title: Cato the Younger

text: In doing so, he drew a wedge between Pompey and the senate. His anti-Pompeian policy was likely a political error: Pompey was then seeking to reconcile with the senate; Cato's refusal forced him to look for alternative allies in his agenda in providing promised retirement lands to his veterans and securing ratification of his eastern settlements. He first sought to have one of his legates elected as consul for 60 BC: to do this, he distributed enormous bribes among the voters. In response, Cato again championed legislation banning bribery (proposed by a tribune named Marcus Aufidius Lurco), which was defeated, in part because the voters liked receiving payment for their votes. At the elections, Pompey's legate was successful, as well as Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer, who had become one of Pompey's enemies after Pompey's divorce of Celer's half-sister, Mucia. Celer, along with Cato and Lucullus, then proceeded successfully to obstruct Pompey's agenda through the year. In this year, he also opposed a plan to renegotiate "publicani" tax collection contracts in Asia brought by Marcus Licinius Crassus with filibuster tactics, unheedful of alienating the wealthy "publicani". Cato's success in opposing Pompey and Crassus' agendas forced them to recalculate; for both men, their agendas were promises they had made to key supporters.


title: Cato the Younger

text: The return of Caesar from Spain in June of 60 BC forced Caesar too to choose: he either could enter the city and give up his command to stand for the consulship or he would retain the command in hopes for a triumph, per the law passed during Cato's tribunate. Caesar requested dispensation from the law from the senate – such dispensations were "regularly granted in order to foster stability and cohesion within [the senatorial class]" – but Cato then proceeded to filibuster the request. In response, Caesar surprisingly gave up his triumph to stand for the consulship. Cato and his allies had tried to disincentivise Caesar's campaign by assigning the next year's consuls to Italy and to get an opponent – Cato's son-in-law Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus – elected as Caesar's consular colleague, including by matching the enormous bribes paid out by Caesar and his allies. In the end, both Caesar and Bibulus were elected as consuls for 59 BC.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Cato's successful opposition to Pompey and Crassus seemed to forebode poorly for Caesar when he would enter into the consulship. "Denied the option of proceeding as a regular traditional consul if he wanted to get anything done... [Caesar] therefore entered into an unusual three-way alliance... with Pompey and Crassus", today known as the First Triumvirate. Caesar would play the junior partner and, as a middleman, ensure that Pompey and Crassus (who were themselves rivals) could cooperate.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Caesar's consular year started with his bringing, in the normal manner, a bill before the senate to distribute public lands to poor citizens and Pompey's veterans. Well written, brought in the traditional manner, and deferential to the senate's prerogatives, Cato lacked any real justification to oppose it; he settled instead for filibustering. For the whole of January, he prevented the senate from acting on the bill and was dragged to prison at Caesar's orders before being released. Caesar moved instead to bring the matter before the people.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Bibulus, called to a public debate on the bill, offered no substantive reasons for opposition before exclaiming, in frustration, "You will not have this law this year, not even should you all want it!" Thereafter, Cato and Bibulus moved to declare unfavourable religious omens every morning to preclude a vote, until one morning they were assaulted in the street and driven off, pelted with manure. Added to Caesar's bill was the requirement that senators swear to uphold the law or face punishment; Cato and an ally refused, until Cicero gave a face-saving argument that "Rome was better served by Cato's presence than by his absence", leading them to take the oath on the last day before the deadline.


title: Cato the Younger

text: With a sufficient portion of the public on Caesar's side after Bibulus' embarrassing display of obstinate obstructionism and his Bibulus' self-confinement to his home, Caesar moved rapidly to pass further legislation. Over the first half of the year, he passed laws:


title: Cato the Younger

text: Cato and his allies continued to resist these bills, but were unsuccessful. Plutarch reports Cato was again dragged to prison for his opposition, but "it is likely that Plutarch has duplicated the story... for heroic effect". He also opposed the "lex Vatinia" which assigned to Caesar the provinces of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum for five years. Alone, he also opposed Caesar's assignment to Transalpine Gaul as well. Cato and his allies may also have engaged in a boycott of public business to cast doubt on the legitimacy of Caesar's acts.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Cato, however, supported one bill Caesar brought forth, the "lex Iulia de repetundis", which detailed specific financial and administrative duties for governors to prevent extortion and embezzlement by provincial governors. His opposition to Caesar's legislative programme was likely focused only on those bills which would benefit Caesar personally, which – unlike passing land reform laws – suppressing corruption would not do.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Throughout the consulship, Cato and his allies also produced a substantive amount of propaganda meant to discredit Caesar and his triumviral allies by branding them tyrants, a message reinforced by the violence visited upon Bibulus to secure passage of the agrarian law; the campaign was successful in making it difficult for the three allies to use political violence out of fear that they might validate their opposition's rumours. The senators cowed into assent to Caesar's policies started to filter out of Caesar's camp, though "not necessarily joining Cato's group", leading to another reshuffling of alliances.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Following Caesar's consulship and departure to Gaul, opponents of Caesar started to move to question the legal validity of his legislative actions. They also brought Publius Vatinius, the tribune who had passed the "lex Vatinia" assigning the provinces to Caesar, to stand charges, but the court proceedings were disrupted by a mob led by Publius Clodius Pulcher.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Pulcher had been elected during Caesar's consulship as one of the plebeian tribunes of 58 BC. Also in office were a number of triumvirate-friendly magistrates, including both consuls. In March of that year, Clodius promulgated a bill annexing the island of Cyprus. The assignment of governor was initially slated for one of the consuls – Aulus Gabinius, a friend of Pompey, – but after he was unable to take the post, Clodius promulgated a bill to appoint Cato instead as "pro quaestore pro praetore". Reasons for the appointment are divided: the traditional view is that Clodius wanted Cato away on business; other historians have suggested that doing so was instead an attempt to forge a political alliance or that Cato gave away Cicero's exile for the appointment. Accounts of public reactions to the appointment also were divided: Cicero, for example, praised Cato for accepting it, as, even though Cicero rejected the annexation, he believed Cato to be the right person for the job; on the other hand, Plutarch reports that Cato was forced by law to go. Modern historians also see another reason: there was little productive to do in Rome when triumviral allies controlled all the major magistracies; leaving for Cyprus would allow Cato to buttress his reputation as an honest governor while waiting for the political winds to shift.


title: Cato the Younger

text: After arriving in Cyprus and announcing annexation, the local king – a Roman ally – there killed himself rather than suffer the indignity of deposition. Cato then "undertook every aspect of the cataloguing and appraisals [of the royal possessions] himself... and spoke with each prospective buyer to encourage them to bid on items". In doing so, he demonstrated great diligence, but alienated some of his friends in the meantime, receiving them poorly and treating them with suspicion. Cato's loss of his account books, low amount recovered from Cyprus, and over-preparation on his return to Rome could indicate that he engaged in some modest embezzlements or allowed his nephew, Marcus Junius Brutus, to engage in usurious moneylending or embezzlement on his behalf. His administration of Cyprus, was, however, well regarded on his reputation for honesty alone. Upon his return, he held, a "de facto" glittering naval parade up the Tiber before starting a procession conveying the treasures to the treasury.


title: Cato the Younger

text: By the time Cato returned from Cyprus, Cicero had been recalled from exile with Pompey's support (after Clodius had turned on Pompey). Cicero's gratitude and debt to Pompey had him support Pompey's ambitions: shortly after his return, Cicero proposed a prestigious and wide-ranging grain commission and proposed extraordinarily long "supplicationes" for Caesar's Gallic victories. Cato also divorced his loving wife Marcia so he could – with her father – marry her to his friend, Quintus Hortensius, in part to cement an alliance.


title: Cato the Younger

text: By 56 BC, the triumviral coalition was "in a shambles". With Pompey attacked both by the conservative Cato-aligned senators and by Clodius – who was himself an independent operator – Pompey was forced to double down in his alliance with the other triumvirs. Added was the threat of Caesar's replacement in Gaul, setting up the renewal of the triumviral coalition at the Luca Conference: Caesar would, for Pompey, bring Clodius to heel, both Pompey and Crassus would receive prestigious military commands following a dual consulship, and Caesar would be renewed in Gaul. Without the ability to win elections outright, the three allies decided on chaos: "by desperate postponement of the elections into the following year... an "interregnum" would weaken the leadership of the opposition... [allowing] Crassus and Pompey to hope for more favourable results".


title: Cato the Younger

text: At untimely elections marred by mob violence, Cato supported Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, his brother-in-law. After the triumvirs distributed bribes and used force to force the other candidates from the elections, Pompey and Crassus were elected consuls for 55 BC in late January the same year. At those elections, Cato stood for the praetorship against Publius Vatinius; he secured support among the initial voters, so Pompey interrupted the elections to give more bribes and remove known Catonian voters. Vatinius was then elected.


title: Cato the Younger

text: At the debate that year about the "lex Trebonia" to grant Crassus the province of Syria so he could fight a war of choice against the Parthian Empire, Cato again repeated his tactic of speaking until his opponents had him arrested so he could claim to be poorly treated. To avoid the a repeat of this embarrassment, at later debates, his attendance was barred by armed mobs. He tried similar obstructive tactics against the "lex Licinia Pompeia" to extend Caesar's command, but again failed. At this time, Plutarch reports – if not an injection of imaginative foreshadowing – that Cato started to change his tact to split Pompey from Caesar by warning Pompey of Caesar's ambitions.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Pompey and Crassus' consulship, while a short-term success, was unsuccessful in the long-run. The elections for the magistrates for 54 BC were a victory for Cato and his allies. Without violence to force a decision, the electorate reacted coldly to the triumvirs' favoured candidates. Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus – who had stood the previous year – and Appius Claudius Pulcher were elected. Cato was returned for a praetorship and allotted the presidency of the extortion court. Opponents of the triumvirs immediately brought a number of prosecutions against the triumvirs' allies, but almost all were acquitted "in large part because the complex network of connections among senators meant that the litigants could not be reduced to stark choices between two political parties or ideologies".


