his country, that he might be able to endure the
harder service in war. He adds that having got, among some goods he was
heir to, a piece of Babylonian tapestry, he sold it immediately; that
the walls of his country houses were neither plastered nor white-washed;
that he never gave more for a slave than fifteen hundred drachmae, as
not requiring in his servants delicate shapes and fine faces but
strength and ability to labour, that they might be fit to be employed in
his stables, about his cattle or on such-like business; and that he
thought proper to sell them again when they grew old, that he might have
no useless persons to maintain. In a word he thought nothing cheap that
was superfluous, that what a man has no need of is dear even at a penny;
and that it is much better to have fields where the plough goes and
cattle feed, than gardens and walks that require much watering and
sweeping. This stern simplicity he carried throughout his life and in
words of eloquence (he was one of the most powerful speakers in Rome) he
tried to get others to imitate him.

[Illustration: PLOUGHING: a terra-cotta group]

Cato's own character was of remarkable firmness. He did not ask other
people to do what he would not do himself. He served in war again and
again, and distinguished himself as a soldier, though his harshness made
him detested by the peoples he conquered, for instance in Spain. But he
wanted every one to think and live in his way, and judged with cruel
severity those who thought or acted otherwise. The key to his character,
both its strength and its weakness, is given by Plutarch when he remarks
that 'Goodness moves in a larger sphere than justice.' Cato was just:
but his justice was often harsh, cruel, and ungenerous. Thus he left his
war-horse behind him when he left Spain, to save the public purse the
charge of his freight, just as he sold his slaves when they became too
old to work. In this we see carefulness and indifference to comfort and
luxury turning to parsimony and meanness. As Cato grew older he became
more and more fond of having money though not of spending it. He himself
had prospered in life and, as he grew older, became extremely rich both
from his farms and from lending money, at high interest, to shipping and
other companies. For those who did not succeed he had a very severe
judgement and small pity, as for those who gave way to any of the faults
from which he was free. He judged instead of understa