An attempt has been made by A. Bormann (M. Porcii Catonis Originum Libri vii., Brandenburg 1858, p. 38) to prove that the principle of division was geographical, and that history only came in incidentally in connexion with the reduction of provinces; but as Nepos was writing to an eminent authority on antiquities, his account is likely to be right. The period between the kings and the Punic Wars was probably omitted by Cato through want of authorities.
The title Origines fails to indicate the scope of the work, which was chiefly occupied with general history; it was probably taken, as Nepos suggests, from the contents of Books ii. and iii., which seem to have been the most novel and valuable part of the undertaking. (Jordan, however, takes ‘Origines’ as equivalent, not to the Greek κτίσεις, but to ‘res Romanae ab origine repetitae.’)
(3) Praecepta ad Filium was the general title of a didactic work containing rules for medicine, husbandry, and rhetoric (e.g. ‘Rem tene, verba sequentur’). Cf. Quint. iii. 1, 19, ‘Romanorum primus, quantum ego quidem sciam, condidit aliqua in hanc materiam (rhetoric) M. Cato ille Censorius.’
(4) Speeches.—Fragments of eighty speeches, out of about two hundred and thirty, are collected by Jordan. They are almost equally divided between forensic and deliberative speeches: none is known of earlier date than B.C. 195. Cato incorporated some of them in the Origines, e.g. For the Rhodians (Gell. vi. 3, 7), and Against Galba (Cic. Brut. 89).
Works on civil law are attributed to Cato, and we hear also of ἀποφθέγματα (Cic. de Off. i. 104), Liber de re militari (Gell. vi. 4, 5), and Carmen de moribus (Gell. xi. 2, 2).
ACCIUS.
(1) LIFE.
The forms Accius and Attius are both found on inscriptions, e.g. from Pisaurum; but in the MSS. of Nonius Marcellus, who often quotes Accius, and who is careful about his forms, ‘Accius’ is always found, and generally in MSS. of other authors.
L. Accius was born B.C. 170 at Pisaurum (of. Pliny, N.H. vii. 128, ‘Attio Pisaurense’).
Jerome yr. Abr. 1878 = B.C. 139, ‘L. Accius tragoediarum scriptor clarus habetur, natus Mancino et Serrano coss. (B.C. 170) parentibus libertinis et seni iam Pacuvio Tarenti sua scripta recitavit. A quo et fundus Accianus iuxta Pisaurum dicitur, quia illuc inter colonos fuerat ex urbe deductus.’