title: Cato the Younger

text: One case was that against Aulus Gabinius, who was convicted for receiving a ten thousand talent bribe to invade Egypt to place Ptolemy XII Auletes back on the throne. He was forced to go into exile. Of the many prosecutions brought against triumviral supporters, Gabinius' was the only one successful. Cato may also have "ben[t] the laws" to expand the jurisdiction of his corruption court with the goal of furthering "anti-bribery reforms that he had thus far failed to advance".


title: Cato the Younger

text: Cato also brought legislation to clamp down on electoral bribery by requiring that all candidates submit detailed financial records. But the bill, although passed by the senate, was unpopular among the people and defeated: "the citizens on the whole profited from the large annual disbursements of cash by wealthy senators, and they no doubt wanted those payments to continue". Similarly unpopular was Cato's reaction to Caesar's victories over the Gauls and Germans: on receipt of reports that Caesar had attacked during a truce but won a victory in which he killed some 430 thousand Germans, "Cato alone expressed anger at the victory[;] he considered Caesar's actions to be a gross violation of 'international law'... [and] urged that Caesar be handed over to the survivors of the massacre in atonement".


title: Cato the Younger

text: That year also proved that Cato's push for stronger anti-bribery legislation both been a failure and was deeply needed. As interest rates doubled as candidates borrowed to finance bribes, a deal was struck between the two conservative sitting consuls, a triumviral supporter, and a triumviral opponent to pool resources to bribe voters and support the sitting consuls' assignment to desirable provinces. When one of the participants disclosed the plot to the senate, all were charged with electoral corruption, with the largest loss falling on the consul Domitius (Cato's brother-in-law). In response to the scandal, the senate delayed elections for an inquiry, but tribunes started to bring vetoes against various electoral proposals.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Repeated tribunician vetoes prevented elections to be held in 54 for the magistrates for 53 BC. The ancient sources believe that the delays were artificially created to justify the creation of Pompey as dictator, calls which Cato and senators such as Brutus, strongly opposed. After Cato praised Pompey on his civic-mindedness in publicly refusing a possible dictatorship, he "seems to have created a momentary period of stability" which led to the election of two conservative consuls, Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus and Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus in July 53 BC. During their truncated terms, they seem only to have tried to pass one bill, to introduce a delay between magistracy and governorship of five years: doing so reduced the ability for consuls to select their own provinces and made it more difficult to borrow money, to be repaid from provincial earnings, by delaying those provincial earnings. Cato was probably one of the co-authors and major supporters of the proposal; it was, however, defeated before the people and panned by younger senators.


title: Cato the Younger

text: While Caesar's daughter, Julia, had died the previous year, Pompey's support of Caesar continued: he lent a legion from Spain to Gaul at Caesar's request (a deal Cato condemned for bypassing the senate). Also in 53, news arrived of Crassus' defeat and death at the hands of the Parthians in Syria. While Plutarch reports this made a confrontation between Caesar and Pompey inevitable, their alliance did not immediately break down, even after Pompey's marriage to Cornelia Metella.


title: Cato the Younger

text: The year also was rocked with political violence between the duelling mobs led by Clodius and Titus Annius Milo, who also was standing for the consulship. Their months-long clashes, along with tribunician obstruction against the holding of elections, led again to calls for Pompey as dictator. After the year started with no magistrates and Clodius was murdered by Milo after a chance encounter, the level of violence increased; among other things, the senate house and the Basilica Porcia in the Forum was destroyed by fire as Clodius' makeshift funeral pyre.


title: Cato the Younger

text: With a political impasse and anarchy in the streets, Cato and Bibulus proposed making Pompey sole consul (ie consul without a colleague). Plutarch and others report that this was to deny Pompey a dictatorship while also establishing a functioning government. Some modern historians, such as John T Ramsey, however, conceive of the choice in political terms: the obstructive tribunes wanted to prosecute Milo for Clodius' murder, which could not happen if he were elected to the consulship and gained legal immunity. Electing Pompey alone would stabilise the city and, by precluding Milo's election, ensure Milo could be brought to trial. While a clear departure from tradition, it allowed Pompey to be brought on side while also restoring order to the city without handing Pompey unlimited power.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Pompey's sole consulship was a turning point in the republic. He convened a trial, with jurors intimidated by his soldiers, in which Milo was condemned for public disorder. Cato was possibly involved as a "quaesitor", which may have been part of the compromise to bring Milo to trial. However, Cato had not succeeded in bringing Pompey fully into the senatorial fold: Pompey during his consulship supported the so-called "law of the ten tribunes" which granted Caesar the right to stand for the consulship "in absentia".


title: Cato the Younger

text: With starting success in forcing a break between Pompey and Caesar, Cato stood for the consulship of 51 BC. He reportedly did so out of a claim of public duty, in the vein of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus being summoned by the people, to defend the republic from Caesar and Pompey. He was defeated after running a campaign in which he "distribute[d] no cash and promise[d] no favours; the campaign seem[ed] to have been designed to win admiration rather than votes". Cicero complained that while the state needed him, Cato was unwilling or unable to put aside his "vision of the "mos maiorum" to do what was necessary to win an election"; regardless, after his defeat, Cato did not stand for the consulship again.


title: Cato the Younger

text: The First Triumvirate had been formed to get around Cato's obstructionism. From around 52 BC onwards, "Cato and the men around [Pompey] certainly fostered Pompey's famous paranoia" and tried to separate him from Caesar. For some time, Pompey tried to keep his options open, but was eventually won over that his pre-eminence was incompatible with Caesar's rising influence and popularity. Cato continued to arrange opposition to Caesar and continued to spread the view that Caesar was a tyrant-in-making, which by 51 BC became a common view among the senatorial elite.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Attempts to recall Caesar from Gaul started in earnest in 51 BC under consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus (Cato's former quaestorian colleague). After Caesar's victory at the Battle of Alesia, he argued the rationale for Caesar's standing for the consulship "in absentia" was gone and that Caesar's "provincia" (here meaning "task") was complete and, therefore, he and his army should return home. Such attempts were vetoed by Caesar's allies in the tribunate and also opposed by Pompey. The next year, 50 BC, the senate was starting to move in earnest to discuss termination of Caesar's command; in response, Caesar tried to secure new allies with bribes, including one of the consuls elected for the year, Lucius Aemilius Paullus.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Among Caesar's allies was Gaius Scribonius Curio, who cleverly proposed that both Caesar and Pompey should disarm by giving up their commands concurrently; Cato, according to Plutarch, apparently exclaimed that the proposal was a Caesarian plot to take over the government, which "may be a fabrication by later authors". Such strong opposition "seems premature at best" and would have been inconsistent with Cato's general inclination to reduce the power of all great men. Regardless, the majority of senators viewed the proposal favourably, as mutual disarmament would avert a possible civil war. Opposition to Curio's proposal highlighted that Pompey's term in Spain was still relatively recent, having been granted in 52 BC, making it unjustifiable to strip Pompey of his command so soon. However, the vast majority of the senate (370 to 22) accepted Curio's compromise. Cato's vote on this important matter is unrecorded, though most historians believe Cato voted against it. Some historians, however, such as Helga Botermann, believe that letters from Seneca may suggest that Cato voted in favour.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Cato's years of advocacy against Caesar had inculcated a confrontational anti-Caesarian policy among younger senators, hoping that a united senatorial front would force Caesar to fold. The success of his strategy of branding Caesar a tyrant would "[help] drive many senators to war". By the weeks before the start of the war in early January 49 BC, Cato, Pompey, and their allies had hardened their political position to the point where they were unwilling to offer any concessions to Caesar. Cato continued to push Pompey and others to maintain a hard-line, rejecting all proposed compromises, in the hope that Caesar would back down. On the 7th of January, 49 BC, the senate was sufficiently frightened and browbeaten to pass a "senatus consultum ultimum" against Caesar, likely under the false pretences that Caesar was already invading.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Cato was surprised that Caesar had actually crossed the Rubicon. While "Cato and his supporters had worked tenaciously to push Caesar into a corner where his only choices were civil war and political ruin... Cato seems to have been surprised and depressed by the consequences of his political strategy... he would soon be found saying that peace was worth making concessions". When news of Caesar's rapid advance south reached Rome, Pompey made the decision to flee Italy for the eastern provinces and to use the fleet to contain Caesar to Italy before retaking the peninsula.


title: Cato the Younger

text: When Caesar offered peace terms on 23 January that he would be willing to lay down his command and stand for a consulship in person in return for amnesty and Pompey's departure to Spain, Cicero relates that Cato strongly supported the plan and forced himself into the war council at which the proposal was discussed. That the peace offers were decisively rejected by the hard-liners who wanted to defeat Caesar militarily indicates that Cato by this point had lost control of his coalition. He attempted to have the senate give Pompey overall command, but the senate chose to divide command among various generals, who Caesar then defeated in detail.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Pompey assigned Cato to Sicily to raise men and supplies. This decision "may have been more political than military... Cato's gloomy attitude toward civil war... [would make him] too far away to interfere with the bloody business of the legions". Another reconstruction, however, places Cato at the centre of an abortive strategy to blockade Italy to starve Caesar out by stripping Italy of Sicilian grain supplies. But on 23 April, after being faced with a landing by Gaius Asinius Pollio, he abandoned the island – apparently, according to Cicero, without giving battle, even though his forces were sufficient to hold the island. Regardless, after further Caesarian landings under Curio, Cato would have been forced to retreat.


