Cato and the politics of the Optimates

Question 1

Cato background

Answer 1

• Roman statesman
• Born into a noble plebeian family, served as quester, tribune and praetor
• stood as the voice of roman traditionalists and leading figure among Optimates
• Conservtaibe beliefs

Question 2

What is Stocisim

Answer 2

• a philosophy expounded by Greek philosopher zeno in 3rd century BC
• Ideas of stocisim were adapted to fit the content of the time and place
• self control over ones emotions, hardship was to be endured, fortune, pleasure and pain were to be risen above

Question 3

Examples of Cato’s stoicism

Answer 3

• When running for Tribune in 68 he was the only candidate not to resort to bribery
• in 63 he supported the prosecution of the successful consular candidate Lucius Licinius Murena on the grounds of excessive bribery
• By 51 his own candidature for consulship is said to have failed due to his strong stubborn beliefs to be true to his principles

Question 4

Why did Cato like the optimises

Answer 4

1) He came from a noble family and furthered his established status carefully through amicitia of marriage and political support
2) The ideal of duty to the state appealed to his stoic beliefs
3) optimises formed opposition to populares who to Cato hated

Question 5

Why was Cato useful to the optimates

Answer 5

• he was their most dangerous weapon when confronting the rise of individuals who were prepared to gain power through unconventional means

Question 6

Catos role in the Cataline conspiracy

Answer 6

• On December 5th, he got up and spoke so well that he convinced the senate that the conspirators should be put to death

Question 7

Cato’s role as Tribune

Answer 7

62

• used his position to improve economic position for people in rome
• introduced law to reduce the price of grain and extend the corn dose to doublee the original eligible group
• made sure to put the proposal before the senate first to show how the office ought to work

Question 8

Why did Cato become a tribune

Answer 8

• family tradition on both maternal and paternal sides. His great uncle had been tribune in 122 and had presented bills to undermine the politics of Gaius Gracchus. Cato’s uncle had also been tribune in 91
• stoicism
• power
• a desire to curry popular favour/ improve conditions for the state
• demonstrates how it should be done

Question 9

Cato’s relationship with Pompey

Answer 9

• Cato held Pompey in great suspision from the outset, as he showed no consideration to the curses honour and succeeded through his military prestige in 70 to consul -
• The optimises were against him and rejected two of his reasonable requests: for land to be allocated to his long-serving veterans and for treaties agreed in the east to the ratifiedd (in 60)
• awarded imperium in 67 and 66, each success raised his reputation higher in the eyes of the ppl of Rome, the optimises did not like this

Question 10

Cato’s acts against pompey

Answer 10

When a fellow tribune ‘Nepos’ proposed Pompey be recalled to Rome to help ‘clean up’ any remaining Cataline supporters after 63, Cato did everything he could to prevent him from speaking

Question 11

cato’s acts for Pompey

Answer 11

• despite always being opposed to him, Cato supported the proposal that Pompey should stand as sole consul in 52
• the previous year had been one of political turmoil (Crassus had been killed and Caesar’s daughter) weakening the triumvirate
• no consuls had been elected and so the senate gave Pompey proconsular imperium, and as an act of amicitia, he offered Caesar stand with him
• however legislation was proposed, supported by Cato, to make Pompey sole consul instead and it was passed.

Question 12

Lead to civil war ( part one)

Answer 12

• over the next two years, Caesar’s lengthly campaign in Gual finally drew to a successful conclusion and triumphant Caesar planted a tribune, Curio to act of his behalf in Rome in 50
• the antagonism between the optimates and caesar and caesar’s hopes for recognition and continued imperium came to a head on DEC 1 50, when Curio’s proposal to the senate that both Caesar and pompey should hand over their imperium was vetoed by Cato and the optimates, despite a majority vote in favour (370-22)
• civil war seemed inevitable

Question 13

Lead to civil war ( part two)

Answer 13

• The next day, Pompey was offered the extrodnary imperium over all the armies in Italy to protect the Republic
• Pompey was being forced to choose between his
  alliance to Caesar and military championing of the optimate cause

Question 14

Who did the optimates join when civil war finally broke out

Answer 14

• Pompey, a man they had opposed for decades

- partly due to the complexity of his status and career, he just wanted popularity

Question 15

Cato’s relationship with Cicero

Answer 15

• Cicero often embraced conservative political values, which alligned with Cato’s
• his approach towards the political events of the 1st century however were far more pragmatic than those of Cato
• Cato acknowledged cicero’s conservative political ideals as well as his oratory skills but his lack of noble background would always render him socially and politicaly inferior

