Editing Cato Sicarius (section)

==Possible Ancient Inspiration==
In ancient Rome, [[Ordo Sicarius|''Sicarius'']] was the word for murderous street thugs, named after their sickle-like bent dagger, and the word carries on as ''sicario'', roughly meaning hired assassin in Portuguese, Italian and Spanish. IRL you'd be most likely to hear the term in the context of Latin American ''narcotraficantes''. In the Roman context, however, the dagger is intimately connected with thuggery and assassination as it is easily concealed under your tunic. You had better, for the [[Skub|law prohibited being armed]] in the city. Because of this, using a ''sica'' was considered having no honor, while gutting your political opponent with, lets say, a ''gladius'' was totally okay, especially if you challenge them to get down in the Colosseum with you, while the crowd goes [[Khorne|observant cornflakes]] (actually, fighting in the Arena was a huge no-no for the roman upper class. Emperor Commodus (you know, the son of Marcus Aurelius and the antagonist in ''Gladiator'') scandalized the Roman elite by fighting in the arena, for example).

Incidentally, ''Sicarius'' is a possible origin of the unusual cognomen of Jesus's unfaithful disciple, Judas I''scario''t (which would make it an English translation of a Latinatization of a Hellenization of an Aramaic rendering of a Greek word loaned from Latin via Greek again, just so we're all clear...) The meaning would have carried very clear and appropriate connotation of betrayal and cowardice to the readers of the Gospels, Hellenized Jews and early Gentile Christians. That said this is only one possibility, as while the idea of a Sicarius thug was common in Rome there's no evidence the term was applied to Jewish rebels until 30 years after Judas died.

One should wonder, what does all this say about our smurf guy here? Considering GW usually picking telling names when speaking Latin? And Cato's visual appearance so clearly being that of a Roman centurion? Those connections make sense, as there are two renowned Roman Republic [[High Lords of Terra|traditionalist senators]] (who also served as generals without any formal training) by the name of Cato, Cato the Elder and Cato the Younger，great-grandfather and great-grandson respectively, and they generally make the [[Grimdark|High Lords of Terra look like very nice people]], like all ancient Roman politicians we have record of, and were also considered by their people as morally upright and incorruptible since they refused bribes and followed traditional virtues, [[Tzeentch|because that's totally all the credibility you need to be a good person.]]

Thought to think upon: More than once in ancient Rome, either Cato the Elder or Cato the Younger was mostly likely referred to, at least once, as "Cato Sicarius". A more grievous insult than what was meant indeed.

Or maybe we're just [[Kairos Fateweaver|overthinking]] things, since GW has been known from time to time to give historically resonant names that sound cool but make [[Belial|no sense]] [[Baal|for their]] [[Azrael|owners]], after all, but that's usually a thing for legions that are named "Angels." So ''[[Tzeentch|maybe]]''. But given Cato's penchant for self-promotion and the weird vibes and post-''Gathering Storm'' dynamics building between him, his [[Uriel Ventris|brother smurfs]], [[Marneus Calgar|Papa Smurf]], and [[Roboute Guilliman|the returned Primarch]], there's some potential for some sicarius-swinging. But not too likely given the Ultramarines' image as the (relatively) good guys and poster boys of the Space Marines.