XVIII.  The many were captivated by his persevering and unwearied industry:  for none of his colleagues went up earlier to the treasury or came away after him.  He never omitted attending any meeting of the people and of the Senate, for he feared and kept a watch on those who were ready to vote for remissions of debts and taxes and for gifts in favour of any body.  By proving that the treasury was inaccessible and free from intrigues, and full of money, he showed that they could be rich without doing wrong.  Though at first he appeared to be disliked by and odious to some of his colleagues, he afterwards gained their good-will by subjecting himself on behalf of them all to the hatred that was incurred by not giving away the public money and by not deciding dishonestly, and by furnishing them with an answer to those who preferred their requests and urged them, that nothing could be done if Cato did not consent.  On the last day of his office when he had been accompanied to his house by almost all the citizens, he heard that many who were intimate with Marcellus,[682] and men of influence, had fallen upon him at the treasury and having got round him were forcing him to sign a certain payment of money that was due.  Marcellus from his boyhood had been a friend of Cato and together with him had been a most excellent magistrate, but by himself he was easily led by others through false shame, and was ready to oblige any body.  Accordingly Cato immediately returned to the treasury, and finding that Marcellus had been prevailed upon to sign the payment asked for the tablets and erased what was written, while Marcellus stood by and said not a word.  Having done this Cato conducted him down from the treasury and put him in his house; and Marcellus neither then nor afterwards found fault with Cato, but continued on intimate terms with him all along.  Nor did Cato when he had quitted the treasury leave it destitute of protection, but slaves of his were there daily who copied out the transactions, and he himself purchased for five talents books which contained the public accounts from the times of Sulla to his own quaestorship, and he always had them in his hands.

XIX.  He used to go into the Senate house the first, and he was the last to come away; and often while the rest were slowly assembling, he would sit and read quietly, holding his toga before the book.  He never went abroad when there was to be a meeting of the Senate; but afterwards when Pompeius saw that Cato could not be prevailed upon, and could never be brought to comply with the unjust measures on which he was intent, he used to contrive to engage him in giving his aid to some friend in a matter before the courts, or in arbitrations, or in discharging some business.  But Cato quickly perceiving his design, refused all such engagements and made it a rule to do nothing else while the Senate was assembled.  For it was neither for the sake of reputation, nor self-aggrandisement, nor by a kind of spontaneous