Here's a brief selection of several motifs we found in Plutarch's Life of Cato during our last discussion - paragraphs are as numbered in this online edition. I'm sure I'm omitting some things we talked about - please feel free to email with more:
The serious child willing and ready to kill the feared Sulla;
the assiduous public servant and government watchdog;
observer, watcher, auditor: (para. 9 - Munatius; 12 - cities; 16 - Quaestorship; 18 - the treasury; 19 - proverbial for reliable witness; 21 - his monitor doesn't bother to watch him)
the political insider more like an outsider;
a certain strangeness;
the military man who seems both footsoldier and commander;
developing credibility,
annoying friends and foes, unafraid to speak his mind and to accuse even mighty Caesar to his face in public;
extreme love, excessive mourning for his brother;
apparently distant to many who yet wanted to gain his good opinion;
curious business with his second wife, Marcia;
refusing to compromise with any side or interest, deeply committed to those in his care, harsh at times;
yet capable of gracious humor;
a contrarian toward teachers and a fashion disaster;
a public voice that grows increasingly prescient, if not prophetic, in its discernment of the ambitions of Pompey and Caesar -- becoming the conscience of the republic;
a figure of abrasive integrity;
radically suspicious of men and of power, pledged to the liberties guaranteed by the Republic;
lethally opposed to despots, kings, and dictators;
untouched by any lesser cause, interest, or bias;
wears mourning for the Res Publica;
guardian of Utica
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