mopylae, which finally delivered
Greece from the encroachments of the East. His reputation as a soldier
was now established; henceforth he preferred to serve the state at home,
scrutinizing the conduct of the candidates for public honours and of
generals in the field. If he was not personally engaged in the
prosecution of the Scipios (Africanus and Asiaticus) for corruption, it
was his spirit that animated the attack upon them. Even Africanus, who
refused to reply to the charge, saying only, "Romans, this is the day on
which I conquered Hannibal," and was absolved by acclamation, found it
necessary to retire self-banished to his villa at Liternum. Cato's
enmity dated from the African campaign when he quarrelled with Scipio
for his lavish distribution of the spoil amongst the troops, and his
general luxury and extravagance.

Cato had, however, a more serious task to perform in opposing the spread
of the new Hellenic culture which threatened to destroy the rugged
simplicity of the conventional Roman type. He conceived it to be his
special mission to resist this invasion. It was in the discharge of the
censorship that this determination was most strongly exhibited, and
hence that he derived the title (the Censor) by which he is most
generally distinguished. He revised with unsparing severity the lists of
senators and knights, ejecting from either order the men whom he judged
unworthy of it, either on moral grounds or from their want of the
prescribed means. The expulsion of L. Quinctius Flamininus for wanton
cruelty was an example of his rigid justice. His regulations against
luxury were very stringent. He imposed a heavy tax upon dress and
personal adornment, especially of women, and upon young slaves purchased
as favourites. In 181 he supported the lex Orchia (according to others,
he first opposed its introduction, and subsequently its repeal), which
prescribed a limit to the number of guests at an entertainment, and in
169 the lex Voconia, one of the provisions of which was intended to
check the accumulation of an undue proportion of wealth in the hands of
women. Amongst other things he repaired the aqueducts, cleansed the
sewers, prevented private persons drawing off public water for their own
use, ordered the demolition of houses which encroached on the public
way, and built the first basilica in the forum near the curia. He raised
the amount paid by the publican for the right of farming the taxes, and
at the same tim