Cato the Younger

Also known as: Cato / Cato the great grandfather / Cato the philosopher · Family: Roman · Role: father of Marcus · First appears: Aemilius Paulus

Cato the Younger was orphaned with his brother Caepio and sister Porcia, and the three were raised in the house of their maternal uncle Livius Drusus. He obeyed his teacher Sarpedon, met Sylla through his family, and by about twenty was rarely seen without Caepio. He studied Stoic philosophy with Antipater the Tyrian, was contracted to Lepida until Metellus Scipio reclaimed her, and then married Atilia, daughter of Soranus.

Cato became a friend of Lucullus, Marcellus, Favonius, and Cicero, though his prosecution of Lucius Murena made him a rival of Murena until Murena later sought his advice. He opposed Clodius and challenged Caesar’s proceedings, while Marcus Brutus, his nephew and son-in-law, admired and imitated him. When Marcus Crassus hired men to assault Domitius and Cato to secure the consulship, Cato was among those targeted; during the political crisis that followed, Pompey was made sole consul, though Cato had both warned him and acted as a friend.

He later married Marcia and assisted Favonius in his office, while continuing to oppose Caesar, Antony, Metellus Scipio, and Marcus Octavius. He sent Marcus Brutus to Cyprus, dispatched Canidius to Ptolemy, and employed Cleanthes, Butas, and Philargyrus; before parting from Lucius Caesar, he commended to him his son and friends. Through Marcus, Cato was the father of Marcus Cato’s descendant and the great-grandfather of Cato the philosopher.

Relationship record

Life events

• Crassus hired men to assault Domitius and Cato to secure the consulship.(Comparison of Crassus with Nicias)
  • With: Marcus Crassus Domitius
  • “he himself could not deny that to compass the consulship, he hired men to lay violent hands upon Domitius and Cato.”
• Pompey was created sole consul to restore order during Rome’s political crisis.(Pompey · 📍 Rome)
  • With: Pompey Bibulus
  • “This counsel was unanimously approved of, and a decree passed that Pompey should be made sole consul”

Aemilius Paulus

• child: Marcus “Marcus, the son of Cato, and son-in-law of Aemilius”

Marcus Cato

• younger kin: Marcus Cato “and Cato, his great grandfather too, as one who had often obtained military prizes”
• parent: marcusdescendant “he was grandfather of Cato the philosopher”
• with marcusdescendant (interaction) “he was grandfather of Cato the philosopher”

Lucullus

• friends with Lucullus “Cato was his friend and connection”
• siblings with Servilia “he married Servilia, sister to Cato.”
• rivals with Pompey “by the assistance of Cato, hindered a division of lands to his soldiers, which he proposed.”