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Cato (the Elder)

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Politician

The Resume

    (234 BC-149)
    Born in Tusculum, Italy
    Real name: Marcus Porcius Cato
    Roman politician and general
    Great-grandfather of Cato the Younger
    Held many public offices in the Roman Empire including; Tribune, Censor, Praetor, and Consul

Why he might be annoying:

    He treated slaves and women with contempt and brutal discipline.
    He brutally crushed the peoples of modern day Spain during his campaigns there.
    He hated Scipio Africanus and interfered with his invasion of North Africa during the Second Punic War.
    He hated the Greeks, called them worthless, favored banning their literature, and forbid them from the practice of medicine believing that they became doctors so they could grow rich killing Romans.
    As can be discerned, to put it mildly he was a bit of a control freak.
    He ended all of his public speeches with 'Carthago delenda est' Latin for 'Carthage must be destroyed.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He crushed a Seleucid invasion of Greece at the Battle of Thermopylae in 191 BC, ending any serious threat of invasion of Europe from Asia until the rise of Islam.
    He was popular among his troops due largely to his living and eating with them and literally fighting side by side with them.
    He had a well-deserved reputation for personal honesty.
    When he became governor of Sardinia, he exiled loan sharks, cut expenses and ran a frugal and honest administration.
    He was the first major prose writer in Latin, wrote the first history of Italy in Latin and a popular manual of farming.
    Cato was a word for practical wisdom and was added to his family's name as an honor from Rome.
    For a country boy with no connections he did quite well for himself.

Credit: tom_jeffords


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 13 Votes: 61.54% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 14 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 13 Votes: 46.15% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 58 Votes: 65.52% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 11 Votes: 63.64% Annoying