M. PORCIUS CATO (47-46 BC)

"I am now my own master!" These were reportedly the words of Cato just before his suicide. Marcus Porcius Cato was born in November 95 BCE in Rome. Known as Cato the Younger (Cato Minor) or Cato of Utica (Cato Uticensis), he was distinguished from his great-grandfather, Cato the Elder.

When the First Triumvirate dissolved in 54 BCE, Cato sided with Gnaeus Pompey in his struggle against Caesar, whom he saw as a threat to the traditional Republic. After Pompey's defeat at Pharsalus in 48 BCE, Cato fled to North Africa, where he took command of the defense of Utica. He participated in the disastrous defeat at Thapsus in 46 BCE, where he co-led the senatorial forces. Refusing to witness the fall of the Republic, Cato took his own life in Utica that same year.