title: Cato the Younger

text: After retreating, Cato fled to join Pompey at Dyrrhachium. Upon his arrival there, Plutarch relates that Cato admitted that Cicero's more moderate policy, advocating compromise with Caesar, had been "more useful to his country": "[Cato's] distress at the consequences of his own hard-line policies... may have been weigh heavily on him". He was then sent to Asia Minor to organise transport ships; but finding no need for himself, he induced Rhodes to take Pompey's side and left his family there before returning to Pompey in Greece, where he declined command of naval forces, citing Bibulus' senior consular claim. After the indecisive Pompeian victory at the Battle of Dyrrhachium, Cato is said to have "wailed loudly for his country... [and] lamented the destructive and miserable lust for power" after seeing the casualties.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Cato was not present at the Battle of Pharsalus. He had opposed the proposals that Pompey should chase Caesar down after his withdrawal from Dyrrhachium. Left in command of that port, also possibly for political reasons to remove critics (including Cicero) from decision-making following a prospective Pompeian victory, Cato received news of the defeat from Titus Labienus. In the aftermath of the defeat, he decamped to Corcyra and asked Cicero to take command because he still held "imperium" from his promagistracy and was the senior consular present; Cicero declined, preferring instead to return home and seek Caesar's pardon. Allowing defectors to leave peacefully, Cato loaded his men and set sail for Egypt via Cyrene. But learning of Pompey's death at the hands of the Ptolemies and that Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio was still in command in Africa, he moved to join them. Discovering a fractured situation, he reconciled Metellus Scipio with Publius Attius Varus and had Metellus Scipio put in command. While the recorded reasons were that Cato believed that Metellus Scipio had both consular dignity and a name that would inspire the soldiers, as the inheritor of the "Cornelii Scipiones" that had defeated Hannibal, "[Cato] probably had no stomach for fighting against his countrymen".


title: Cato the Younger

text: Cato was given command of the city of Utica after convincing Metellus Scipio to spare the town's inhabitants when they attempted to defect to Caesar. He successfully expanded the city's defences, raised troops, and stockpiled supplies while waiting for Caesar's eventual arrival. During his time in Africa, however, Cato became convinced that Metellus Scipio "would not behave with moderation if victorious over Caesar".


title: Cato the Younger

text: Attempting to prevail over Metellus Scipio with a policy of attrition by forcing Caesar to stretch his supply lines, Metellus Scipio accused Cato of cowardice for being unwilling to risk battle. Around this time, Cato privately confided that the war was hopeless and that he would abandon Rome regardless of the victor: "Cato's experience in the war and in Africa seems to have convinced him that the republic as he conceived of it was gone". Metellus Scipio ignored Cato's relatively pacific advice and engaged in a decisive battle at Thapsus, where his forces were annihilated.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Cato, garrisoning Utica, received news of the defeat three days later, which drove the city into a panic. Knowing that the city would likely defect, Cato evacuated any Roman citizens who wished to flee. He also sent an embassy consisting of his family and allies, headed by one of Caesar's kinsmen, Lucius Julius Caesar, to seek pardon for themselves. Cato himself prepared for death.


title: Cato the Younger

text: After righting the city's financial accounts and disbursing the remaining monies to the city's inhabitants, Cato discussed with his friends at dinner the Stoic belief that a truly free man would never become a slave. After he demanded his sword, which had been removed from his room, his family and friends begged him not to kill himself. Dismissing them, he asked for a report on the ships fleeing the city. Satisfied that all was well, he stabbed himself in the abdomen. The specific details of Cato's suicide were greatly embellished after his death, especially in Plutarch's account, which states:


title: Cato the Younger

text: After his death, upon its discovery by Caesar, Caesar "declared that he was angry to have missed the opportunity of pardoning him".


title: Cato the Younger

text: Cato's death immediately triggered a series of eulogies, of which both Cicero and Brutus were authors, starting to identify Cato as a "great Stoic philosopher". Caesar responded with an "Anticato", which has not survived, although it "may have taken the form of a... speech in which Caesar accused Cato of some crime".


title: Cato the Younger

text: Cato's "politics of constant obstruction and provocation" also made compromise "significantly harder to achieve" while also being "at variance with everything that was most traditional about the republic... it was a dangerous political stance that prevented both him and others from addressing the actual problems Rome faced and from finding solutions that could have created a more stable and less contested republic". The traditional political culture of the middle republic was one built around aristocratic compromise, political debate, and reform. Yet, Cato's obstructive tactics "where unconventional and even radical [in] trying to block senatorial consensus rather than promote it". His policies with regard to stopping powerful politicians such as Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus alienated – through its very success – them from the rest of the senatorial class, leading to the formation of the alliance between their alliance.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Many scholars believe that Cato's political strategy before 49 BC contributed significantly in starting the civil war that was the proximate cause of the collapse of the Roman republic, even if he did not intend for conflict. While his strategy – convincing senators that Caesar was a threat to the republic and wanted to make himself king – was "a great success", that success in convincing other members of the senate backfired: "the men who assumed the leading roles in opposing Caesar... were willing to go to any length to destroy [him], even if that meant a civil war".


title: Cato the Younger

text: During most of his political career, he "steadfastly pursued" the "frustration of powerful military figures... by the unparalleled exploitation of all the obstructive tactics available". This uncompromising position had him push strongly, before the civil war, for further confrontation with Caesar, seemingly to pressure Caesar to back down. Cato and his allies also pushed Pompey away from the various olive branches and compromises before the civil war. Up to the last, when Pompey was close to accepting an offer where Caesar would give up all his legions except one and provinces except Illyricum, Cato chastised Pompey for "allowing himself to be deceived 'again'". To the extent that Caesar may have feared prosecution, conviction, and exile – a "dubious" claim – Cato was one of the few pushing strongly for Caesar's political destruction via prosecution.


title: Cato the Younger

text: After his death, his "rivalry [with Caesar] came to be seen as a conflict of ideologies... Cato increasingly came to be seen as a hero of the republic... [with his] life and death [becoming] symbols of the dying republic". His life was also appropriated by Augustus as a symbol of republican values.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Modern scholars note that "the 'Stoic martyr' tradition has distorted or distracted from the historical Cato". The extent of his belief in Stoicism is debated.


title: Cato the Younger

text: Some scholars point to how Cato acted in ways profoundly inconsistent with Stoic tenets: his anger at the breaking of his betrothal to Aemilia Lepida, breakdown over the death of his half-brother Caepio, his visible despair at the sight of casualties from the civil wars, etc. For such scholars, Cato's actions fit into the mould of a traditional Roman acting in line with traditional Roman values rather than Stoic ones.


title: Cato the Younger

text: On the other hand, others point out that Cato's contemporaries noted his Stoic behaviours and positions explicitly. Cicero lampooned it in "Pro Murena", and also mentioned it in letters and contemporaneous philosophical texts.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the third game in "The Legend of Zelda" series and was released in 1991 in Japan and 1992 in North America and Europe.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: The story is set many years before the events of the first two "Zelda" games. The player assumes the role of Link as he journeys to save Hyrule, defeat the demon king Ganon, and rescue the descendants of the Seven Sages. It returns to a top-down perspective similar to the original "The Legend of Zelda", dropping the side-scrolling gameplay of "". It introduced series staples such as parallel worlds and items including the Master Sword.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: Released to critical and commercial success, "A Link to the Past" was a landmark game for Nintendo and is considered one of the greatest video games of all time. It was ported to the Game Boy Advance as "" in 2002, and sold copies across both platforms by 2004. It was subsequently re-released on the Wii, Wii U, and New Nintendo 3DS via the Virtual Console, the Nintendo Switch via Nintendo Switch Online, and the Super NES Classic Edition. A spiritual successor, "", was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2013.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: Instead of using the side-scrolling perspective introduced by "", "A Link to the Past" reverts to an overhead perspective similar to that of the original "The Legend of Zelda". While "A Link to the Past" still uses mechanics and concepts from the original game, it also introduces new elements and innovations. For instance, arrows are now separate items, as bombs are in the original, instead of using a Rupee to fire an arrow. "A Link to the Past" also takes concepts from "The Adventure of Link", such as the Lamp. Control of Link is more flexible than in previous games, as he can walk diagonally and can run with the aid of the Pegasus Boots. Link's sword attack was improved to swing sideways instead of merely stabbing forward; this gives his sword a broader range and makes combat easier. Link swings his sword as the default attack in future "Zelda" games, although stabbing is also possible in the later 3D incarnations.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: Recurring items and techniques were introduced in "A Link to the Past", such as the Hookshot, the Master Sword, the Spin Attack, and the Pegasus Boots. Heart Containers that increase the player's maximum health (hit points) are present, but many are split into "Pieces of Heart", four of which make up one Heart Container. Most of them are well hidden, adding replay value to the game. All dungeons are multi-level, requiring Link to walk between floors and sometimes fall through holes to land on lower levels.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: "A Link to the Past" is the first appearance of what would subsequently become a major "Zelda" trademark: the existence of two parallel worlds between which the player travels. The first, called the Light World, is the ordinary Hyrule. The second is the Dark World that was created when Ganon corrupted the Sacred Realm. The Dark World is a decaying version of Hyrule. Each location in the Light World corresponds to a similar location in the Dark World, usually with a similar physical structure but an opposite nature (e.g. a desert in the Light World corresponds to a swamp in the Dark World, a peaceful village in the Light World corresponds to a dilapidated town of thieves in the Dark World).


