The Conflict
Between Cato and Scipio
by Richard L. Trumbo,
St. Catherine's School
While this essay does not claim to unravel
the secret of Roman Republican politics, it will attempt to comment
upon what appears to be a significant point in their development.
The conflict between Cato the Elder and Scipio Africanus appears
to mark a transition from a "pre-Hannibalic war" style
of politics in which the Republican constitution functioned successfully
to a "post-Hannibalic war" style of politics in which
one can discern many trends which undermined the stability of
the Roman constitution and led, ultimately, to the collapse of
the Republic and the ascendancy of an autocratic emperor. The
sources describing the conflicts between these two great men
suggest that a shift occurred in the relative importance of ideology
in Roman politics, a shift for which Cato was primarily responsible.
This change, as well as the conflicts between Cato and Scipio,
laid the foundations for the great struggle between Populares
and Optimates in the last century and a half of the Republic.
A variety of causes, some petty and some
consequential, contributed to the differences between Cato and
Scipio. One of the lesser issues was their respective attitudes
towards Greek culture. Plutarch tells us that Cato spoke to a
Greek audience through an interpreter, even though he was capable
of addressing them in Greek.2
He also reportedly warned his son, "that if ever the Romans
became infected with the literature of Greece, they would lose
their empire."3
Cato seems to have been especially concerned by the allure of
excessive fondness for Greek ways which would undermine traditional
Roman mores. In a speech during his consulship opposing the repeal
of the Lex Oppimia (a sumptuary law restricting women's
clothing and displays of wealth), Cato reportedly argued:
...as our empire increases - and already
we have crossed into Greece and Asia (regions full of all kinds
of sensual allurements) and are even laying hands on the treasures
of kings - I am the more alarmed lest these things should capture
us instead of our capturing them; those statues brought from
Syracuse, believe me, were hostile standards brought against
this city. And now I hear far too many people praising the ornaments
of Corinth and Athens, and jeering at the terracotta antefixes
of the Roman gods.4
Cato's opposition to Greek influence, while
deep-seated, was not universal. Plutarch tells us that Cato was
billetted with a Pythagorean named Nearchus during the siege
of Tarentum, and that Cato learned from him the ideas of purifying
the soul from the body and living a life of "simplicity
and self-discipline." Although Plutarch adds that Cato did
not study Greek or read Greek books until he was an old man,5
this seems difficult to reconcile with his capacity to speak
in Greek before an Athenian audience while he was actively representing
Rome overseas in the 190's. It seems much more likely that Cato
reacted against excessive philhellenism and was suspicious of
parts of Greek culture which might undermine Roman character.
In this attitude Cato may well have been following the model
of Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator, with whose policies he generally
cooperated:
[Fabius'] attitude to the cultural life
of Rome is largely unknown, but that he may have been among the
anti-Hellenists could be deduced from such facts as that, unlike
Marcellus at Syracuse, he did not, with one exception, touch
the pictures and statues at Tarentum, that young Cato followed
his habit and manner of life, and that he was among those who
later criticized Scipio's Greek way of life in Sicily.6
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