tem. He died before Rome, in the third Punic War, could carry out his famous demand that
Karthago delenda est.
Cato’s most significant contributions to Roman culture was Latin prose, which he essen-
tially invented as a literary form. His Origins was the first history of Rome composed in
Latin, while his works To my Son and Recital on Conduct were the first Latin ethical treatises. He
also wrote about civil law and military affairs, and was the earliest Roman orator known to
have published his speeches (he reportedly never lost a case in court). In his day Rome was
already possessed by an enthusiasm for Greek culture, hence Cato’s purpose was not so
much to introduce the Romans to literature as to make them less reliant on foreigners for it.
The one product of Cato’s pen to survive complete is his De Agricultura. The audience for
this work consisted of wealthy landowners like himself who owned several large estates in
different parts of Italy and were interested in acquiring more. This growing interest seems
to have created a demand for better information on farming; shortly after Cato’s death,
the Roman Senate ordered that the 28 volumes on agriculture ascribed to Mago the
Carthaginian be translated into Latin (cf. D U). Cato describes individual
estates which are between 60 and 150 acres in size; he seems to have owned at least six
different ones.
The first noteworthy feature of his work is its organization, or lack of such. After a brief
piece of praise for the life of the citizen-farmer, Cato launches into his subject with no
obvious plan. Topics are frequently repeated and discussions are broken up, e.g. advice on
how to process olives occurs in chapters 3, 31, 52, 54, 55, 64–69, and 93. Given this
disorganization, the conclusion has sometimes been drawn that the work represents, wholly
or in part, a compilation made after Cato’s death; yet lack of flow would hardly present any
difficulty to the energetic reader Cato seems to imagine himself addressing. Also distinctive
is the treatise’s explicitness about numbers: Cato prescribes exactly how many slaves one
should assign to particular tasks, details the size of the rations to be distributed to workers
and animals, and even lists the number of tools each building on the farm should have
(cf. 10 ff.). He also offers several specimen contracts for the letting out of work on the farm.
Such specifics make the work a crucial document for our understanding of the ancient
economy.
Cato devotes little space to the production of cereals; vines, olives, and orchards absorb
most of his attention, either because they were the most profitable forms of agriculture, or
because there was a greater demand for technical knowledge on these subjects. For these
crops Cato details at length the efforts required, describing the specialized equipment which
wine- and oil-making demand, incorporating a complete calendar of annual tasks, and
explaining the techniques of transplanting, grafting, and layering. He gives a long list of
practical uses for amurca, a viscous by-product of olive oil production, and offers directions
for making six varieties of flavored wine. Towards the end of the treatise he includes
numerous medical recipes, in many of which the magical or superstitious element is
pronounced; cabbage is praised, highly and at great length, for its medicinal virtues
(cf. M K).
Cato’s treatise is of some interest for the history of technology. His recommendations for
olive oil production include a detailed set of instructions for building a press, the most
innovative feature of which is its levered drum, which when turned pulls a rope that lowers
the press-beam onto the fruit (18). Working models of the “Catonian press” have been
constructed based on his account, and examples have even been uncovered at Pompeii. Also
described in considerable detail is a rotary olive-crusher called a trapetum; Cato even gives
M. PORCIUS CATO OF TUSCULUM