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: Link can travel from the Dark World to the Light World at almost any outside location by using the Magic Mirror, and can travel back to the Dark World again from the same location using a temporary portal left behind on the map at the point where he reappears in the Light World. Otherwise, Link must use hidden warp locations throughout the Light World to travel from the Light World to the Dark World. Travel between worlds allows for puzzles in "A Link to the Past" that exploit structural differences between the Light and Dark Worlds, as Link may travel to otherwise inaccessible areas in one world by warping from parallel but accessible locations in the other world.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: Players assume the role of series protagonist Link, a young man living with his uncle south of Hyrule Castle. Princess Zelda, a descendant of the Seven Sages, is held captive in the castle dungeon by Agahnim, a treacherous wizard who has set forth a chain of events to release his dark master. Sahasrahla, a descendant of those who forged the Master Sword, mentors Link on his quest. Series antagonist Ganon remains sealed in the Dark World, the former Sacred Realm corrupted by his evil magic. It is revealed late in the game that Agahnim is an avatar of Ganon, used by the King of Evil to infiltrate the Light World.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: "A Link to the Past" is a distant prequel to the original "The Legend of Zelda" and "", and within the official chronology is the first game in the "Defeated Hero" timeline that connects to an alternate reality scenario that the Hero of Time does not succeed in "". This results in Ganon being imprisoned in the Sacred Realm in his Dark Beast form out of desperation. Having successfully gathered all three pieces of the Triforce, Ganon's evil desires have transformed the realm into the Dark World.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: The game begins with Link, the last descendant of the Knights of Hyrule, being awakened by a telepathic message from Princess Zelda, who says that she has been locked in Hyrule Castle's dungeon by Agahnim. Link infiltrates Hyrule Castle and successfully hides Zelda in the Sanctuary as his uncle's last wish. The priest of the Sanctuary tells Link that Agahnim is a powerful wizard planning to free Ganon from the Dark World, known then as the "Sacred Realm" after he was imprisoned for attempting to steal the Triforce for evil reasons. Agahnim's weak point is the Master Sword, a relic weapon only the chosen hero can wield; to do so, the hero must obtain the three pendants.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: While the priest keeps Zelda safe, Link begins his journey through Hyrule to collect the pendants. Aided by Sahasrahla, Link successfully collects the three pendants, thus wielding the Master Sword. However, Links finds the dead priest and Zelda held captive by Agahnim. Link confronts him but arrives too late as Zelda has been sent to the Dark World; Link is sent too and is cursed, becoming an anthropomorphic rabbit. After breaking the curse, Link is ordered to rescue the sealed Seven Sages.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: Successful, Link confronts Agahnim once more and kills him. Ganon then appears and flies away to the Dark World's Pyramid of Power. Link falls into the place and combats Ganon. After Ganon is killed, Link touches the Triforce, granting his wish: both his uncle and the priest resurrects, and the king of Hyrule reclaims his throne. In the aftermath, Hyrule is at peace, and Link puts the Master Sword back and returns to a normal life with his uncle.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: In 1988, development of a new NES "Zelda" began, but one year later, the project was brought to Nintendo's next console; the Super Famicom in Japan, the Super NES in other regions. Producer Shigeru Miyamoto originally intended the game to feature a party, "one that consists of the protagonist, who's a mix between an elf and a fighter, a magic user, and a girl". Due to the success of previous "Zelda" games, Nintendo was able to invest a large budget and ample development time and resources into the game's production. At the time, most Super NES game cartridges had 4 Mbit (512 KB) of storage space. This game broke the trend by using 8 Mbit (1 MB), allowing the Nintendo development team to create a remarkably expansive world for Link to inhabit. Like "Super Mario World", this game used a simple graphic compression method on the Super NES by limiting the color depth of many tiles to eight colors instead of the Super NES's native 16-color tiles. The tiles were decompressed at runtime by adding a leading bit to each pixel's color index. Storage space was also saved by eliminating duplication: The Light World and the Dark World are almost identical in layout (though using differing texture tiles), and the Dark World exists in the ROM only as an "overlay" of the Light World. The script was written by series newcomer Kensuke Tanabe, while Yoshiaki Koizumi was responsible for the background story explained in the instruction manual. Due to time constraints, certain features were cut from the final release, such as the ability to cause wildfires in grassy areas (which would later be incorporated into "").


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: The score was composed, arranged, and produced by Koji Kondo. The overworld theme of "The Legend of Zelda" ("Hyrule Overture") returns in "A Link to the Past", redone in S-SMP style. The theme is also featured in "Light World Overworld" and in "End Credits". "A Link to the Past" helped to establish the musical core of the "Zelda" series. While the first game originated the "Hyrule Overture", many recurring motifs of the "Zelda" scores come from "A Link to the Past", including "Zelda's Lullaby" (Princess Zelda's Theme), "Ganondorf's Theme", "Hyrule Castle" (Royal Family Theme), "Kakariko Village" and "Select Screen/Fairy Cave". These themes have been used in subsequent "The Legend of Zelda" games. A soundtrack to "Kamigami no Triforce", entitled "The Legend of Zelda: Sound and Drama", was released by Sony Records in Japan on June 22, 1994. The first disc is 44 minutes long and features rearranged versions of a selection of the game's themes, along with a bonus drama track. The second disc features 54 minutes of the original arrangements for the game and those of the original NES game.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: The English-language localization included changes to the original Japanese game. The most common change was the removal of religious references to conform with Nintendo of America's content guidelines. The most obvious change was made to the subtitle, which was renamed from "Kamigami no Triforce" (lit. "Triforce of the Gods") to "A Link to the Past". The "Sanctuary" in which Zelda hides is modeled on the Christian chapel, with rows of pews, stained glass windows, a raised chancel and altar, but it contains no overt religious symbols, and the dialogue of characters within it was simplified to remove any religious implication. The font used to represent an unreadable language, Hylian, originally had designs of a vulture and an ankh. These designs were based on Egyptian hieroglyphs which carry religious meanings, and they were altered in the English version. The localization also changed plot details included in the instruction manual. The priest Agahnim became a wizard, and his background, which originally implied that he was sent by the gods, was altered to remove any celestial origin.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: In 1990, "Nintendo Power" held a contest, requiring players to take a photo of the "WarMECH", a powerful and rare enemy in "Final Fantasy". As a prize, one of the successful entrants was to be selected at random to appear in an upcoming game, though it was not revealed which game it would be. As a result, a hidden room exists in "A Link to the Past" contained 45 blue rupees and a greeting from Chris Houlihan, the winner of the contest, reading "My name is Chris Houlihan. This is my top secret room. Keep it between us, okay?"


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: The room was intended as a crash prevention measure; the game would send players to this room if it could not determine where Link was going when he goes to another area, and has been found through five different methods. There was no wide awareness of the room until the 2000s, more than a decade after the release of "A Link to the Past" with the increased popularity of the Internet and Super NES emulators.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: The Game Boy Advance re-release, "", removed the ability to access the room, though it could still be found in the game's code. The Virtual Console re-releases on the Wii, Wii U, and New Nintendo 3DS, as well as the version present on Nintendo Switch Online, contain the room, being emulations of the original game.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: The game was a commercial success upon release. In Japan, it topped the "Famitsu" sales charts during NovemberDecember 1991 and January 1992, becoming the best-selling 1991 release. In the United States, it became the third best-selling game of 1992 (below "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" and "Street Fighter II") with one million units sold. It had an exceptionally long stay on "Nintendo Power"s top games list (ranking number 2 in "Nintendo Power"s last issue in December 2012): when the Super NES list was retired, "A Link to the Past" had more than five consecutive years in the number one spot. It was later re-released as a Player's Choice title in North America, indicating that it had sold a minimum of one million copies there. Worldwide, it was one of the best-selling Super NES games, with 4.61 million units sold .


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: The later Game Boy Advance version in the United States alone sold 1.4 million copies and earned $41 million by August 2006. During the period between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the 8th highest-selling game launched for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, or PlayStation Portable in that country. The Game Boy Advance version sold 1.89 million units worldwide by 2004, bringing total sales to units .


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: "A Link to the Past" was critically acclaimed upon release for its graphics and gameplay, and has since been recognized by critics as one of the greatest video games of all time. It was the first game to receive a near-perfect score of 39 out of 40 from "Famitsu" magazine. It was awarded Best Sequel of 1992 by "Electronic Gaming Monthly". "Chicago Tribune" selected it as Best Game of the Year, tied with "Street Fighter II". "A Link to the Past" was reviewed in "Dragon" magazine by Sandy Petersen in 1993, giving it 5 out of 5 stars.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: In 1995, Total! listed the game 2nd on its "Top 100 SNES Games". In 1996, GamesMaster rated the game 80th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time". In 2005, "IGN" editors placed it 11th in its "Top 100 Games", while readers voted it to 5th place, before "IGN" later ranked it the second best game of all time in 2015 and 2019. In 2006, "Entertainment Weekly" chose it as the best game of all-time and it was inducted into "GameSpot"s list of the greatest games of all time. It has also been listed as the best game of all time by "Next Generation" and "Popular Mechanics" magazines, and as the second best game of all time by "G4" and "Gamereactor". Members of GameFAQs ranked it the 4th best, and readers of Japanese magazine "Famitsu" ranked it 31st in a 2006 poll. It also placed 3rd in "Electronic Gaming Monthly"s list, 23rd in "Game Informer"s, and 3rd in a best 200 Nintendo games list by "Nintendo Power". In July 2007, readers of the magazine "Edge" voted it sixth in a poll of the 100 best games of all time. "ScrewAttack" placed it 2nd on their list of top 20 Super Nintendo games. "GamesRadar" named "A Link to the Past" the third best Super NES game of all time, losing only to "Chrono Trigger" (2nd) and "Super Metroid" (1st). It placed eighth (the second-highest "Zelda" game on the list) in "Official Nintendo Magazine"s "100 greatest Nintendo games of all time" list. In 2009, "Game Informer" put "A Link to the Past" 12th on their list of "The Top 200 Games of All Time", saying that it "remains a blast today". This is 11 places ahead of the rank it had back in 2001. In 2018, Complex listed the game 2nd on its "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time". They felt the game is "definitely Nintendo's best first-party title for the SNES".


