The Anticato (sometimes Anti-Cato;

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''Anticatones'') is a lost

polemic Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topic ...

written by

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...

in hostile reply to

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

's pamphlet praising

Cato the Younger Marcus Porcius Cato "Uticensis" ("of Utica"; ; 95 BC – April 46 BC), also known as Cato the Younger ( la, Cato Minor), was an influential conservative Roman senator during the late Republic. His conservative principles were focused on the ...

. The text is lost and survives only in fragments.

Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC), often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Serv ...

, dissatisfied with Cicero's work, wrote a second pamphlet in praise of Cato and called, simply, "Cato", which provoked a reply from

Octavian Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

. Octavian's work is not known to have been called "Anticato", but must have been modeled on Caesar's reply to Cicero.

Background

Caesar famously crossed the Rubicon and came to Rome, sparking the

Caesar's Civil War Caesar's civil war (49–45 BC) was one of the last politico-military conflicts of the Roman Republic before its reorganization into the Roman Empire. It began as a series of political and military confrontations between Gaius Julius Caesar and ...

. When Caesar prevailed in the war and looked to seize power in Rome, Cato committed suicide. Several leading Romans wrote works in posthumous praise or criticism of Cato. A famous panegyric by

titled simply ''Cato'' led to Caesar writing his ''Anticato'' in response.

References

Sources

* Hazel, John, ''Who's Who - In the Roman World''. London and New York: Routledge, 2001. {{Authority control 1st-century BC Latin books Lost literature Rhetoric Works by Julius Caesar Cato the Younger