Personality
Stubborn and proud, Cato first appears in the series at the senate meeting demanding to know from Pompey Magnus why Caesar was still in Gaul saying, "his illegal war is over!"
At the beginning of the series, Cato believes that the republic lives as long as people like him are prepared to fight for it, however he appears to despise non-aristocratic Romans viewing them as cattle: indirectly undermining the democracy he values replying to Metellus Scipio's: "What a dreadful noise Plebs make when they're happy..." by saying: "This is music. Wait until Caesar starts them howling for our blood – then you'll hear something dreadful."
When the civil wars begin, Marcus Junius Brutus, Marcus Tullius Cicero and Metellus Scipio try to persuade Pompey accept a truce with Caesar. Cato is the only one who refuses to end the war, seeing right through Caesar's "truce" saying: "Don't you see? He's trying to put a wedge between us!"
After the battle of Pharsalus, Cato is one of the few remaining patricians who is willing to fight on against Caesar. Eventually towards the end of the series, following his and Scipio's defeat at Thapsus, he begins to lose faith in his belief and even asks Scipio to try to make peace with Caesar. He appears very different from the stubborn and proud Cato from earlier in the series, and even speaks fairly humorously to Scipio. For example, when Scipio states that where there is life, there is hope, Cato replies: "I think, if anything, we have disproved that proverb, old friend". Determined not to surrender, Cato proves to be honourable and brave, as he kills himself in order to ensure that Caesar won't have the chance of humiliating him.
Read more about this topic: Cato The Younger (Rome Character)
Famous quotes containing the word personality:
“It is in our interests to let the police and their employers go on believing that the Underground is a conspiracy, because it increases their paranoia and their inability to deal with what is really happening. As long as they look for ringleaders and documents they will miss their mark, which is that proportion of every personality which belongs in the Underground.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“From infancy, a growing girl creates a tapestry of ever-deepening and ever- enlarging relationships, with her self at the center. . . . The feminine personality comes to define itself within relationship and connection, where growth includes greater and greater complexities of interaction.”
—Jeanne Elium (20th century)
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)