Quora Answer: How Can I Speak like Cato?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “How can I speak like Cato?”

That is a very specific unspecific question.

Firstly, which “Cato”?  Was it Cato the Elder, Marcus Porcius Cato, the Roman senator, consul and historian?  Or, are you referring to his grandson, Cato the Younger, Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis, also a senator and a Stoic?  Both were great orators, although Cato the Elder was known more for his writings, whereas Cato the Younger for his oratory.

Cato the Younger is more famous, due to his opposition to Caesar, and defence of the Roman Republic.  He was unsuccessful, and committed suicide ,rather than tolerate living in a world where Caesar was emperor in all but name.  I would assume you are referring to Cato the Younger.

Secondly, the only thing we know about speaking like Cato was that he spoke Classical Latin, which is a dead language.  There are no recordings, there is little that survives of his own speeches since they were spontaneous, and not pre-planned.  What we know is from the works of people who were part of the political drama of his time, and had their own agendas, such as Cicero and Caesar; or the works of people that came long after him, such as Virgil or Seneca.  What we do not have, is his body of speeches.

What you should be asking is how to be an orator who is known long after his time.  For Cato, it was his unyielding principles and incorruptible nature.  He lived by them, and he died by them.  And because of this, he spoke with gravity and credibility.  He was a man of substance, who spoke substance.  In this case, we remember him by the values he held, and not the words that lived on after him.  If you want to “speak” like him, then be like him.