XXV. Cato then married Marcia, a daughter of Philippus,[691] who had
the character of being an honest woman, and about whom a good deal is
said; but just as in a drama, this part of Cato's life is a difficult
and perplexed matter. However it was after the following manner, as
Thrasea[692] writes, who refers as his authority to Munatius, a
companion and intimate associate of Cato. Among the numerous friends
and admirers of Cato there were some more conspicuous and
distinguished than others, of whom one was Quintus Hortensius,[693] a
man of splendid reputation and honest morals. Now as Hortensius was
desirous to be not merely an intimate friend and companion of Cato,
but in a manner to unite in kinship and community the whole family and
stock, he endeavoured to persuade Cato, whose daughter Porcia was the
wife of Bibulus and had born him two sons, to give her in turn to him
as a fertile soil to beget children in. He said that according to
men's opinion such a thing was strange, but that according to nature
it was good and for the advantage of states, that a woman who was in
her youth and perfection should neither lie idle and check her
procreative power, nor yet should by breeding more children than
enough cause trouble to her husband and impoverish him when he wanted
no more children; but that if there was a community of offspring among
worthy men, it would make virtue abundant and widely diffused among
families, and would mingle the state with itself by these family
relationships.
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