ἱστορίαι Historiai
Plut. Cato the Younger 33 Cato the Younger, Plutarch; served verbatim
Elated by this success, Caesar introduced another law, which provided that almost the whole of Campania be divided among the poor and needy. No one spoke against the law except Cato, and him Caesar ordered to be dragged from the rostra to prison. Cato did not any the more remit his bold utterances, but as he walked along discoursed about the law and advised the people to put a stop to such legislation. Moreover, the senate followed him with downcast looks, as well as the best part of the people in silence, though they looked annoyed and troubled, so that Caesar could not fail to see that they were displeased; but he was obstinate, and expected that Cato would resort to appeal or entreaty, and therefore had him led along. However, when it was clear that Cato did not so much as think of doing anything of the sort, Caesar was overcome by the shame and infamy of his course, and by his own secret persuasions induced one of the tribunes of the people to rescue Cato. Nevertheless, by these laws and by other favours Caesar’s party so cajoled the people as to get a vote passed giving to Caesar the government of Illyria and all Gaul, with an army of four legions, for five years, although Cato warned the people that they themselves by their own votes were establishing a tyrant in their citadel. They also unlawfully transferred Publius Clodius from patrician to plebeian rank and got him elected tribune of the people, a man who, in order to secure Cicero’s banishment as his reward, was using all his political influence for the gratification of the people. For consuls, too, they secured the election of Calpurnius Piso, who was Caesar’s father-in-law, and Aulus Gabinius, a man from the lap of Pompey, as those say who knew his ways of life.

The Greek stands ready in the workroom; the English is served. Both faces will read together.

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Filed here — the addresses this episode attests; counted by the house’s first pass
Caesar — a candidate entry Cato — a candidate entry Cato the Younger — a life Cicero — a life Clodius — a life Julius Caesar — a life Piso — a candidate entry Pompey — a life Publius — a candidate entry

Cato the Younger, Plutarch — translated by Bernadotte Perrin, 1914–1926
Perseus Digital Library — Plutarch, Parallel Lives (Perrin translation) · Bernadotte Perrin, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press / William Heinemann, 1914–1926
license: public-domain (US: pre-1930 publication); Perseus digital edition CC BY-SA 4.0, attribution recorded in ops/corpus-staging/SOURCES.md