Quaestor and his
Proconsul. Fabius had opposed the permission given to Scipio to carry
the attack into the enemy's home, and Cato, whose appointment was
intended to operate as a check upon Scipio, adopted the views of his
friend. Cato was Praetor in Sardinia in B.C. 198, where he took the
earliest opportunity of illustrating his principles by his practice. He
diminished official expenses, walked his circuits with a single
attendant, administered justice with strict impartiality, and restrained
usury with unsparing severity. He had now established a reputation for
pure morality and strict old-fashioned virtue. He was looked upon as the
living type and representative of the ideal ancient Roman. To the
advancement of such a man opposition was vain. In B.C. 195 he was
elected Consul with his old friend and patron L. Valerius Flaccus.
During his consulship a strange scene took place peculiarly illustrative
of Roman manners. In B.C. 215, at the height of the Punic War, a law had
been passed, proposed by the Tribune Oppius, that no woman should
possess more than half an ounce of gold, nor wear a garment of divers
colors, nor drive a carriage with horses within a mile of the city,
except for the purpose of attending the public celebration of religious
rites. Now that Hannibal was conquered, and Rome abounded with
Carthaginian wealth, there being no longer any necessity for women to
contribute toward the exigencies of an impoverished treasury the savings
spared from their ornaments and pleasures, two Tribunes thought it time
to propose the abolition of the Oppian law; but they were opposed by two
of their colleagues. The most important affairs of state excited far
less interest and zeal than this singular contest. The matrons blockaded
every avenue to the forum, and intercepted their husbands as they
approached, beseeching them to restore the ancient ornaments of the
Roman matrons. Even Flaccus wavered, but his colleague Cato was
inexorable. Finally, the women carried the day. Worn out by their
importunity, the two Tribunes withdrew their opposition, and the hated
law was abolished by the suffrage of all the tribes.

Cato's campaign in Spain during his Consulship, which added greatly to
his military reputation, has been already related. He afterward served
in Greece under M. Glabrio, where he distinguished himself at the battle
of Thermopylae fought against Antiochus (B.C. 191).

The victory of Zama had made P. Scipio Africanu