aracter became the subject of discussion; Cicero's panegyric _Cato_
was answered by Caesar in his _Anticato_. Brutus, dissatisfied with
Cicero's work, produced another on the same subject; in Lucan Cato is
represented as a model of virtue and disinterestedness.

See _Life_ by Plutarch, and compare Addison's tragedy. Modern
biographies by H. Wartmann (Zurich, 1859), and F.D. Gerlach (Basel,
1866); C.W. Oman, _Seven Roman Statesmen of the Later Republic, Cato
..._ (1902); Mommsen, _Hist. of Rome_ (Eng. trans.), bk. v. ch. v.;
article in Smith's _Dictionary of Classical Biography_; Gaston
Boissier, _Cicero and his Friends_ (Eng. trans., 1897), esp. pp. 277
foll.; Warde Fowler, _Social Life at Rome_ (1909).

CATO, PUBLIUS VALERIUS, Roman poet and grammarian, was born about 100
B.C. He is of importance as the leader of the "new" school of poetry
(_poetae novi_, [Greek: neoteroi], as Cicero calls them). Its followers
rejected the national epic and drama in favour of the artificial
mythological epics and elegies of the Alexandrian school, and preferred
Euphorion of Chalcis to Ennius. Learning, that is, a knowledge of Greek
literature and myths, and strict adherence to metrical rules were
regarded by them as indispensable to the poet. The [Greek: neoteroi]
were also determined opponents of Pompey and Caesar. The great influence
of Cato is attested by the lines:--

"Cato grammaticus, Latina Siren,
Qui solus legit ac facit poetas."[1]

Our information regarding his life is derived from Suetonius (_De
Grammaticis_, 11). He was a native of Cisalpine Gaul, and lost his
property during the Sullan disturbances before he had attained his
majority. He lived to a great age, and during the latter part of his
life was in very reduced circumstances. He was at one time possessed of
considerable wealth, and owned a villa at Tusculum which he was obliged
to hand over to his creditors. In addition to grammatical treatises,
Cato wrote a number of poems, the best-known of which were the _Lydia_
and _Diana_. In the _Indignatio_ (perhaps a short poem) he defended
himself against the accusation that he was of servile birth. It is
probable that he is the Cato mentioned as a critic of Lucilius in the
lines by an unknown author prefixed to Horace, _Satires_, i. 10.

Among the minor poems attributed to Virgil is one called _Dirae_ (or
rather two, _Dirae_ and _Lydia_). The _Dirae_ consists of imprecations
against the e