“Cato was just five years of age when Rome went to war with its former allies in the Italian peninsula — the so-called ‘Social War.’ Though the conflict lasted just two years, its deleterious effects were huge. The decades to follow would be marked by the rise of factions and conflict and local armies loyal to their commanders instead of the larger society. A ‘welfare-warfare’ state was putting down deep roots as Cato grew up. The limited government, personal responsibility and extensive civil society so critical to the republic’s previous success were in an agonizing, century-long process of collapse. Even many of those who recognized the decay around them nonetheless drank the Kool-Aid.”
http://fee.org/freeman/detail/the-man-who-almost-stopped-julius-caesar
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin