[133] "Go and tell the
Samnites," said he, "that Curius prefers commanding those who have
gold to having it himself." These are some of the anecdotes that they
used to tell about the generals of the olden time. True or false,
these legends exhibit the ideas that were current in Rome at a later
time regarding the ancient Romans.
=Cato the Elder.=--At the time when manners were changing, one man
made himself notable by his attachment to the "customs of the
fathers." This was Cato. He was born in 232[134] in the little village
of Tusculum and had spent his youth in manual labor. Entering the
army, according to the usage of the time, at the age of seventeen, he
fought in all the campaigns against Hannibal. He was not noble, but he
made himself popular by his energy, his probity, and his austerity.
He passed through the whole course of political honors--quaestor,
aedile, praetor, consul, and censor. He showed himself everywhere, like
the old Romans, rude, stern, and honest. As quaestor he remonstrated
with the consul about his expenses; but the consul, who was Scipio,
replied to him, "I have no need of so exact a quaestor.
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