Changes

Cato the Elder was critical in Roman history because he caused the downfall of the great general Scipio Africanus, his campaign to maintain traditional values, and his conservative social policies. He was also a great writer and one of the pioneers of Latin literature. Perhaps his most important contribution to history was his role in the final destruction of Carthage.

====Early Life of Cato the Elder====

All his life he was committed to hardening his body, but he was also extremely well-educated for the time. The young man was called away from his farm to serve in the Roman army during the Second Punic War. Cato was a brave and capable soldier, and he made an important contribution to the defeat of the Carthaginians at the crucial Battle of Metaurus (207 BC). He was an imposing figure, and his devotion to the ascetic ideals of the Romans won him the respect of many of his peers and made him popular. Livy describes him as ‘undoubtedly a man of a rough temper and a bitter and unbridled tongue, an absolute master of his passions, of inflexible integrity, and indifferent alike to wealth and popularity.’ <ref> Livy, The History of Rome, 39: 40</ref>

====The Political and military career of Cato====

====References====

<references/>