Stoic Story Week [5/5]: The Character of Cato

The Roman senator Cato the Younger died in 46 BC but during his lifetime and in the years since his death, he has widely been considered as a near-perfect living embodiment of Stoicism.

He was known for his moral integrity, his tenacity in supporting just causes and his immunity to bribes at a time when such corruption was commonplace. He was a respected military tribune who led from the front and shared in the hardship of his men. In his stubborn defense of the Roman Republic, he even preferred death over being ruled by Julius Caesar.

The Stoic philosopher Seneca had huge admiration for Cato and advised his friend Lucilius to choose Cato as a role model and to use the Stoic as a ruler against which he could measure and straighten his own behavior.

We have some good insights into Cato's adherence to Stoicism from Plutarch's Parallel Lives and I'd like to share a couple of them today as examples of how he demonstrated his character.

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