz0bljUhoC ''Cato Maior de Senectute''] [''Cato the Elder on Old Age''], ''Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries'', {{nowrap|№ 28,}} [[Cambridge, England|Cambridge]]: Cambridge University Press, 1988, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gbnz0bljUhoC&pg=PA62 vi, 18], {{ISBN|0-521-60704-3}}. {{in lang|la}}</ref>}} According to [[Ben Kiernan]], Cato may have made the first recorded [[incitement to genocide]].{{sfn|Gordon|2017|pp=31–32}}

To Cato the individual life was a continual discipline, and public life was the discipline of the many. He regarded the individual householder as the germ of the family, the family as the germ of the state. By strict economy of time he accomplished an immense amount of work; he demanded his dependents practice a similar dedication, and proved himself a hard husband, a strict father, and a severe and cruel master. There was little difference, apparently, in the esteem in which he held his wife and his slaves, although perhaps his pride caused him to take a warmer interest in his sons, [[Marcus Porcius Cato Licinianus]] and [[Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=535}}

To the Romans themselves little in this behavior seemed worthy of censure, it was respected rather as a traditional example of the old Roman manners. In the remarkable passage in which [[Livy]] describes the character of Cato, there is no word of blame for the rigid discipline of his household.<ref>{{citation |last=Livy |author-link=Livy |url=http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=Liv5His.sgm&images=images%2Fmodeng&data=%2Ftexts%2Fenglish%2Fmodeng%2Fparsed&tag=public&part=367&division=div2 |title=xxxix. 40|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110216165027/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=Liv5His.sgm&images=images%2Fmodeng&data=%2Ftexts%2Fenglish%2Fmodeng%2Fparsed&tag=public&part=367&division=div2 |archive-date=2011-02-16 }}</ref>{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=535}}
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