Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 30

Nemo mutatum Catonem totiens mutata re publica vidit: eundem se in omni statu praestitit, in praetura, in repulsa, in accusatione, in provincia, in contione, in exercitu, in morte. Denique in illa rei publicae trepidatione, cum illinc Caesar esset decem legionibus pugnacissimis subnixus, totis exterarum gentium praesidiis, hinc Cn. Pompeius, satis unus adversus omnia, cum alii ad Caesarem inclinarent, alii ad Pompeium, solus Cato fecit aliquas et rei publicae partes.

Personne ne vit changer Caton, quand la république changeait sans cesse : toujours le même dans toute situation, préteur ou repoussé de la préture, accusé ou chef de province, au forum, aux armées, à l’heure du trépas. Enfin, au milieu de toute cette république en détresse, quand d’un côté marchait César appuyé des dix plus braves légions, de tant d’étrangers ses auxiliaires, et quand de l’autre était Pompée, Caton seul suffit contre tous.

No one ever saw Cato change, no matter how often the state changed: he kept himself the same in all circumstances - in the praetorship, in defeat, under accusation, in his province, on the platform, in the army, in death. Furthermore, when the republic was in a crisis of terror, when Caesar was on one side with ten embattled legions at his call, aided by so many foreign nations, and when Pompey was on the other, satisfied to stand alone against all comers, and when the citizens were leaning towards either Caesar or Pompey, Cato alone established a definite party for the Republic.