CATO's AFRICAN FIGS by F. J. MEIJER During His Embassy To

CATO'S AFRICAN FIGS

F. J. MEIJER

During his embassy to Carthage in 153, Cato conceived a deep distrust of the resurgence of Rome's old adversary. Soon after his return he became the leader and spokesman of a faction obsessively bent on destroying Carthage'). However, it took four years of political manoeuvring for him to overcome the opposition led by Scipio Nasica and to achieve his aim through the declaration of the Third Punic War (149-146). His tactics have been narrated by several authors 2), who were particularly impressed by the celebrated and oft-quoted dictum ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam or words of similar purport, which was regarded as an out- standing example of his persuasive oratory3). Plutarch and Pliny are the only authors to mention another incident, which, because of the perhaps excessive attention paid to the famous saying quoted above, has attracted insufficient interest in the modern literature on the subject. Plutarch (Cato Maior 27, 1) relates how Cato at a session of the senate, intentionally let some Libyan figs drop to the ground when arranging his toga (ouxa Tc&v Ayuxwv lx?cxÀe.1'v and how, when the senators expressed admiration at their size and beauty, he explained that the region which produced these figs, was only three days' journey by sea from Rome iavia cpEpouaa X6pOC xXo6v

My thanks to Professor H. T. Wallinga for his critical remarks and useful suggestions. 1) D. Kienast, Cato der Zensor (Heidelberg 1954), 132; A. E. Astin, Scipio Aemilianus(Oxford 1967), 27 ff.; idem, Cato the Censor(Oxford 1978), 284. See also H. Lewandowski, SittengeschichteRoms (Stuttgart 1964), 23. 2) Plut. Cato Maior 27, 1-2; App. Lib. 69; Diod. Sic. XXIV/XXXV 33, 3; Florus I 31, 4; Plinius Nat. Hist. XV 19, 74 et seq.; Vell. Pat. I 13, 1; Aur. Victor De Vir. Ill. 47, 8. W. V. Harris, War and Imperialismin RepublicanRome 327- 70B. C. (Oxford 1979), 237, doubts whether Cato really went to Africa. 3) For a discussion whether Cato really uttered these words see S. Thurlemann, Ceterumcenseo Carthaginem esse delendam, Gymnasium, 81 (1974), 465-475. 118

The same story can also be found in Pliny but in a different context. In the fifteenth book of his Naturalis Ristoria he describes the fruits belonging to the class poma, which includes the fig. He then discusses the different varieties of fig and in so doing speaks about the African fig which is described as 'very fine', in proof of which he cites Cato's fig performance. Pliny (Nat. Hist. XV 74) relates in greater detail than Plutarch how Cato showed an early-ripe fig (praecocem ficum) to the senators, asking when the fig was picked from the tree. On receiving everyone's assurance that it was a completely fresh (recentem) fig, Cato answered that the fig had been picked less than three days before in Carthage (tertium ante diem decerptam Carthagine) and that the enemy was as close as this to Rome (tam prope a moeris habemus hostem). According to Pliny, Cato's performance was a complete success. Pliny goes on to say that the decision to subjugate Carthage once and for all, a decision that the Carthaginian victories at Trebia, Lake Trasimenus and Cannae had been unable to rouse the Romans into making, was reached through the agency of a mere fig. The fig incident is disposed of in modern biographies of Cato by mentioning the two passages4). Della Corte is the only one who goes further into the matter and calls Cato's action an espediente teatrale e rusticano5). This statement is, in itself, correct. Cato was not lacking in a sense of the melodramatic and he was more aware than most of the approval which fine country fruits would arouse among the senatorial gentlemen farmers. However, no doubts whatever of Pliny and Plutarch's reports are to be found in Della Corte. He accepts the information that fresh figs from Carthage could reach Rome within three days and the fig incident is interpreted from that viewpoint. There is no hint of any critical awareness of the connec- tion between the duration of the voyage and the keeping qualities of the figs. In my opinion, the two texts admit of a different inter- pretation, if the duration of the voyage mentioned by Cato is subjected to closer scrutiny.

4) Cf. Kienast, op. cit., 156, note 154; N. W. Forde, Cato the Censor(Boston 1975), 259; Astin, op. cit. (1978), 127. See also W. Riepl, Das Nachrichtenwesendes Altertums(Leipzig/Berlin 1913), 165; H. H. Scullard, Roman Politics220-150 B. C. (Oxford 1951), 240; T. Frank, E.S.A.R., I, 203. 5) F. Della Corte, CatoneCensore, La vita e la fortuna(Firenze 1969), 121.