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: "A Link to the Past and Four Swords" for the Game Boy Advance received positive reviews. "IGN" praised it for being a faithful conversion of the original, but noted that the audio did not sound as crisp on the Game Boy Advance, and found the frequent sound effects tiresome. The game holds the top spot of Metacritic's all-time high scores for Game Boy Advance games with a score of 95. In 2007, "IGN" named "A Link to the Past and Four Swords" the third best Game Boy Advance game of all time. "GamePro"s Star Dingo called it a "masterpiece", as well as an "important part of the Grand Renaissance of the Second Dimension". He also praised the overworld for its secrets and "quirky random characters", adding that playing it required patience and exploring. Star Dingo praised the port of "A Link to the Past"s ability to retain its visuals. He specifically praises its "clean sprites", calling its overworld a "colorful, happy place", sarcastically calling it kiddy. He also questioned how the series' cartoon style was abnormal for the series. Star Dingo called the sound effects "indelible", though he noted that they were "a little dated". UGO Networks compared "Four Swords" to , calling it "similarly gimmicky". They commented that the best "Four Swords" brought was its sequel, "". CNET praised both the original "A Link to the Past" release as well as the "Four Swords" multiplayer mode, calling the former a "great handheld port of one of the greatest games ever released for Nintendo's 16-bit system", while describing the latter as "an exciting, replayable multiplayer experience".


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: "The Escapist", G4TV, GameSpy, "Good Game", "IGN", "Nintendo Life", and "PALGN" referenced the Chris Houlihan room in articles which discuss video game easter eggs and secrets.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: "GamesRadar" included it in its lists of the greatest video game Easter eggs and the thirteen "video game secrets that were almost never found". "GamesRadar"s Jason Fanelli called it "one of the "Zelda" franchise's biggest mysteries". "GamesRadar"'s Justin Towell included it in his list of the top seven secret rooms in video games at number two. He felt that the contest prize was exciting, and called it "one of the coolest and most exclusive secrets in the "Zelda" universe". "1UP.com" featured it in its list of "25 things you didn't know about "The Legend of Zelda"".


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: A comic book adaptation of "A Link to the Past" illustrated by Shotaro Ishinomori was published in "Nintendo Power" that was serialized for 12 issues from January to December 1992. The comic was then re-released as a trade paperback in 1993. The comic is a loose adaptation of the original game's story, featuring several plot changes and new characters. Two other manga were released in Japan: a manga by Ataru Cagiva from 1995 to 1996 that was serialized in Enix Corporation's "Monthly GFantasy" and later collected into three volumes and a one-volume manga by the duo Akira Himekawa released in 2005 corresponding with the release of Game Boy Advance version. Both follow the game's plot more closely, and the latter introduced a new character called "Ghanti", a thief with a single devil's horn and a star under her eye.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: A French version of this game was released in Canada, making it the only French-only release in North America for the Super NES. This version had the same case as the English release in North America, but the whole game was translated into French. The next "Zelda" game, was released in 1993 for the Nintendo Game Boy. It retained many of "A Link to the Past"s gameplay mechanics, including the top-down perspective, as well as an overworld which resembled that of "A Link to the Past". After traveling to train abroad, Link is shipwrecked and awakens on an island called Koholint. Beginning on March 2, 1997, a simple unaltered re-release of the original Japanese version of "A Link to the Past" was broadcast via Satellaview. The game was rebroadcast more often than any other "Zelda" game on the Satellaview, and was the only "Zelda" title broadcast by St.GIGA after ties with Nintendo were broken in April 1999. Unlike other two Satellaview "Zelda" games, "Kamigami no Triforce" lacked SoundLink support. On December 2, 2006, in Japan and January 22, 2007, in America, the Super NES version of "A Link to the Past" was added to the Wii Shop Channel's Virtual Console. Players could download it for 800 Wii Points, or US$8.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: Apart from official sequels and re-releases made or licensed by Nintendo, "A Link to the Past" has proven to be very popular within the game-modding community, inspiring the development of numerous fangames, such as the unofficial 2007 sequel "The Legend of Zelda: Parallel Worlds".


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: In 1997, a follow-up, , was released in Japan. Designed exclusively for the Super Famicom's Satellaview peripheral, "BS Zelda" made use of a voice broadcast system, SoundLink, to provide voice-acting for several characters. The game takes place six years after the events in "A Link to the Past" and is set in Hyrule's Light World. It lacks a Link character, and instead the player character is known as the Hero of Light. The available player-characters are actually the male and female BS-X avatars that also featured in "BS Zelda no Densetsu". The game was divided into four weekly episodes. These episodes were played live, and a voice-acted soundtrack simultaneously ran on the satellite network, sometimes containing suggestions, clues, and plot development for the game currently being broadcast. Each week, the player could only access certain portions of the overworld. Areas shrouded in clouds were unreachable. Two dungeons were accessible per week, however the episode ended only when time expired and not when the player had completed all the objectives for that week. The game could only be played during the set hours because the SoundLink content was central to gameplay (and not stored on the base unit or flash-RAM cartridge in any way), and the timer was based on a real-time clock set by the satellite itself.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: "A Link to the Past" was re-released for the Game Boy Advance in 2002 in North America and 2003 in other territories as part of "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past" and "Four Swords", a collaborative development effort between Nintendo and Capcom. The port of "A Link to the Past" contains minor changes from the original, including the addition of voice clips and other sound effects taken from "" and "". "Four Swords" is a multiplayer adventure that interacts with the single-player adventure. Accomplishments can be transferred between the two; for example, if the player learns a new sword technique, it is made available in both modes. By completing "Four Swords", a new dungeon called the Palace of the Four Sword is unlocked in "A Link to the Past". In "Four Swords", dungeons are randomly generated and are affected by the number of players. If only two players are active, the game ensures that all puzzles generated do not require a third or fourth player to solve. The plot of "Four Swords" revolves around the wind mage Vaati, who escapes from the Four Sword he is sealed in and captures Princess Zelda to marry her. Link uses the Four Sword to create three copies of himself and rescues Zelda, trapping Vaati in the sword once again. At the time of its release, the story of "Four Swords" was considered the earliest point in the series' timeline.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: In 2011, Shigeru Miyamoto expressed desire to have "A Link to the Past" remade for the Nintendo 3DS, stating how attractive the two layers would look. Planning for this successor actually began after the completion of "Spirit Tracks" in 2009, though full development did not begin until 2012. In April 2013, Nintendo announced in its Nintendo Direct presentation that a new game based on the same world as "A Link to the Past" was in development for Nintendo 3DS, featuring new 3D visuals, completely new dungeons, new gameplay mechanics, and an original story. On November 22, Nintendo released "The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds", which takes place in the same world, but features a new storyline, new puzzles and original dungeons. Height and depth play a large role by taking advantage of the 3D feature of the 3DS, while maintaining the traditional top-down perspective.


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: "A Link to the Past" has been prominently represented in other "Zelda"-related media since its original release, chiefly the "Super Smash Bros." series. Several music tracks from the game appear in the game on "Zelda"-themed stages. Finally, Princess Zelda's design in "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" is partially based on her incarnation from "A Link to the Past" and "A Link Between Worlds", replacing her previous incarnations from "Ocarina of Time" and "Twilight Princess".


title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

text: "A Link to the Past" is a popular game for speedrunning. It had the fourth highest number of players of all games listed on Speedrun.com in 2019, though it has since fallen to a lower position. It is commonly run at the Games Done Quick charity marathon, where it is often considered one of the highlights of the event. Many speedrunners also play using "A Link to the Past: Randomizer", a mod that randomizes the locations of most of the items, in an attempt to evoke the uncertainty and excitement of playing the game for the first time.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: JaMarcus Trenell Russell (born August 9, 1985) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons with the Oakland Raiders. Highly successful at LSU, where he was MVP of the 2007 Sugar Bowl, he was selected by the Raiders first overall in the 2007 NFL Draft.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: After being drafted by Oakland, Russell immediately incited conflict by engaging in a contract holdout until the second week of the 2007 season. His tenure with the Raiders would be defined by inconsistent play and questions over his work ethic, leading to his release in 2010. Due to not meeting the expectations of being the first pick and the extremely short length of his career for being a high draft pick, he is considered one of the NFL's biggest busts.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: Russell was born in Mobile, Alabama, and attended Lillie B. Williamson High School. For all four years under head coach Bobby Parrish, he started and never missed a football game. In his freshman year, Russell completed 180 of 324 passes for 2,683 yards and 20 touchdowns as Williamson reached the state championship game. By the next season, Russell had grown to six-foot-three and 185 pounds, had received his first recruiting letters and was becoming more adept with the playbook. Russell passed for 2,616 yards and 20 touchdowns during his sophomore year and led the team to the semifinals.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: Russell's best season was his senior year; he completed 219 of 372 passes for 3,332 yards and 22 touchdowns and rushed for another 400 yards and five touchdowns. This earned Russell "Parade" magazine All-American honorable mention honors. His 10,774 career passing yards broke the Alabama High School Athletic Association record and still stands today.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: Russell was at the center of an ESPN "Outside the Lines" story on high school sports in Mobile. He also played basketball and threw the javelin in track and field.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: In February 2003 on National Signing Day, Russell committed to Louisiana State University (LSU) over Florida State University, becoming the LSU Tigers' 28th and final recruit of the 2003 season. He redshirted his freshman year and by the fall of the 2005 season, Russell was the starting quarterback. He led the Tigers to a 10–1 regular season record, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Western Division title, and a top five ranking going into the SEC Championship Game. He also improved statistically, completing 60 percent of his passes for 2,443 yards and 15 touchdowns. Russell received an honorable mention on the AP's All-SEC Team.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: Russell led the Tigers to two come-from-behind wins in the regular season. The first came on a 39-yard pass to Early Doucet on 4th down in the final minute of the game, as the Tigers defeated Arizona State 35–31. Later in the season, LSU defeated a then-undefeated Alabama team 16–13 when he completed a 14-yard touchdown to Dwayne Bowe in overtime.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: Russell injured his shoulder in a loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, and missed the team's bowl game. Backup quarterback Matt Flynn replaced him for the Peach Bowl against Miami, and the Tigers won the game 40–3.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: Russell was the starting quarterback again at LSU in 2006, beating out Matt Flynn and highly touted redshirt freshman Ryan Perrilloux. Before the season began, he changed his jersey number from 4 to 2. He had a productive 2006 regular season, leading the Tigers to a 10–2 record and a BCS Sugar Bowl berth. He threw for 3,129 yards, 28 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He was second in the SEC with 2,923 yards from scrimmage. Russell also won the SEC Offensive Player of the Week award three times during the regular season.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: During one game against Tennessee, Russell started the game poorly, throwing three interceptions (including one that was returned for a touchdown), but subsequently led LSU on a 15-play, 80-yard comeback drive at the end of the game. At the end of the drive, Russel threw a touchdown pass to Early Doucet while there was less than 10 seconds left. As a result, LSU won 28–24. In the Allstate Sugar Bowl, he accumulated over 350 yards of passing and rushing combined and scored three touchdowns, leading LSU to a 41–14 win over Notre Dame. For his performance, he was named Sugar Bowl MVP.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: At the end of the 2006 season, Russell was named to the all-SEC first-team, ahead of Kentucky's Andre Woodson and Florida's Chris Leak.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: On January 10, 2007, Russell stated that he had decided to skip his final season of NCAA eligibility to enter the 2007 NFL Draft.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: John Clayton of ESPN stated that Russell's workouts at the 2007 NFL Scouting Combine that his arm strength and size impressed several teams, and predicted that it would "be hard to pass up on Russell at #1." At the combine, Russell stated about his size, "I started playing football at the age of 6, I've been playing quarterback ever since. I was always bigger and taller than the other kids, and I was always able to throw it a pretty good length of the field." Cleveland Browns General Manager Phil Savage said of Russell's abilities, "His talent is substantial. He's a rare combination of size and arm strength."


