Cato the Younger

Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis built a career on incorruptibility in an age when Roman politics ran on bribes and backroom deals. As quaestor in 63 BC he managed Rome's finances with unusual honesty; as tribune the next year he expanded the grain dole and forced generals to surrender their armies before running for office. A Stoic who treated principle as non-negotiable, he spent the late Republic blocking the ambitions of Pompey and Caesar, frustrating their legislative programs and alliances. His uncompromising tactics helped drive those rivals into the First Triumvirate — the very consolidat…