Căto, ōnis, m. [1. catus], a cognomen of several celebrated Romans in the gens Porcia, Valeria, Vettia al.
I M. Porcius Cato the elder , distinguished as a rigid judge of morals; hence with the appel. Censorius; whose most celebrated works were the Origines and De Re Rustica, Cic. de Or. 3, 33, 135; Liv. 31, 1 sqq.; Plin. 7, 27, 28, § 100; 7, 30, 31, § 112; cf., concerning him, Bernhardy, Röm. Litt. p. 521 sq.; 650; Bähr, Lit. Gesch. p. 515; 258; 354 al.; Ellendt, Cic. Brut. p. xix.-xxv.—As appel. of a severe judge, Mart. 1, prooem. fin. ; Phaedr. 4, 7, 21.—Hence,
B Cătōnĭānus , a, um, adj., of Cato : familia, Cic. Q. Fr. 4, 6, 5: aetas, Sen. Tranq. 7, 5: illa (i. e. praecepta), id. Ep. 94, 27: lingua, i. e. of high morality , Mart. 9, 27, 14.—
II His descendant , M. Porcius Cato the younger , the enemy of Caesar , who committed suicide after the battle of Pharsalia , at Utica; hence with the appel. Uticensis.—
B Cătōnīni , ōrum, m., the adherents or friends of Cato , Cic. Fam. 7, 25, 1; cf. catonium.—Concerning both, and the Porcian family in gen., v. Gell. 13, 20 Hertz, p. 19 Bip.—On account of their serious and austere character, serious , or gloomy , morose men are called Catones, Sen. Ep. 120, 19; cf. Juv. 2, 40; Phaedr. 4, 7, 21; Petr. 132.—
III Valerius Cato, a celebrated grammarian of Gaul , and poet of the time of Sulla , Cat. 56; Ov. Tr. 2, 436; Suet. Gram. 2; 4; 11.—
IV Dionysius Cato, author of the Disticha de moribus, prob. about the time of Constantine; v. the Disticha, with the Sententiae of Syrus, at the end of the Fabulae of Phaedrus, Bip.