[30] He himself says (Festus, p.28l) ego iam a principio in parsimonia atque in duritia atque industria omnem adulescentiam, abstinui agro colendo, saxis Sabinis silicibus repastinandis atque conserendis. Cf. Gell. Noct. Att. 13, 23.
[32] Plut. C. 1; Cat. M. §§ [18], [32]: Cato himself ap. Fest. s.v. ordinarius says quid mihi fieret si non ego stipendia in ordine omnia ordinarius meruissem semper?
[34] If Plutarch may be trusted, Cato at the age of 30 had won for himself the title of 'the Roman Demosthenes'.
[36] In § [10] Cicero makes the quaestorship fall in 205, but he refers to the election, not to the actual year of office.
[37] Nepos (or pseudo-Nepos), Cat. 1.
[38] Cato afterwards made it a charge against M. Fulvius Nobilior that he had taken Ennius with him on a campaign (Tusc. 1, 3). But Cato used Ennius as soldier while Nobilior employed him as poet.
[39] It is difficult, however, to fix the date of this enactment. Some authorities place it after Cato's return from Spain.