Cato the Younger: Life and Death at the End of the Roman Republic by Fred K. Drogula

Abstract

Reviewed by: Cato the Younger: Life and Death at the End of the Roman Republic by Fred K. Drogula Katharina Volk Fred K. Drogula. Cato the Younger: Life and Death at the End of the Roman Republic. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. Pp. xviii, 350. $35.00. ISBN 978-0-19-086902-1. In this first modern scholarly biography of Cato the Younger in English, Fred K. Drogula sets out to recover “the real Cato” (8) from the legends that accrued to this Roman aristocrat after his spectacular suicide at Utica in 46 bce. How did a man who did not reach the consulship, did not lead an army against Rome’s enemies, and did not have at his disposal great wealth or the most elevated family connections come to play such an outsized role in the events that led to the collapse of the Republic? Drogula’s answer: by sheer will-power, single-minded stubbornness, and the successful creation of a persona dedicated to what Cato believed to be the true mos maiorum. Through eight chapters, Drogula provides a detailed narrative of Cato’s life, beginning with a discussion of his family (Cato the Elder looms large as a role model for his great-grandson) and early years, and then tracing his progress through the cursus honorum and mission to Cyprus to the tense build-up to the Civil War and final defeat and death. This is one of the most fascinating but also most complicated stretches of Roman history, and Drogula’s highly readable account, with its admirably clear explanations especially of the chaotic events of the 50’s, can serve as a helpful introduction to the period even for those not primarily interested in the author’s protagonist. From early on, Cato was dedicated to upholding the traditional rule of the senate, opposed extraordinary commands, and was furthermore—Drogula suggests (not, it seems to me, on the strongest evidence)—motivated by a personal feud with Julius Caesar. As a result, he succeeded in making himself, from the late 60’s onwards, the unofficial leader of a hyper-conservative faction within the senate; he worked first against the Triumvirate and later specifically against Caesar, remaining inflexibly opposed (to the chagrin of a realpolitiker like Cicero) to any compromises with those he believed operated outside the unwritten Roman constitution. This policy may have been intended to force Caesar back into the senatorial fold, but it spectacularly backfired in January 49 bce, when Caesar—fed up with senatorial stonewalling—crossed the Rubicon and started [End Page 504] the Civil War. Cato had not wanted war and was horrified at the shedding of Roman blood; even so, he stuck it out until the bitter end at Utica. Drogula is very good at analyzing Cato’s self-fashioning. The senator was known for his idiosyncratic behavior and even attire, walking around without a tunic under his toga or even without shoes. He showed great personal courage in the violent melees in which members of the Roman ruling class were increasingly likely to find themselves in the mid-first century, but could also be outlandishly rude even to his friends and allies. Drogula suggests that Cato actively endeavored to promote himself as “the archconservative in Rome” (3) and consequently adopted the simple garb and stern behavior that he believed reflected the mos maiorum at its purest. This persona was highly successful, making Cato into a recognizable figure and inspiring confidence in his incorruptibility (even if, as Drogula points out, Cato like any good Roman abetted favoritism and bribery when it involved his own family members). The shortcoming of Drogula’s book, in my opinion, is the author’s adamant refusal to allow for Cato’s attitudes and actions having been influenced by his philosophical views. It is Drogula’s explicit purpose to rescue his protagonist from the label of Stoic martyr, which was affixed to him soon after his death and became ever more significant under the Empire (a process that is traced in the book’s epilogue). Drogula is at pains to reiterate that Cato was a champion of republican tradition, not Stoic doctrine, concluding the book by stating, “In all...