[1] And now Pompey returned with great prestige from his expedition,
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and since the splendour and warmth of his reception led him to believe that he could get whatever he wanted from his fellow citizens, he sent forward a demand that the senate postpone the consular elections, in order that he might be present in person and assist Piso in making his canvass.
[2] The majority of the senators were inclined to yield. Cato, however, who did not regard the postponement as the chief matter at issue, but wished to cut short the attempt and the expectations of Pompey, opposed the measure and changed the opinions of the senators, so that they rejected it. This disturbed Pompey not a little, and considering that Cato would be a great stumbling-block in his way unless he were made a friend, he sent for Munatius, Cato’s companion, and asked the elder of Cato’s two marriageable nieces to wife for himself, and the younger for his son.
[3] Some say, however, that it was not for Cato’s nieces, but for his daughters, that the suit was made. When Munatius brought this proposal to Cato and his wife and sisters, the women were overjoyed at thought of the alliance, in view of the greatness and high repute of Pompey; Cato, however, without pause or deliberation, but stung to the quick, said at once:
[4]
Go, Munatius, go, and tell Pompey that Cato is not to be captured by way of the women’s apartments although he highly prizes Pompey’s good will, and if Pompey does justice will grant him a friendship more to be relied upon than any marriage connection; but he will not give hostages for the glory of Pompey to the detriment of his country.
At these words the women were vexed, and Cato’s friends blamed his answer as both rude and overbearing.
[5] Afterwards, however, in trying to secure the consulship for one of his friends,
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Pompey sent money to the tribes, and the bribery was notorious, since the sums for it were counted out in his gardens. Accordingly, when Cato told the women that he must of necessity have shared in the disgrace of such transactions, had he been connected with Pompey by marriage, they admitted that he had taken better counsel in rejecting the alliance.
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[6] However, if we are to judge by the results, it would seem that Cato was wholly wrong in not accepting the marriage connection, instead of allowing Pompey to turn to Caesar and contract a marriage which united the power of the two men, nearly overthrew the Roman state, and destroyed the constitution. None of these things perhaps would have happened, had not Cato been so afraid of the slight transgressions of Pompey as to allow him to commit the greatest of all, and add his power to that of another.
Cato the Younger. Plutarch. Bernadotte Perrin (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1919.
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