Question 1

True or false: Cato the Elder was assassinated by a slave he had mistreated for years.

Accepted Answer

False. Cato died of natural causes around 149 BCE at age 85; his harsh treatment of slaves was a fact, but it didn't lead to his murder.

Question 2

True or false: Cato the Elder once forced a political rival to drink poison in the Senate.

Accepted Answer

False. This never happened; Cato was known for harsh rhetoric, not direct violence—his rival Scipio Africanus died peacefully in exile.

Question 3

True or false: Cato the Elder was a strict father who taught his son everything from farming to oratory himself.

Accepted Answer

True. Cato personally educated his son, writing textbooks on agriculture, medicine, and rhetoric—a rare hands-on approach for a Roman noble.

Question 4

True or false: Cato the Elder ended every speech with 'Carthage must be destroyed.'

Accepted Answer

True. Cato famously concluded many Senate speeches with 'Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam,' pushing for Rome to destroy Carthage entirely.

Question 5

True or false: Cato the Elder once wrestled a bear to prove Roman superiority over Greeks.

Accepted Answer

False. No such event is recorded; Cato despised Greek culture, but his opposition was intellectual, not physical—he mocked Greek philosophers.

Question 6

True or false: Cato the Elder introduced the first Roman law banning women from wearing purple.

Accepted Answer

True. He supported the Lex Oppia, which restricted women's luxury clothing, though it was repealed in 195 BCE after protests.

Question 7

True or false: Cato the Elder owned a pet lion that he trained to attack his enemies.

Accepted Answer

False. No record exists of Cato owning a lion; he was a frugal farmer who scorned foreign luxuries, especially exotic animals.

Question 8

True or false: Cato the Elder wrote the first comprehensive history of Rome in Latin.

Accepted Answer

True. His 'Origines' was the first Latin historical work covering Rome's early days, though only fragments survive today.

Cato the Elder Trivia Questions