for the memory of his brother, had inspired his actions.  His eloquence was such as left him without a rival:  in his diction, what a noble splendour! in his sentiments, what elevation! and in the whole of his manner, what weight and dignity!  His compositions, it is true, are not retouched with care; they want the polish of the last hand; what is well begun, is seldom highly finished; and yet he, if any one, deserves to be the study of the Roman youth.  In him they will find what can, at once, quicken their genius, and enrich the understanding. Damnum enim, illius immaturo interitu, res Romanae, Latinaeque literae fecerunt.  Utinam non tam fratri pietatem, quam patriae praestare voluisset.  Eloquentia quidem nescio an habuisset parem:  grandis est verbis, sapiens sententiis, genere toto gravis.  Manus extrema non accessit operibus ejus; praeclare inchoata multa, perfecta non plane.  Legendus est hic orator, si quisquam alius, juventuti; non enim solum acuere, sed etiam alere ingenium potest. De Claris Orat. s. 125, 126.

[e] This is the celebrated Marcus Portius Cato, commonly known by the name of Cato the censor.  He was quaestor under Scipio, who commanded against the Carthaginians, A.U.C. 548.  He rose through the regular gradations of the magistracy to the consulship.  When praetor, he governed the province of Sardinia, and exerted himself in the reform of all abuses introduced by his predecessors.  From his own person, and his manner of living, he banished every appearance of luxury.  When he had occasion to visit the towns that lay within his government, he went on foot, clothed with the plainest attire, without a vehicle following him, or more than one servant, who carried the robe of office, and a vase, to make libations at the altar.  He sat in judgement with the dignity of a magistrate, and punished every offence with inflexible rigour.  He had the happy art of uniting in his own person two things almost incompatible; namely, strict severity and sweetness of manners.  Under his administration, justice was at once terrible and amiable.  Plutarch relates that he never wore a dress that cost more than thirty shillings; that his wine was no better than what was consumed by his slaves; and that by leading a laborious life, he meant to harden his constitution for the service of his country.  He never ceased to condemn the luxury of the times.  On this subject a remarkable apophthegm is recorded by Plutarch; It is impossible, said Cato, to save a city, in which a single fish sells for more money than an ox. The account given of him by Cicero in the Cato Major, excites our veneration of the man.  He was master of every liberal art, and every branch of science, known in that age.  Some men rose to eminence by their skill in jurisprudence; others by their eloquence; and a great number by their military talents.  Cato shone in all alike.  The patricians were often leagued against him, but his virtue and his eloquence were a match for the proudest connections.