A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

Cato's Proverbs 413
He said, too,
"The Romans are like sheep, who never form opinions
of their own, but follow where others lead them."
With regard to female influence, he once said,
"All mankind rule their wives, we rule all mankind, and
our wives rule us."
When a certain man sold his ancestral estate, which
was situated by the seashore, Cato pretended to admire
"for this man,"
him as more powerful than the sea itself,
he said, "has drunk up the fields which the sea itself could
not swallow."
When King Eumenes came to Rome, the senate received
him with special honors, and he was courted and run after,
Cato, however, held himself aloof and would not go near
him and when some one said, "But he is an excellent man
and a good friend to Rome," he answered:
"It may be so, but a king is by nature an animal that
lives on human flesh."
"Wise men," he said, "gain more advantage from fools
than fools from wise men; for wise men avoid the errors
of fools, but fools cannot imitate the example of wise
men."
"I like young men to have red cheeks rather than pale
ones. I care not for a soldier who uses his hands while
marching and his feet while fighting, or for one who snores
louder in bed than he shouts in battle."
" I cannot live with a man whose palate is more sensitive
than his heart." This he said when an epicure wished to
become his friend.
"The soul of a lover inhabits the body of his beloved."
"In my whole life I repent of three things only: first,
that I have trusted a woman with a secret; secondly, that
I have gone by water when I might have gone by land;
(Eumenes^^^^
gamum, Asia
^^'''°'-^
Plutarch,