Marcus Porcius Cato was a Roman statesman, commonly referred to as Censorius, Sapiens, Priscus, or Major, Cato the Elder, or Cato the Censor, known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization.
He came of an ancient Plebeian family who all were noted for some military service but not for the discharge of the higher civil offices. He was bred, after the manner of his Latin forefathers, to agriculture, to which he devoted himself when not engaged in military service. But, having attracted the notice of Lucius Valerius Flaccus, he was brought to Rome, and successively held the offices of Cursus Honorum: Military tribune, Quaestor, Aedile, Praetor, where he expelled the usurers from Sardinia, Consul together with his old patron, and finally Censor, where he tried to preserve the mos majorum and combat "degenerate" Hellenistic influences.