Masinissa was a courageous prince, but a convenient tool for the Romans.
CATO THE ELDER (_Major_), (234-149,) whose long public career was a constant struggle with the enemies of the state abroad, and with the fashions of his countrymen at home, was a type of the _old_ Roman character, with a stern sense of duty that forbade his neglecting the interests of state, farm, or household.

In 184, in his capacity as Censor, he acted with extreme rigor.

He zealously asserted old-fashioned principles, and opposed the growing tendency to luxury.

All innovations were in his eyes little less than crimes.

He was the author of several works, one of which, a treatise on agriculture, has been preserved.
Cicero's "Cato Major" represents him in his eighty-fourth year discoursing about old age with Africanus the younger, and Laelius, a friend of the latter..