done by Lucius Lucullus or Metellus Pius, abandon public life when he grew old, and think that it was a burden to take part in politics; still less did he imitate Scipio Africanus, who some years before had proudly turned his back on the people who grudged him the glory he had won, and spent the rest of his life in ease and retirement.  Some one is said to have told Dionysius of Syracuse that an absolute monarchy is the best thing for a man to die in, and so Cato seemed to think that political life was the best for him to grow old in, while he amused himself in his leisure moments by writing and farming.

XXV.  He compiled works on various subjects, especially on history.  Farming he applied himself to when very young, on account of his poverty, for he himself tells us that he had only two sources of income, farming and frugality.  In later life he derived both amusement and instruction from watching the operations of agriculture, and he has written a farmer’s manual, in which there is even an account of how to cook cakes and preserve fruits, so desirous was he to show a thorough knowledge of every subject.  His table was never so well served as when he was in the country; for he used to invite all his friends and acquaintances from the neighbourhood, and make himself very agreeable to them, as he was a pleasant companion not only to men of his own age, but also to the young, having in the course of his long life seen and heard from others much that was interesting and curious.  He regarded the table as the best means of forming friendships, and when dining used to praise the good without stint, but never would allow the names of worthless men to be mentioned, either by way of praise or blame, at his entertainments.

XXVI.  The last of his political acts is said to have been the destruction of Carthage.  This was actually brought to pass by Scipio the Younger, but it was chiefly owing to the counsels of Cato that the war was begun.  His reason for insisting on its destruction was this.  He was sent on a mission to Africa to investigate the grounds of a quarrel which existed between the Carthaginians and Masinissa, the king of the Numidians.  Masinissa had always been the friend of Rome, whereas the Carthaginians, after their defeat by Scipio, had been subjected to hard conditions, having lost their sovereignty over the neighbouring tribes, and having been compelled to pay a large sum as tribute to Rome.  Cato, however, found the city, not, as the Romans imagined it to be, crushed by its recent overthrow, but full of young men, overflowing with wealth, well provided with arms and munitions of war, and, as may be expected, full of warlike spirit.  He concluded that it was no time for the Romans to arbitrate about the grievances of Masinissa and his Numidians, but that, unless they at once destroyed a city which bore them an undying hatred and which had recovered its strength in an incredibly short space of time, they would have as