You should take care, too, that your wife does not neglect her
duties. Make her fear you. Do not let her indulge in luxury. She
should see as little as possible of her neighbours and other
female friends; she should not entertain at home or go out to
dinner, or waste time in walks. Do not let her sacrifice, or
depute any one else to sacrifice, without the orders of her master
or mistress; for it must be understood that the master sacrifices
for all the household. She should be neat, and keep the house neat
and swept, and every day, before she goes to bed, she should see
that the hearth is clean and the ashes gathered on to the embers.
On days of festival, Kalends, Nones, or Ides, she should lay a
garland on the hearth and during the same days offer up prayer to
the Lar of the house for plenty. It is her business to see that
food is cooked for you and everybody else, and to keep a good
supply of poultry and eggs.

Cato, _De Re Rustica_, v. 1-5; cxliii. 1-2.

[Illustration: THE SHRINE OF THE LAR
from a house in Pompeii]

This same just but hard and ungenerous spirit is seen in Cato's public
life. As Censor he had the right to strike off the roll of senators men
who were in any respect unworthy. In doing this Cato was fearless. He
attacked the most popular men in Rome and did not yield an inch when
there was a howl against him. Public money was to him as sacred as
private, and ought, he held, to be husbanded in the same careful way.
Thus he attacked the brother of Scipio Africanus, because, as he said,
he had spent more than he ought on his campaigns. He admired Scipio
greatly. Cato was far too intelligent not to appreciate his high
qualities of mind and character: but he thought him a new and therefore
dangerous kind of man.

Fifty years after the battle of Zama the Carthaginians, who were not
allowed by the treaty to make war without the permission of Rome, sent
an appeal for protection against Masannasa, the King of Numidia, who had
gradually been encroaching on their territory. A Commission was sent out
from Rome to inquire, with Cato at its head. Cato came back possessed by
one idea, which never afterwards left him. 'Carthage must be destroyed.
Rome would not be safe until it was blotted out.' When it was pointed
out to him that the city was in no sense dangerous to Rome, that it had
practically no arms, absolutely no fleet, and had shown in fifty years
no sort of desire