SOURCE: J. W. Mackail, "Cato," in Latin Literature, Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1895, pp. 31-2.

In the following excerpt, Mackail praises Cato as "the founder" of Roman prose, while also describing his influence as "somewhat narrow and harsh. " He briefly summarizes each of the major works.

In the history of the half-century following the war with Hannibal, Cato is certainly the most striking single figure. It is only as a man of letters that he has to be noticed here; and the character of a man of letters was, perhaps, the last in which he would have wished to be remembered or praised. Yet the cynical and indomitable old man, with his rough humour, his narrow statesmanship, his obstinate ultra-conservatism, not only produced a large quantity of writings, but founded and transmitted to posterity a distinct and important body of critical dogma and literary tradition. The influence of Greece...