Comparison of Aristides and Marcus Cato

Freedom from ambition is no slight requisite for the gentleness which should mark a statesman; and, on the contrary, ambition is harsh, and the greatest fomenter of envy. From this spirit Aristides was wholly free, whereas Cato was very full of it. For example, Aristides co-operated with Themistocles in his greatest achievements, and as one might say, stood guard over him while he was in command, and thereby saved Athens;

while Cato, by his opposition to Scipio, almost vitiated and ruined that wonderful campaign of his against the Carthaginians, in which he overthrew the invincible Hannibal,[*](At Zama, 202 B.C.) and finally, by perpetually inventing all sorts of suspicions and calumnies against him, drove him out of Rome, and brought down on his brother’s head a most shameful condemnation for embezzlement.