scaped
them all. He overcame one after another of the military difficulties
which were in his way in Africa. His army endured, in the depth of
winter, great exposures and fatigues, and they had to encounter a large
hostile force under the charge of Cato. They were, however, successful
in every undertaking. Cato retreated at last to the city of Utica, where
he shut himself up with the remains of his army; but finding, at length,
when Caesar drew near, that there was no hope or possibility of making
good his defense, and as his stern and indomitable spirit could not
endure the thought of submission to one whom he considered as an enemy
to his country and a traitor he resolved upon a very effectual mode of
escaping from his conqueror's power.

[Sidenote: He stabs himself.]
[Sidenote: Death of Cato.]

He feigned to abandon all hope of defending the city, and began to make
arrangements to facilitate the escape of his soldiers over the sea. He
collected the vessels in the harbor, and allowed all to embark who were
willing to take the risks of the stormy water. He took, apparently,
great interest in the embarkations, and, when evening came on, he sent
repeatedly down to the sea-side to inquire about the state of the wind
and the progress of the operations. At length he retired to his
apartment, and, when all was quiet in the house, he lay down upon his
bed and stabbed himself with his sword He fell from the bed by the blow,
or else from the effect of some convulsive motion which the penetrating
steel occasioned. His son and servants, hearing the fall, came rushing
into the room, raised him from the floor, and attempted to bind up and
stanch the wound. Cato would not permit them to do it. He resisted them
violently as soon as he was conscious of what they intended. Finding
that a struggle would only aggravate the horrors of the scene, and even
hasten its termination, they left the bleeding hero to his fate, and in
a few minutes he died.

[Sidenote: Folly of his suicide.]

The character of Cato, and the circumstances under which his suicide was
committed, make it, on the whole, the most conspicuous act of suicide
which history records; and the events which followed show in an equally
conspicuous manner the extreme folly of the deed. In respect to its
wickedness, Cato, not having had the light of Christianity before him,
is to be leniently judged. As to the folly of the deed, however, he is
to be held strictly accountable. I