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: Russell was selected by the Oakland Raiders as the number one overall pick. Russell was one of four LSU players taken in the first round, along with safety LaRon Landry, and wide receivers Dwayne Bowe and Craig Davis.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: Former Detroit Lions general manager and Raiders linebacker Matt Millen said in 2015 that he warned Raiders owner Al Davis not to draft Russell after Millen kicked Russell out of a pre-draft interview for being overly-distracted. According to Millen, Russell was a “stiff” who “couldn’t pay attention for more than five minutes.” Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin also stated in 2016 he did not want to draft Russell, preferring future Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Calvin Johnson. After firing him in 2008, Davis acknowledged that Kiffin opposed drafting Russell, but was indecisive towards his preferred pick.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: After failing to reach a contract agreement with the Raiders, Russell held out through training camp and into the first week of the 2007 NFL season, until September 12, when he signed a six-year contract worth up to $68 million, with $31.5 million guaranteed. Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin did not immediately name Russell the starting quarterback, saying, "That way we can really control what he is doing, play for this set amount of time for this many plays. He doesn't have to have everything mastered," noting that Russell had missed all of training camp and other quarterbacks, like David Carr, should have been brought along more slowly.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: Russell made his first professional appearance on December 2, 2007, against the Denver Broncos. Coming into the game in the second quarter in relief of starter Josh McCown, Russell played two series, and completed 4 of 7 pass attempts for 56 yards. On December 23, 2007 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Russell threw his first career touchdown pass, a two-yard pass to Zach Miller. He finished the game with seven completions on 23 pass attempts for 83 yards, with one touchdown pass, three interceptions and a lost fumble.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: Russell made his first career start in the final game of the season against the San Diego Chargers. He was intercepted twice and lost a fumble, which led to 17 points off turnovers for the Chargers. After throwing his second interception, he did not initially get up off the field due to an injury, and he was taken to the locker room on a cart later in the game, after which he was replaced by Andrew Walter. In that first start, Russell completed 23 of 31 passes for 224 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, and a lost fumble. Russell finished his rookie season with 36 completed passes on 66 attempts, 373 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions. After the San Diego game, Kiffin named him the starting quarterback for the upcoming 2008 season.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: Russell was named the starter for the opening game of the 2008 season, which was against division rival, Denver Broncos. The Raiders were beaten by the Broncos 41-14. Russell completed 17 of 26 pass attempts for 180 yards and also threw for two touchdowns, finishing with a passer rating of 111.1. He fumbled once early in the redzone while looking to complete a throw to Darren McFadden in the flat. In the next week against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Raiders won 23–8. Russell passed for 55 yards and completed 6-of-17 passes with no touchdowns or interceptions.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: In Week 7, the Raiders beat the New York Jets 16–13 in overtime. The win ended their four-game home losing streak. Russell completed 17-of-30 passes for 203 yards and one touchdown. It was head coach Tom Cable's first win as Raiders head coach. Russell led the team on a 43-yard drive to set up Sebastian Janikowski's game-winning field goal. The next four games were losses to the Baltimore Ravens, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, and Miami Dolphins. A week after the Miami game, he led the Raiders to a 31–10 victory against Denver where he completed 10-of-11 passes for 152 yards and threw one touchdown.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: Russell finished the 2008 season winning back to back games against the Houston Texans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In those last three games, Russell threw for six touchdowns and two interceptions.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: In August 2009, Russell was named starting quarterback of the Raiders for the season. In a Week 5 loss to the New York Giants, Russell lost three fumbles and passed for 100 yards. Following a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on November 15, Russell was benched indefinitely by coach Tom Cable in favor of Bruce Gradkowski. Gradkowski led two fourth-quarter comebacks and upset the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers in the following two weeks, throwing five touchdown passes. After Gradkowski was injured against the Washington Redskins, Russell finished the game for the Raiders, which resulted in a loss. After the game, Cable decided to start backup Charlie Frye rather than Russell, which moved Russell to third on the depth chart. When Frye was injured against the Denver Broncos, Russell played near the end of the game. The game resulted in a win. He finished the 2009 season with the lowest quarterback rating, lowest completion percentage, fewest passing touchdowns, and fewest passing yards among qualifying quarterbacks in the NFL.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: In March of the 2010 offseason, NBC Sports described Russell as "annually and incredibly overweight", saying Russell, often criticized for a perceived lack of conditioning, arrived at mini-camp weighing 290 pounds, up from his initially reported weight of 271. By April, "National Football Post" reported him at 300 pounds. However, Cam Inman of the "Oakland Tribune" said that Russell had "a good first minicamp" and "is in great shape" in the team's first training camp in late April. In an interview during camp, Russell said "Today I'm going to keep coming out, compete for the job, work my tail off."


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: That same month, the Raiders traded for Washington Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell, which left the team with five quarterbacks on the roster: Campbell, Russell, Frye, Gradkowski, and Kyle Boller. At the time, Cable said Russell could compete for the starting job. On May 6, 2010, the Raiders released Russell.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: The Raiders filed a grievance on May 28, 2010, seeking $9.55 million back from Russell for what was paid as salary advances for the 2010 to 2012 NFL seasons. His agent said "The money in question was fully guaranteed. That is why Russell was forced to hold out and miss all of training camp as a rookie. The Raiders know that and this is our only comment." Russell subsequently filed a grievance against the Raiders, asserting he was owed an additional $9 million from the team, and the parties settled the complaints in 2013 with the Raiders paying Russell an extra $3 million.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton said in May 2010, that the time was not right for the Saints to consider signing Russell, but added in that it was "newsworthy" when a high draft pick is released so soon, and said players like Russell often get second chances in the NFL. However, due in part to concerns about his work ethic, he has never played another down in an NFL game. On September 26, 2010, ESPN.com reported that Russell had moved to Houston, Texas, and was working out with former NBA standout and head coach John Lucas, who was also consulting him as a life coach. Russell had a workout with the Washington Redskins on November 2, 2010, but was not signed. On November 15, 2010, Russell, who at the time was at 292 pounds, worked out for the Miami Dolphins with four other quarterbacks to replace an injured Chad Pennington on the Dolphins' roster. Patrick Ramsey was eventually signed. In January 2011, Lucas attempted to arrange a meeting for Russell with Baltimore Ravens president Ozzie Newsome when the Ravens executive was in Mobile, Alabama, for the Senior Bowl; however, Newsome refused to meet with Russell. In April 2011, Lucas, who had become frustrated with Russell's work ethic, reportedly severed all ties with Russell and asked him to leave the Houston area.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: In 2013, Russell stated that he was interested in returning to the NFL, and would train with various NFL players, including Marshall Faulk and Jeff Garcia, along with Olympian Ato Boldon. Russell's comeback attempt was documented by Bleacher Report in a series titled "JaMarcus Russell's Road Back to the NFL". In May 2013, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported Russell had returned to his rookie weight of 265 pounds. Interest from the Chicago Bears and Baltimore Ravens had also been reported. Russell tried out for the Bears on June 7, 2013, and, according to a report from ESPN, presented a "solid" performance while working out alongside fellow free-agent quarterbacks Trent Edwards and Jordan Palmer. The Bears did not sign him, stating they were not interested in adding a fourth quarterback to the roster. However, the Bears did sign both Edwards and Palmer two months later. In April 2016, Russell told "Sports Illustrated" that he had written letters to all 32 NFL teams asking for a tryout and pledging to play one year for free, although no team responded to the letters.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: "NFL.com"'s Steve Wyche claimed that Russell is the biggest draft bust in NFL history. "The Huffington Post" named him one of the 13 biggest draft busts of the 2000s. ESPN's Bill Williamson called Russell a "talented but extremely disappointing" quarterback. In addition, Russell's 2009 passer rating of 50.0 was the lowest rating by a starting quarterback in the NFL since 1998. His final stats during his tenure as a Raider were 52.1% pass completion, 18–23 TD-INT ratio, a passer rating of 65.2, and fumbled 25 times, 15 of those were lost fumbles.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: No Oakland player wore Russell's #2 jersey number during the regular season for several years after his release; punter Marquette King wore it during Oakland's 2012 preseason before being placed on season-ending injured reserve. In 2011, newly drafted quarterback Terrelle Pryor's request to wear #2 was turned down by then-coach Hue Jackson, and Ann Killion from "Sports Illustrated" said it was to avoid comparisons to Russell. However, in 2013, Raiders coach Dennis Allen allowed Pryor to trade numbers with King beginning in training camp.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: In June 2022, after spending many years out of public eye, Russell wrote a personal essay for "The Players Tribune", titled "Y'all Don't Know a Damn Thing About Jamarcus Russell". In the piece, he addressed his lean consumption during his LSU career, his family, and his "bust" designation.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: His uncle Ray Ray Russell was a long-time DJ and radio host for the Mobile, Alabama-based station WBLX until his death in 2009. In 2011, his cousin DeAngelo Parker started Ray Ray's Chicken and Waffles franchise in honor of him in Mobile, Alabama. In an ESPN feature produced in 2013, Russell later recalled not having the time to properly grieve the deaths of Ray Ray and his other uncle, which occurred within months of each other, and he never told the Raiders of his mental anguish during his disastrous 2009 season.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Russell housed around a dozen evacuees who had fled the flooding in New Orleans, including New Orleans singer Fats Domino, in his off-campus apartment.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: On July 5, 2010, Russell was arrested at his Mobile, Alabama home for being in possession of codeine syrup without a valid prescription. His arrest was the culmination of a two-month investigation that did not initially target Russell, but his name and address surfaced repeatedly during the investigation. Russell was bailed out, and a bond hearing was scheduled for July 7, 2010. At his July 20, 2010 arraignment, Russell pleaded 'not guilty' to a state felony charge of possession of a controlled substance. On October 29, 2010, a Mobile County grand jury declined to indict Russell on the charge of possession of codeine syrup without a prescription. By at least one account, the arrest severely diminished his prospects of catching on with another NFL team.


