As he was about to set sail to Brundisium, his friends
thought that they ought to put the ashes of Caepio in another vessel,
but Cato, saying that he would rather part with his life than the
ashes of his brother, set sail. And indeed it is said that it chanced
that he had a very dangerous passage, though the rest got to
Brundisium with little difficulty.
XVI. On his return to Rome he spent his time either at home in the
company of Athenodorus, or in the Forum assisting his friends. Though
the office of Quaestor[679] was now open to him, he did not become a
candidate for it till he had read the laws relating to the
quaestorship, and had learned all particulars from the experienced, and
had comprehended the powers of the office in a certain shape.
Accordingly as soon as he was established in the office, he made a
great change in the servants and clerks about the treasury, for as
they constantly had in hand the public accounts and the laws, and had
young superiors who, by reason of their inexperience and ignorance, in
fact required others to teach and direct them, they did not allow
their superiors to have any power, but were the superior officers
themselves, until Cato vigorously applied himself to the business, not
having the name only and the honour of a magistrate, but understanding
and judgment and apt expression; and he resolved to make the clerks
into servants as they really were, in some things detecting their evil
doings, and in others correcting their errors which arose from
inexperience.
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