Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus

Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus refers to a son and a grandson of Cato the Elder by his much younger second wife Salonia

Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus or Cato Salonianus (154 BC- ?) was the son of Cato the Elder by his second wife Salonia, who was the freedwoman daughter of one of Cato's own freedman scribes, formerly a slave.

Life

He was born 154 BC, when his father had completed his eightieth year, and about two years before the death of his half-brother, Marcus Porcius Cato Licinianus. He lost his father when he was five years old, and lived to attain the praetorship, in which office he died. [Gellius, xiii. 19.] [Plutarch, "Cato the Elder", 27.]

He was father of one son also called Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus, and one daughter Porcia who married Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (her husband's nephew, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus in 54 BC, would marry Porcia).

Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus the Younger

According to other sources (notably McCullough)Who|date=December 2007, the younger Cato Salonianus was first married to the daughter of a wealthy Roman equestrian but the marriage was childless and unhappy. He was divorced by her after his adultery with Livia Drusa, sister of Marcus Livius Drusus was discovered. He then married Livia Drusa, and had one son Cato Uticensis and one daughter Porcia(before 95 BC-46 BC/45 BC) by her. Her son Quintus Servilius Caepio (praetor) (who adopted his nephew Marcus Junius Brutus as his heir) was also purportedly fathered by Cato Salonianus.

Like his father, the younger Cato lived to attain the praetorship, in which office he died.

Notes

References

"This entry incorporates public domain text originally from:"
* William Smith (ed.), "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology", 1870.