Cato the Younger

And when Cato said not a word, but by his silence and the look on his face seemed to refuse the request, Pompaedius lifted him up through a window, as if he would cast him out, and ordered him to consent, or he would throw him down, at the same time making the tone of his voice harsher, and frequently shaking the boy as he held his body out at the window.

But when Cato had endured this treatment for a long time without showing fright or fear, Pompaedius put him down, saying quietly to his friends: What a piece of good fortune it is for Italy that he is a boy; for if he were a man, I do not think we could get a single vote among the people.[*](This incident must have happened, if at all, in 91 B.C. when Cato was four years old; but it need not be inferred that he had already formed an opinion on public affairs. The story is told also in Valerius Maximus, iii. 1, 2.)

At another time a relation of his who was celebrating a birthday, invited Cato and other boys to supper, and the company were diverting themselves at play in a separate part of the house, older and younger together, their play being actions at law, accusations, and the conducting of the condemned persons to prison.