Marcus Cato

He once wished to dissuade the Roman people from insisting unseasonably upon a distribution of corn, and began his speech with these words: It is a hard matter, my fellow citizens, to argue with the belly, since it has no ears. Again, inveighing against the prevalent extravagance, he said: It is a hard matter to save a city in which a fish sells for more than an ox.

Again, he said the Romans were like sheep; for as these are not to be persuaded one by one, but all in a body blindly follow their leaders, so ye, he said, though as individuals ye would not deign to follow the counsels of certain men, when ye are got together ye suffer yourselves to be led by them. Discoursing on the power of women, he said: All other men rule their wives; we rule all other men, and our wives rule us. This, however, is a translation from the sayings of Themistocles.[*](Themistocles, xviii. 4.)