Catius

• A Roman deity, the protector of boys, whom he made intelligent (catos), Aug. Civ. Dei, 4, 21.—
• II An Epicurean philosopher, author of works de rerum naturā, de summo bono, etc., Cic. Fam. 15, 16, 1; Cass. ib. 15, 19; Quint. 10, 1, 124; Schol. Cruq. ad Hor. S. 2, 4, 1.—Hence,
• • B Cătĭānus, a, um, adj.: spectra, Cic. Fam. 15, 16, 1; Cass. ib. 15, 19.—
• III A feigned name in Hor. S. 2, 4, 1 and 88.

a Roman divinity, who was invoked under the name of divus Catius pater to grant prudence and thoughtfulness to children at the time when their consciousness was beginning to awaken. (Augustin. De Civil. Dei, 4.21.) [L.S]

1. Q. Catius, plebeian aedile B. C. 210 with L. Porcius Licinus, celebrated the games with great magnificence, and with the money arising from fines erected some brazen statues near the temple of Ceres. He served as legate in the army of the consul C. Claudius Nero in the campaign against Hasdrubal in B. C. 207, and was one of the envoys sent to Delphi two years afterwards to present to the temple some offerings from the booty obtained on the conquest of Hasdrubal. (Liv. 27.6, 43, 28.45.)

2. C. Catius, a Vestinian, tribune of the soldiers in the army of Antony, B. C. 43. (Cic. Fam. 10.23.)

an Epicurean philosopher, was a native of Gallia Transpadana (Insuber), and composed a treatise in four books on the nature of things and on the chief good (de Rerum Natura et de summo Bono). Cicero, in a letter written B. C. 45 (ad Fam. 15.16), speaks of him as having died recently, and jests with his correspondent about the " spectra Catiana," that is, the εἴδωλα or material images which were supposed by the disciples of the garden to present themselves to the mind, and thus to call up the idea of absent objects. Quintilian (10.1.124) characterises him briefly as " in Epicureis levis quidem sed non injucundus auctor." The old commentators on Horace all assert, that the Catius addressed in the fourth satire of the second book, and who is there introduced as delivering a grave and sententious lecture on various topics connected with the pleasures of the table, is Catius the Epicurean, author of the work whose title we have given above. It appears certain, however, from the words of Cicero, that the satire in question could not have been written until several years after the death of Catius; and therefore it is probable that Horace may intend under this nickname to designate some of the gourmands of the court. [W.R]