Question 16

examples of when Cicero and Cato were opposed to one another

Answer 16

• Trial of Murena 63BC: Cato stood firmly against Cicero
• 50: Cato was one of the few men in the senate to refuse to agree to granting cicero public honour in recognition of his services in Cilicia

Question 17

examples of when cicero and cato were together

Answer 17

• cato had pursued a principled stand against the conspirators of cataline in 63

fought on the same side as cicero in the civil war of the early 40s

• cicero’s own respect for Cato remained untranished after his death, as in the summer of 46 he composed a eulogy in praise of Cato

Question 18

cato’s politcal relationship with Clodius

Answer 18

• clodius’ record of public behaviour rendered him an obvious enemy to any Roman stoic
• he was rumoured to have started a mutiny in Syria in 66 during the third war against Mithridates, and also having had incestuous relations with his sister
• Bona Dea Scandal
• adopting himself, sending Cato out of Rome

Question 19

bona dea scandal

Answer 19

• in 62 Cato committed sacrilege by dressing up as a woman to infiltrate the women - only festival of the Bona Dea
• He was rumoured to be having an affair with Caesar’s wife who, as wife of the pontifex maximus, was hosting the festival in her house
• despite clear evidence and the fact that cicero had broken his alibi, Clodius (bankrolled by crassus) was not found guilty and acquitted by a Jury that had been bribed in his favour

Question 20

clodius adopting himself

Answer 20

• In 59 he had himself adopted into the plebeian order, aided by Caesar in his position as pontifex maximus
• now he was able to send as tribune
• as a result of this in 58, CLodius sent Cato to Cyprus to completee the annexation of this terroriry, arguably to support the triumvirate by keeping Cato out of Roman politics

Question 21

Cato’s relationship with Caesar - what did Caesar request from the senate

Answer 21

• In 60 Caesar asked the senate for 2 things:
• a military triumph in recongition of his success in Gaul
• the right to campaign as consul in absence since he could not, while holding military imperium, set foot in Rome to stand for elexction

Question 22

Cato’s relationship with Caesar - what did the senate do in response

Answer 22

• they refused the latter (consulhsip) perhaps in hope that Caesar would not be able to resist choosing the triumph and abandon his hope to achieve consulship
• caesar instead forewent the triumph and entered rome to campaign for the consulship
• cato and the optimates put all their support into a rival candidate, Bibulus

Question 23

Examples of hostility towards Caesar

Answer 23

• period of 59-49 peppered with events demonstrating Cato’s hostility towards Caesar
• from threats of prosecution for illegal behaviour on campaign to influencing the senate not to agree with Caesar’s requests
• when civil war broke out, Cato led the optimates to follow Pompey

Question 24

Cato’s suicide

Answer 24

• on hearing the news of defeat of the republican forces at Thapsus in April 46, Cato realised the resistance to Caesar was effectively over
• refusing to submit to Caesar’s rule, Cato committed suicide

Question 25

what did caesar do upon cato’s death

Answer 25

• produced a pamphlet in response to Cicero’s eulogy ‘Anti cato’
• cruel and vindictive writing reflecting his long standing anger and frustration with Cato

Question 26

criticism of Cato’s extreme and unflexible standards

Answer 26

• Cicero himself perceieved Cato as clinging to unrealistic principles ‘he acts as though he lives in Plato’s republic rather than the sewers of Rome’
• Cato was consistent in always following his principles and antagonising anyone who went against them
• cato sometimes failed to further his cause due to lack of compromise , seen in his attitude towards all requests to the senate from individuals who he perceived to be self seeking, such as P and c in the 60s

Question 27

should cato have been more lenient

Answer 27

• one could argue that Cato should have considered repllacing his dogmatic approach with a more pragmatic one
• we saw a glimpse of such recognition in his decision to support Pompeu as temporary sole consul in 52
• his inability to recognise the changing political landscape blinded him to alternative courses of action

Question 28

How was Cato’s death true to his principles

Answer 28

• his noble death was his final stoic act, asserting his political freedom at the prospect of Tyranny

Question 29

Why were cato’s actions detrimental

Answer 29

• his dogmatic determiation to prevent crassus, pompey and caesar from gaining any ground in their ongoing individual ambition inevitably pushed them closer together