Suicide In The Family—Cato The Younger And Porcia Catonis

(Left: The suicide of Cato the Younger by Charles Le Brun  (1619–1690), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons. Right: The Suicide of Porcia by Pierre Mignard  (1612–1695), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

Marcus Porcius Cato, better known as Cato the Younger (95-46 BCE), was a brilliant Roman statesman who spent his life fighting against corruption and defending the status quo of the Roman Republic against prospective dictators, such as Julius Caesar and Pompey. The interesting life and accomplishments of Cato deserve (and will get) an article of their own, but for now, all that really needs to be known about Cato is that he was, along with Cicero, one of the key politicians in the Roman Senate that sided against Julius Caesar during the long Roman Civil Wars.

In 46 BCE, Cato must have known that the Roman Republic, as he knew it, was coming to an end. Pompey the Great had already been defeated by Caesar and was assassinated in Egypt. The other extremely skilled general, Labienus, had just lost a major battle in North Africa against Caesar at Thapsus (read about how Caesar prepared for Thapsus, HERE). From his position in Utica, located in modern day Tunisia, Cato could only observe as the Roman Republic fell, once again, into the hands of a dictator.

While most of Caesar’s armed opponents fled to Spain after the Battle of Thapsus, Cato remained where he was in Utica. There, the hopeless politician decided to end his life, no matter what it took to get the job done. The accounts of Cato’s suicide given by Plutarch, Dio Cassius and Julius Caesar, himself, leave behind a very grisly and disturbing scene.

After the Battle of Thapsus, the usually charismatic and gregarious Cato shockingly became bizarrely introverted and calm. He checked that the finances of Utica were all tidy, and then withdrew from governing the city.

Cato’s friends and family, suspicious of the statesman’s sudden change of character, followed him home and kept a constant watch on the man. They even searched Cato’s home, locking away all the dangerous instruments they could find. Nevertheless, Cato somehow found a knife.

On a certain day, after having just finished an evening meal with his comrades, Cato retired to his room to read. That night, it is said he read Cicero’s entire Phaedo, a collection of arguments for the immortality of the soul. After reading his final book, Cato produced a knife that he had managed to hide from his friends and vigorously stabbed himself in the gut. Losing strength and consciousness, Cato fell to the floor with enough force to alert his nearby friends.

The already wary friends and family rushed into the room, staunched the bleeding and quickly brought in a doctor to stich up the knife-wound. Miraculously, the doctor stabilized the statesman. Cato, however, eventually regained consciousness, and he was determined to die. With his own two hands, he ripped open the doctor’s stitches and brought about his death by yanking out his own innards, one handful at a time.

After Cato’s suicide, his young daughter, named Porcia Catonis, married a certain zealot for the Republic named Brutus. Once married, she reportedly joined the conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar, and her husband, Brutus, was one of the men who stabbed the dictator to death on the Ides of March in 44 BCE. Brutus, however, was hunted down by Caesar’s successors in the next generation of the Roman Civil War by 42 BCE, and he committed suicide as Octavian and Mark Antony closed in. His wife, Porcia Catonis (Cato’s daughter), also allegedly committed suicide around this time. The most popular accounts of her death either involve suicide by sealing herself in a room with noxious smoke, or by gruesomely swallowing live coals.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Sources:

• War Commentaries by Gaius Julius Caesar and Aulus Hirtius, translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn, 2014.
• Julius Caesar by Philip Freeman. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2008. 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marcus-Porcius-Cato-Roman-senator-95-46-BC 
• http://listverse.com/2011/10/20/15-interesting-women-of-ancient-rome/ 
• https://philosophy-of-cbt.com/2013/12/11/lady-stoics-1-porcia-catonis/ 
• http://www.onthisday.com/people/porcia-catonis  

Almost Every Major Figure Tied to the Roman Civil War Between Caesar and Pompey Died A Violent Death

(Cato, Cicero, Pompey, Brutus, Caesar, Crassus, Cleopatra, Mark Antony)

The 1^st century BCE was a bloody time in history. This was especially the case for people who were involved in Julius Caesar’s rise and fall in Rome. Assassination, death in battle and suicide were common ends for the numerous people playing the dangerous game of imperial politics.

One of the first deaths of Caesar’s political partners was that of Crassus in 53 BCE, who died under a volley of arrows launched by skilled Parthian archers. That was the first death of a member of the First Triumvirate between Caesar, Pompey and Crassus. From there, Caesar’s alliances only continued to deteriorate. One of his best generals, Labienus, left his side to the faction of Pompey and the conservative senators, Cato and Cicero.

Caesar fought an intense war against Pompey, in which he was continuously outnumbered in battles from one side of the Mediterranean to the other. Despite the setbacks, Caesar’s ability to always do the unexpected, and the resolve of his elite, veteran troops allowed him to repeatedly put Pompey on the defensive. When Pompey lost a major battle to Caesar at Pharsalus, he fled to Egypt. When Pompey arrived, the Egyptians, wishing to gain the support of Caesar, had Pompey assassinated in 48 BCE.

Though Pompey was dead, the war was not over for Caesar. He invaded North Africa and defeated a combination of Roman and Numidian forces. Hearing of Caesar’s victories, Cato felt his cause was hopeless. Rather than be pardoned or punished by Caesar he attempted suicide—he gutted himself with a knife in 46 BCE, but his friends found him and were somehow able to stitch him back together. Cato survived that attempt, but when he regained consciousness, he tore at his stitches and succeeded in killing himself.

There were still legions hostile to Caesar in Spain. Caesar defeated them, and in the process, killed his former war friend, Labienus, at the Battle of Munda in 45 BCE. With Spain pacified, Caesar could enjoy power. He had very little time to experience sole rule of Rome, however, for he was assassinated in 44 BCE.

Upon Caesar’s death, his admirers and loyalists took power in a Second Triumvirate. Octavian, Caesar’s grand-nephew (and adopted son), allied with Caesar’s trusted military aid, Mark Antony and the politician Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.

The Second Triumvirate hunted down the assassins who killed Caesar and also eliminated some of the people who criticized the deceased dictator. The great statesman and orator, Cicero, was assassinated in 43 BCE, and the main conspirators, Brutus and Cassius, who killed Caesar, were hunted down and driven to commit suicide after being defeated in battle at Philippi in 42 BCE.

The bloodshed continued in 31 BCE, when Octavian declared war on Cleopatra and Mark Antony. After Octavian’s victory in the Battle of Actium, Mark Antony committed suicide, and Cleopatra followed his example, soon after. With his competitors to power dead, Octavian named himself Augustus and became the first emperor of Rome.

Written by C. Keith Hansley
thehistorianshut.com

Source:

• Julius Caesar by Philip Freeman. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2008.