Cato having called together the people of Utica in the
city, entreated them not to irritate Caesar against the three hundred,
but to unite altogether to secure their safety. Then again betaking
himself to the sea he inspected the persons who were embarking, and
all his friends and acquaintance whom he could persuade to go away, he
embraced and accompanied to the shore. But he did not recommend his
son to take shipping, nor did he think it his duty to turn him from
his purpose of sticking to his father. There was one Statyllius, in
years a young man, but one who aimed at being resolute in character
and an imitator of the indifference of Cato. This man Cato entreated
to embark, for he was notoriously a hater of Caesar; and-when he would
not go, Cato looking on Apollonides the Stoic and Demetrius the
Peripatetic said--"It is your business to soften this stubborn man and
to fashion him to his own interests." But Cato himself was busied all
the night and the greatest part of the following day in assisting the
rest in making their escape and helping those who wanted his aid.
LXVI. When Lucius Caaesar,[752] who was a kinsman of Caesar, and about
to go to him as ambassador on behalf of the three hundred, urged Cato
to help him in devising some plausible speech which he should employ
on behalf of the three hundred, "for on thy behalf," he continued, "it
is becoming for me to touch the hands and to fall down at the knees of
Caesar," Cato would not allow him to do this, and said, "For my part,
if I wished to save my life by Caesar's favour, I ought to go to him
myself.
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