town of Tusculum. Little is known of his family except that it was
plebeian, and possessed a small patrimony in the territory of the Sabines,
close to the farm of M'. Curius Dentatus, one of Cato's great heroes and
models. The heads of the family, so far as memory extended, had
distinguished themselves as tough warriors and hardy farmers. Among the
Sabines, who even down to the times of the Empire were famed for simplicity
of manners and the practice of all the sterner virtues, Cato passed those
portions of his life which were not occupied with business of state. From
his earliest days he toiled in his own fields, and contented himself with
the hardest rustic life.[30] Yet even in his boyhood Cato must have passed
intervals at Rome, and seen something of the great statesmen and generals
of the time.[31] He seems to have received when young as thorough an
education as was possible without learning Greek, such an education as was
to be obtained only in the capital. He grew up to manhood in the
comparatively quiet period between the first and the second Punic wars; the
most exciting event of his younger years must have been the destruction at
Clastidium of the vast hordes of Celts who had swept over the northern half
of Italy, almost within reach of Rome.

Cato was of the age for military service about the time of the battle of
Lake Trasimenus, and entered the army then as a common soldier.[32] The
first expedition in which he is definitely said to have taken part is that
of Q. Fabius Maximus Cunctator against Hannibal in Campania, in 214.[33]
This Roman commander was a man entirely after Cato's heart, and became one
of his models in public life.

Before and during the early years of his soldier's life, Cato succeeded in
winning some reputation as an orator, having practised first in the
provincial courts near his home, and afterwards at Rome.[34] This
reputation as well as his great force of character procured for him a