Cato the Elder

"The Victorious Cause pleased the Gods. The Defeated Cause pleased Cato." The quote is from a long, long Poem by a Roman called Lucan. The Cato in question was Cato the Elder, or Marcus Porcius Cato. He was a genuine Roman, not one of those Post Republic Caesar worshiping types who sucked up to Emperors and the wealthy. He was a man who believed in the Senate, thought Greeks were Street Corner Hoodlums, and Carthaginians were dangerous lunatics. Hannah Arendt mentioned him in her book, The Human Condition, and in her book, The Life of the Mind.  Why? For Arendt it had to do with Judgement and what it was to hold a firm opinion and stick to it through thick and thin. For Cato there was often more honor to be had from standing with the losing side. Same with the French Foreign Legionnaires.