On Old Age, On Friendship, On Divination

5. TIME OF THE DIALOGUE AND ITS INTERLOCUTORS

The discussion is supposed to occur in the year 150 B.C., between Cato, then 84, Scipio, then 35, and Laelius,¹ then about 36.

MARCUS PORCIUS CATO, who was born at Tusculum in 234 B.C., served under Fabius Maximus as a private soldier in the campaign against Hannibal in Campania in 214, and as a military tribune in the siege of Tarentum in 209. He was elected quaestor in 204, plebeian aedile in 199, praetor in 198, and consul in 195. In 194 he celebrated a triumph for his victories in Spain.

In the war against Antiochus he was on the staff of the consul Marcus Acilius Glabrio, and distinguished himself at the Battle of Thermopylae in 191. In 184 he was censor with Flaccus and began his struggles against the lax morals of the day. He degraded seven senators, and exerted all his power to stem the tide of luxury and extravagance. Going as an envoy to Carthage in 157, he returned full of alarm at its prosperity and always thereafter, it is said, concluded every speech with the words ceterum censeo delendam esse Carthaginem original: "Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed". He died in 149. In addition to his ability as a farmer, soldier, statesman and orator, Cato had considerable literary talent. He published 150 speeches, a book of witticisms, a treatise entitled De re rustica original: "On Agriculture", works on legal subjects and a history of Rome from its foundation to the year 150 B.C., entitled Origines original: "Origins".

PUBLIUS SCIPIO AFRICANUS MINOR was born about 185 B.C. He was the son by birth of Lucius Aemilius

¹ For a sketch of Laelius see Lael. Introd, pp. 104-105.