among them six hundred deserters from the
Roman army, he put them to death. When Scipio expressed his
dissatisfaction with this, Cato sarcastically answered, that Rome
would be greatest if those of high birth and station, and those of
plebeian origin like himself, would only contend with one another in
virtue. However, as the Senate decreed that nothing that Cato had
settled in the province should be altered or rearranged, Scipio found
that it was he rather than Cato that was disgraced, as he had to pass
his time in inglorious idleness, while Cato, after enjoying a triumph,
did not retire into a life of luxury and leisure, as is done by so
many men whose object is display rather than true virtue, after they
have risen to the highest honours in the state by being elected
consuls and enjoying the honour of a triumph. He did not impair the
glorious example which he had given, by withdrawing his attention from
the affairs of his country, but offered his services to his friends
and fellow-countrymen, both in the courts of law and in the field, as
willingly as those who have just begun their public career, and are
keenly eager to be elected to some new office in which they may win
fresh distinction.

XII. He went with the consul Tiberius Sempronius as legate, and
assisted him in regulating the country about the Danube and Thrace;
and he also served as military tribune under Manius Acilius during his
campaign in Greece against Antiochus the Great, who caused more terror
to the Romans than any one man since the time of Hannibal. Antiochus
had originally inherited nearly the whole of Asia, that is, as much as
Seleukus Nikator had possessed, and having added many warlike tribes
to his empire, was so elated by his conquests as to attack the Romans,
whom he regarded as the only nation remaining in the whole world which
was worthy to be his antagonist. He put forward as a plausible reason
for beginning the war that he intended to liberate the Greeks, who did
not require his interference, as they had just been made free and
independent by the Romans, who had delivered them from the tyranny of
Philip and the Macedonians. Antiochus crossed over into Greece, which
at once became unsettled, and a prey to hopes and fears suggested by
her political leaders. Manius at once sent ambassadors to the various
cities. Titus Flamininus, as has been related in his Life, restrained
the greater part of them from revolutionary proceedings, and kept t