title: JaMarcus Russell

text: Rumors of "purple drank" use by Russell had been noted by local journalists for some time during his tenure with the Raiders, but not reported due to the lack of evidence or corroboration. In an interview with ESPN's Colleen Dominguez, Russell stated that he tested positive for codeine after he was selected by the Raiders in the 2007 NFL Draft.


title: Kurt Vile

text: Kurt Samuel Vile (born January 3, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is known for his solo work and as the former lead guitarist of rock band the War on Drugs. Both in the studio and during live performances, Vile is accompanied by his backing band, the Violators, which currently includes Jesse Trbovich (guitar, saxophone), Rob Laakso (guitar, bass, keyboards), Kyle Spence (drums) and Adam Langellotti (bass).


title: Kurt Vile

text: Influenced by Pavement, John Prine, Neil Young, Ween, Tom Petty, Dinosaur Jr., and John Fahey, Vile began his musical career creating lo-fi home recordings with frequent collaborator Adam Granduciel in Philadelphia, with whom he has participated in early work by the War on Drugs as well as various solo projects. Focusing on his solo career, Vile released two albums, "Constant Hitmaker" (2008) and "God Is Saying This to You..." (2009), compiling various home recordings dating back to 2003. Vile signed to Matador Records in 2009, and released his third album, "Childish Prodigy", that same year. The album was his first recorded in a studio and with the full participation of the Violators.


title: Kurt Vile

text: In 2011, Vile released his fourth studio album, "Smoke Ring for My Halo", which significantly increased his exposure. His fifth studio album, "Wakin on a Pretty Daze", was released in 2013, with Laakso replacing Granduciel in his backing band. In 2015, Vile released his sixth studio album, "B'lieve I'm Goin Down...". The lead single from the album, "Pretty Pimpin", was Vile's best performing song to date, topping the "Billboard" Adult Alternative Songs chart in March 2016. His 2017 release, "Lotta Sea Lice", is a collaboration with Australian singer and guitarist Courtney Barnett. In 2018, he released his eighth studio album, "Bottle It In", followed by a country-influenced EP, "Speed, Sound, Lonely KV", in 2020.


title: Kurt Vile

text: Vile grew up in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, and is the third oldest of ten children born to Charles and Donna Vile. Although his surname is occasionally assumed to be a pseudonym and a pun on German composer Kurt Weill, it is his real birth name and the similarity to Weill's name is a coincidence.


title: Kurt Vile

text: At the age of fourteen, Kurt Vile was given a banjo by his father, with Vile noting, "I kind of wished [it] was a guitar. So I'd kind of just play it like a guitar anyway. I was really into writing pretty primitive tunes, and really into recording. I pretty much knew I was going to do music [with my life] then." Vile began writing songs on the banjo, describing his first self-penned track as: "a joke song. It was a good instrumental; I knew all these chords, but then I was quoting a cartoon as the lyrics on top of it. I had seen this cartoon about Superman and Lex Luthor; it was like the back history of why Lex Luthor hated Superman. They used to be friends, and then some giant stone of kryptonite fell and it made Lex Luthor's hair fall out, and he was like, 'You made all my hair fall out!' It was a really stupid cartoon, but that was my song, 'You Made All My Hair Fall Out'."


title: Kurt Vile

text: Three years later, Vile created his first "mass-produced" tape at the age of seventeen. Influenced by Pavement, Beck, Smog and the record label, Drag City, Vile noted, "I really thought I could be on Drag City. I really wanted that. I heard these people that made good music but it was still pretty raw, and had this real cult quality."


title: Kurt Vile

text: While working on his home recordings, Vile worked as a forklift driver, from 2000 to 2002. Regarding this time in his life, Vile noted "It was a really fast-paced job, unloading trucks. Though music was my passion, I had a long way to go then and a lot to learn. I got depressed so many times by my blue-collar life, and self-conscious about the fact that I didn't go to college. I was always working super low-end jobs, being the complete opposite of what I wanted to be. But I just fell into it, and I was also sorta shy. It was definitely a pretty rough time."


title: Kurt Vile

text: In 2003, after staying in Boston for two years, Vile moved back to Philadelphia, and began collaborating with musician and songwriter Adam Granduciel. The duo subsequently formed the indie rock band The War on Drugs in 2005. Regarding his friendship with Granduciel, Vile noted, "We're essentially best friends. He was backing me up in my band when he started working on his own music, so I thought I’d return the favor." Granduciel and Vile released their debut studio album, "Wagonwheel Blues", in 2008 and embarked on a tour in support of its release.


title: Kurt Vile

text: At this time, Vile's debut solo album, "Constant Hitmaker" (2008), was released on Gulcher Records. Vile subsequently decided to leave The War on Drugs to concentrate on his solo career. The album was compiled from various home recordings and one studio recording of the song "Freeway". In 2009, Vile noted, "The War On Drugs got put out on a bigger label first, so, in the blogosphere, some claim that The War on Drugs was my first, main band. But that's just the way it looks. I've made more music than Adam has, and have been doing my Kurt Vile thing for a little bit longer. And "Constant Hitmaker" came out around that same time. Right when that [War on Drugs] record came out, I went to Europe with them, and also opened as Kurt Vile. That was right when I decided I wanted to concentrate on doing my own thing." Despite Vile's departure, Granduciel remained a member of his backing band, The Violators, with Granduciel noting, "There was never, despite what lazy journalists have assumed, any sort of falling out, or resentment."


title: Kurt Vile

text: In April 2009, Mexican Summer released "God Is Saying This to You..."; a collection of Vile's home recordings dating back to 2003 on vinyl only. Upon its release, Vile had already recorded a studio album, "Childish Prodigy", which Vile described as "definitely not as lo-fi" as his previous releases. After shipping the record to various labels, Vile signed with Matador Records in May 2009. Vile noted, "It's a perfect fit. They were my number one choice. I don't really consider my music indie rock or think that Matador cater only to indie rock, but I still feel I can relate most to Matador, more than any other label. Not to mention the fact that they are way on top of their shit."


title: Kurt Vile

text: Recorded with backing band The Violators, "Childish Prodigy" was released on October 6, 2009, and increased Vile's exposure significantly. Support slots with Dinosaur Jr, Thurston Moore and Fucked Up followed the album's release. Regarding his new position, Vile stated, "Obviously there's more touring, more press and more hype which I won't say is not deserved. There's like a faction of people, too, who like to talk shit, which is kind of new. When I was more independent, there were people who got really excited and there still are but once I got more press people started to comment on blogs. People like to talk shit. [...] It's like climbing a ladder. I like to climb it really slowly. I could probably get really professional right away, but I like to take baby steps and find my own way."


title: Kurt Vile

text: Vile released his fourth studio album, "Smoke Ring for My Halo", in 2011. The album peaked at #154 on the "Billboard Top 200" and placed highly on many end-of-year lists, and in 2013 was named at number 475 in NME's '500 Greatest Albums of All Time'. Later in 2011, Vile released a companion EP, "So Outta Reach", and appeared on his former band The War on Drugs' second studio album, "Slave Ambient". Shortly after the release of "Smoke Ring for My Halo", longtime Violators guitarist Adam Granduciel departed from the band to fully focus on The War on Drugs, with Vile noting, "Adam, he plays in The War on Drugs, his record came out a little after mine did, so at first he toured, and now he's obviously busy with that and now he's working on his new record."


title: Kurt Vile

text: "Wakin on a Pretty Daze" was released on April 9, 2013. Regarding the current line-up of his backing band, Vile noted, "I’m playing with Jesse [Trbovich] and Rob [Laakso]. [...] Rob Laakso is the newest member and Jesse has been a member forever. They’re steady members. Our drummer is no longer with us, but other than that, different friends played drums on the record and we’re doing rehearsals with that right now. But other than that, the Violators are me, Jesse, and Rob and we’ll see how it evolves." Priestess drummer Vince Nudo subsequently joined the band on drums and percussion, after performing on two of "Wakin on a Pretty Daze"s tracks.


title: Kurt Vile

text: Steve Gunn joined the band as an "auxiliary Violator", during the band's May 2013 tour dates, with Vile noting, "It's impossible to just talk about Steve. He's too good! He's so good; just listen to him. What can I even say about him that touches that? I just want to listen to him."


