A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

6. M.PorciusCato, son of No. 3, and father of Cato of Utica. He was a friend of Sulla, whose proscriptions he did not live to see. He was tribunus plebis, and died when a candidate for the praetorship. (Gel. 13.19; Plut. Cat. Mi. 1_3.) Cicero, in discussing how far a vendor is bound to disclose to a purchaser the defects of the thing sold, mentions a decision of Cato on the trial of an actio arbitraria, in which Calpurnius was plaintiff and Claudius defendant. The plaintiff, having been ordered by the augurs to pull down his house on the Mons Caelia because it obstructed the auspices, sold it to the defendant without giving notice of the order. The defendant was obliged to obey a similar order, and brought an action to recover damages for the fraud. Upon these facts, Cato decided in favour of the purchaser. (De Off. 3.16.)