Some will have the overthrow of Carthage to have been one of his last acts of state; when, indeed, Scipio the Younger did by his valour give it the last blow, but the war, chiefly by the counsel and advice of Cato, was undertaken on the following occasion.
Cato was sent to the Carthaginians and Masinissa, King of Numidia, who were at war with one another, to know the cause of their difference. He, it seems, had been a friend of the Romans from the beginning; and they, too, since they were conquered by Scipio, were of the Roman confederacy, having been shorn of their power by loss of territory and heavy tax. Finding Carthage, not (as the Romans thought) low and in an ill condition, but well manned, full of riches and all sorts of arms and ammunition, and perceiving the Carthaginians carry it high, he conceived that it was not a time for the romans to adjust affairs between them and Masinissa; but rather that they themselves would fall into danger, unless they should find means to check this rapid new growth of Rome’s ancient irreconcilable enemy. Therefore, returning quickly to Rome, he acquainted the senate that the former defeats and blows given to the Carthaginians had not so much diminished their strength, as it had abated their imprudence and folly; that they were not become weaker, but more experienced in war, and did only skirmish with the Numidians to exercise themselves the better to cope with the Romans: that the peace and league they had made was but a kind of suspension of war which awaited a fairer opportunity to break out again.
Moreover, they say that, shaking his gown, he took occasion to let drop some African figs before the senate. And on their admiring the size and beauty of them, he presently added, that the place that bore them was not three days’ sail from Rome. Nay, he never after this gave his opinion, but at the end he would be sure to come out with this sentence, ‘ALSO, CARTHAGE, METHINKS, OUGHT UTTERLY TO BE DESTROYED.”
But Publius Scipio Nasica would always declare his opinion to the contrary, in these words, “It seems requisite to me that Carthage should still stand.”
tl;dr:
After the Second Punic War with Carthage, Rome had really gone the extra mile to beat that civilization down and keep them from rising again. Among other things, the Carthaginians, for example, had to ask Rome’s permission to wage war in Africa and were not permitted to wage war outside of it. There were also massive reparations that they needed to repay, and were only allowed to have a token military. Unfortunately for Rome (and in a move that would sound familiar after the surrender of the Japanese in WW2), not having to focus on military operations all the time meant that they could focus on their economy, something they were already excellent at doing. They bounced back so fast it was almost scary.
So one day Cato the Elder takes a trip to Carthage and is shocked to not see it a poor and miserable place. Their prosperity has him nervous. So he goes back to Rome and basically tells them that Carthage was not beaten quite so badly as they had all assumed. He was convinced they would be able to come back stronger than ever, and soon. Then he let a marvelous fig fall from his clothing, and said in the senate that the place that was so prosperous it could grow such a thing were less than three days away.
From then on, after every public speech, he always ended by saying that Carthage MUST be destroyed. Not beaten, but wiped off the face of the map, before they could make Rome bleed again.
Source:
Plutarch, John Dryden, and Arthur Hugh Clough. "Marcus Cato." Plutarch's Lives. New York: Modern Library, 2001. 478-79. Print.
Further Reading:
No comments, yet...