title: Kurt Vile

text: On September 24, 2013, Vile announced the release of a new EP, "It's a Big World Out There (And I Am Scared)", and a deluxe edition of "Wakin on a Pretty Daze".


title: Kurt Vile

text: On March 6, 2015, Vile announced that he was working on his sixth studio album, with recording taking place across different locations in the United States. "B'lieve I'm Goin Down..." was released September 25, 2015, on Matador Records. Vile has described it as "All over the place. Everything you can imagine I've done... That's where I'm at now, that I can sort of tap into every world and make it cohesive." "Still in Rock" ranked this LP as the 2nd best of 2015.


title: Kurt Vile

text: Vile is featured on the song "Let Me Get There" by the band Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions released in 2016.


title: Kurt Vile

text: Vile sings lead vocals on The Sadies song "It's Easy (Like Walking)" on their 2017 album "Northern Passages".


title: Kurt Vile

text: In 2017, Vile and Courtney Barnett recorded the collaborative album "Lotta Sea Lice", released on October 13. The lead single "Over Everything" was released on August 30, 2017 accompanied by the music video directed by Danny Cohen.


title: Kurt Vile

text: Vile produced and appeared on "Sweep It Into Space", the twelfth album by Dinosaur Jr. which was released on April 23, 2021. On April 20, Verve Records announced that they had signed Vile after 11 years with Matador. Vile cited the Velvet Underground as an inspiration for his signing. On April 15, 2022, Verve Records released "(watch my moves)", Vile's ninth studio album.


title: Kurt Vile

text: Vile is married to Suzanne Lang, a teacher, and has two daughters. He cites songwriters Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Bruce Springsteen as influences in his lyrics and music. During a 2022 episode of "Rolling Stone"'s "Music Now" podcast, Vile stated that he stopped drinking alcohol sometime "around the tour for "Bottle It In"" (in late 2018 or early 2019), but noted that he still occasionally consumes cannabis.


title: Dairy cattle

text: Dairy cattle (also called dairy cows) are cattle bred for the ability to produce large quantities of milk, from which dairy products are made. Dairy cattle generally are of the species "Bos taurus".


title: Dairy cattle

text: Historically, little distinction was made between dairy cattle and beef cattle, with the same stock often being used for both meat and milk production. Today, the bovine industry is more specialized and most dairy cattle have been bred to produce large volumes of milk.


title: Dairy cattle

text: Dairy cows may be found either in herds or dairy farms, where dairy farmers own, manage, care for, and collect milk from them, or on commercial farms. Herd sizes vary around the world depending on landholding culture and social structure. The United States has an estimated 9 million cows in around 75,000 dairy herds, with an average herd size of 120 cows. The number of small herds is falling rapidly with the 3,100 herds with over 500 cows producing 51% of U.S. milk in 2007. The United Kingdom dairy herd overall has nearly 1.5 million cows, with about 100 head reported on an average farm. In New Zealand, the average herd has more than 375 cows, while in Australia, there are approximately 220 cows in the average herd.


title: Dairy cattle

text: The United States dairy herd produced of milk in 2007, up from in 1950, yet there were only about 9 million cows on U.S. dairy farms—about 13 million fewer than there were in 1950. The top breed of dairy cow within Canada's national herd category is Holstein, taking up 93% of the dairy cow population, have an annual production rate of of milk per cow that contains 3.9% butter fat and 3.2% protein.


title: Dairy cattle

text: Dairy farming, like many other livestock-rearing methods, can be split into intensive and extensive management systems.


title: Dairy cattle

text: Intensive systems focus towards maximum production per cow in the herd. This involves formulating their diet to provide ideal nutrition and housing the cows in a confinement system such as free stall or tie stall. These cows are housed indoors throughout their lactation and may be put to pasture during their 60-day dry period before ideally calving again. Free stall-style barns involve cattle loosely housed where they can have free access to feed, water, and stalls, but are moved to another part of the barn to be milked multiple times a day. In a tie-stall system, the milking units are brought to the cows during each milking. These cattle are tethered within their stalls with free access to water and feed provided. In extensive systems, cattle are mainly outside on pasture for most of their lives. These cattle are generally lower in milk production and are herded multiple times daily to be milked. The systems used greatly depend on the climate and available land of the region in which the farm is situated.


title: Dairy cattle

text: To maintain lactation, a dairy cow must be bred and produce calves. Depending on market conditions, the cow may be bred with a "dairy bull" or a "beef bull." Female calves (heifers) with dairy breeding may be kept as replacement cows for the dairy herd. If a replacement cow turns out to be a substandard producer of milk, she then goes to market and can be slaughtered for beef. Male calves can either be used later as a breeding bull or sold and used for veal or beef. Dairy farmers usually begin breeding or artificially inseminating heifers around 13 months of age. A cow's gestation period is about 9 nine months. Newborn calves are separated from their mothers quickly, usually within three days, as the mother/calf bond intensifies over time and delayed separation can cause extreme stress on both cow and calf.


title: Dairy cattle

text: Domestic cows can live beyond 20 years; however, those raised for dairy rarely live that long, as the average cow is removed from the dairy herd around age six and marketed for beef. In 2014, roughly 9.5% of the cattle slaughtered in the U.S. were culled dairy cows - cows that can no longer be seen as an economic asset to the dairy farm. These animals may be sold due to reproductive problems or common diseases of milk cows such as mastitis and lameness.


title: Dairy cattle

text: Most heifers (female calves) are kept on farm to be raised as replacement heifers, bred to enter the production cycle. Market calves are generally sold at two weeks of age and bull calves may fetch a premium over heifers due to their size, either current or potential. Calves may be sold for veal, or for one of several types of beef production, depending on available local crops and markets. Such bull calves may be castrated if turnout onto pastures is envisaged, to make them less aggressive. Purebred bulls from elite cows may be put into progeny testing schemes to find out whether they might become superior sires for breeding. Such animals can become extremely valuable.


title: Dairy cattle

text: Most dairy farms separate calves from their mothers within a day of birth to reduce transmission of disease and simplify management of milking cows. Studies have been done allowing calves to remain with their mothers for 1, 4, 7 or 14 days after birth. Cows whose calves were removed longer than one day after birth showed increased searching, sniffing and vocalizations. However, calves allowed to remain with their mothers for longer periods showed weight gains at three times the rate of early removals as well as more searching behavior and better social relationships with other calves.


title: Dairy cattle

text: After separation, some young dairy calves subsist on commercial milk replacer, a feed based on dried milk powder. Milk replacer is an economical alternative to feeding whole milk because it is cheaper, can be bought at varying fat and protein percentages, and is typically less contaminated than whole milk when handled properly. Some farms pasteurize and feed calves milk from the cows in the herd instead of using replacer. A day-old calf consumes around 5 liters of milk per day.


title: Dairy cattle

text: Cattle are social animals; their ancestors tended to live in matriarchal groups of mothers and offspring. The formation of "friendships" between two cows is common and long lasting. Traditionally individual housing systems were used in calf rearing, to reduce the risk of disease spread and provide specific care. However, due to their social behaviour the grouping of offspring may be better for the calves' overall welfare. Social interaction between the calves can have a positive effect on their growth. It has been seen that calves housed in grouped penning were found to eat more feed than those in single pens, suggesting social facilitation of feeding behaviour in the calves. Play behaviour in pre-weaned dairy calves has also been suggested to help build social skills for later in life. It has been seen that those reared in grouped housing are more likely to become the dominant cattle in a new combination of animals. These dominant animals have a priority choice of feed or lying areas and are generally stronger animals. For these reasons, it has become common practice to group or pair calves in their housing. It has become common in Canada to see paired or grouped housing in outdoor hutches or in an indoor pack penning.


title: Dairy cattle

text: A bull calf with high genetic potential may be reared for breeding purposes. It may be kept by a dairy farm as a herd bull, to provide natural breeding for the herd of cows. A bull may service up to 50 or 60 cows during a breeding season. Any more and the sperm count declines, leading to cows "returning to service" (needing to be bred again). A herd bull may only stay for one season, as when most bulls reach over two years old their temperament becomes too unpredictable.


title: Dairy cattle

text: Bull calves intended for breeding are commonly bred on specialized dairy breeding farms, not production farms. These farms are the major source of stocks for artificial insemination.


title: Dairy cattle

text: The dairy cow produces large amounts of milk in its lifetime. Production levels peak at around 40 to 60 days after calving. Production declines steadily afterwards until milking is stopped at about 10 months. The cow is "dried off" for about sixty days before calving again. Within a 12 to 14-month inter-calving cycle, the milking period is about 305 days or 10 months long. Among many variables, certain breeds produce more milk than others within a range of around of milk per year.


title: Dairy cattle

text: The Holstein Friesian is the main breed of dairy cattle in Australia, and said to have the "world's highest" productivity, at of milk per year. The average for a single dairy cow in the US in 2007 was per year, excluding milk consumed by her calves, whereas the same average value for a single cow in Israel was reported in the Philippine press to be in 2009. High production cows are more difficult to breed at a two-year interval. Many farms take the view that 24 or even 36 month cycles are more appropriate for this type of cow.


title: Dairy cattle

text: Dairy cows may continue to be economically productive for many lactation cycles. In theory a longevity of 10 lactations is possible. The chances of problems arising which may lead to a cow being culled are high, however; the average herd life of US Holstein is today fewer than 3 lactations. This requires more herd replacements to be reared or purchased. Over 90% of all cows are slaughtered for 4 main reasons:


title: Dairy cattle

text: Cow longevity is strongly correlated with production levels. Lower production cows live longer than high production cows, but may be less profitable. Cows no longer wanted for milk production are sent to slaughter. Their meat is of relatively low value and is generally used for processed meat. Another factor affecting milk production is the stress the cow is faced with. Psychologists at the University of Leicester, UK, analyzed the musical preference of milk cows and found out that music actually influences the dairy cow's lactation. Calming music can improve milk yield, probably because it reduces stress and relaxes the cows in much the same way as it relaxes humans.