Just a little warm up here. I present Sallust's comparison of Caesar to Cato with a few comments following:
Sallust, War With Catiline, 52:
For my own part, as I read and heard of the many illustrious deeds of the Roman people at home and abroad, on land and sea, it chanced that I was seized by a strong desire of finding out what quality in particular had been the foundation of so great exploits. 3 I knew that often with a handful of men they had encountered great armies of the enemy; I was aware that with small resources they had waged wars with mighty kings; also that they had often experienced the cruelty of Fortune; that the Romans had been surpassed by the Greeks in eloquence and by the Gauls in warlike glory. 4 After long reflection I became convinced that it had all been accomplished by the eminent merit of a few citizens; that it was due to them that poverty had triumphed over riches, and a few over a multitude.
5 But after the state had become demoralized by extravagance and sloth, it was the commonwealth in its turn that was enabled by its greatness to sustain the shortcomings of its generals and magistrates, and for a long time, as when mothers are exhausted by child-bearing, no one at all was produced at Rome who was great in merit. 6 But within my own memory there have appeared two men of towering merit, though of diverse character, Marcus Cato and Gaius Caesar. As regards these men, since the occasion has presented itself, it is not my intention to pass them by in silence, or fail to give, to the best of my ability, an account of their disposition and character.
54 In birth then, in years and in eloquence, they were about equal;
in greatness of soul they were evenly matched,
and likewise in renown, although the renown of each was different.
2 Caesar was held great because of his benefactions and lavish generosity,
Cato for the uprightness of his life.
3 The former became famous for his gentleness and compassion,
the austerity of the latter had brought him prestige.
Caesar gained glory by giving, helping, and forgiving;
Cato by never stooping to bribery. {See note below.}
One was a refuge for the unfortunate,
the other a scourge for the wicked.
The good nature of the one was applauded,
the steadfastness of the other.
4 Finally, Caesar had schooled himself to work hard and sleep little, to devote himself to the welfare of his friends and neglect his own, to refuse nothing which was worth the giving. He longed for great power, an army, a new85 war to give scope for his brilliant merit.
5 Cato, on the contrary, cultivated self-control, propriety, but above all austerity. 6 He did not vie with the rich in riches nor in intrigue with the intriguer, but with the active in good works, with the self-restrained in moderation, with the blameless in integrity. He preferred to be, rather than to seem, virtuous;86 hence the less he sought fame, the more it pursued him.
The problem with the depiction of Cato is that Cato was a self-righteous, narcissistic hypocrite. In reference to his extreme uprightness and never stooping to a bribe:
Suetonius' Life of Julius Caesar
19 Of the two other candidates for this office, Lucius Lucceius and Marcus Bibulus, Caesar joined forces with the former, making a bargain with him that since Lucceius had less influence but more funds, he should in their common name promise largess to the electors from his own pocket. When this became known, the aristocracy authorized Bibulus to promise the same amount, being seized with fear that Caesar would stick at nothing when he became chief magistrate, if he had a colleague who was heart and soul with him. Many of them contributed to the fund, and even Cato did not deny that bribery under such circumstances was for the good of the commonwealth.
Another anecdote from Plutarch:
Cato's stubbornness began in his early years. Sarpedon, his teacher, reports a very obedient and questioning child, although slow in being persuaded of things and sometimes very difficult to retrain. A story told by Plutarch tells of Quintus Poppaedius Silo, leader of the Marsi and involved in a highly controversial business in the Roman Forum, who made a visit to his friend Marcus Livius and met the children of the house. In a playful mood, he asked the children's support for his cause. All of them nodded and smiled except Cato, who stared at the guest with most suspicious looks. Silo demanded an answer from him and, seeing no response, took Cato and hung him by the feet out of the window. Even then, Cato would not say anything.
Another:
Lucius Cornelius Sulla, the Roman dictator, liked to talk with Cato and his brother Caepio, and often requested the child's presence even when the boy openly defied his opinions and policies in public (Sulla's daughter Cornelia Sulla was married to their uncle Mamercus Aemilius Lepidus Livianus). According to Plutarch, at one point during the height of the civil strife, as respected Roman nobles were being led to execution from Sulla's villa, Cato, aged about 14, asked his tutor why no one had yet killed the dictator. Sarpedon's answer was thus: "They fear him, my child, more than they hate him." Cato replied to this, "Give me a sword, that I might free my country from slavery." After this, Sarpedon was careful not to leave the boy unattended around the capital, seeing how firm he was in his republican beliefs.
After receiving his inheritance, Cato moved from his uncle's house and began to study Stoic philosophy and politics. He began to live in a very modest way, as his great-grandfather Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder had famously done. Cato subjected himself to violent exercise, and learned to endure cold and rain with a minimum of clothes. He ate only what was necessary and drank the cheapest wine on the market. This was entirely for philosophical reasons; his inheritance would have permitted him to live comfortably.
Plutarch's Parallel Lives, Life of Cato the Younger, 7:
[Atilia] was the first woman with whom he had sex, but not the only one, as was true of Laelius, the friend of Scipio Africanus; Laelius, indeed, was more fortunate, since in the course of his long life he only ever made love to one woman, the wife of his youth.
Cato and Atilia had a son, Marcus Porcius Cato who later died in the second Battle of Philippi, and a daughter Porcia Catonis who became the wife of her cousin Marcus Junius Brutus.
Circa 63 BC, Cato divorced Atilia on the grounds of adultery (she was rumoured to have been one of the many lovers of Julius Caesar), later marrying a woman named Marcia.
Marcia's second marriage, in the year 56 BC, was to the renowned orator and advocate Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, whom Cicero styled as "king of the courts". Hortensius was an admirer and friend of Cato’s, and he was eager to be more closely related to Cato and his family. Although Hortensius' own wife, the daughter of Quintus Lutatius Catulus, had just died without leaving Hortensius an heir, an alliance with Cato seems to be the chief reason for Hortensius, nearing 60 years old, to request to be married to Cato’s daughter Porcia, who was only about 20 years old at the time. However, because Porcia was already married to Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus and the age difference was so great, Cato refused to give his consent. Hortensius immediately suggested that he marry Marcia instead because she had already borne Cato his heirs. Due to Hortensius' ardor, Cato acquiesced, but only on the condition that Marcia's father, Lucius Marcius Philippus, approve as well. With Philippus' consent obtained, Cato divorced Marcia, thereby placing her under her father's charge. Hortensius promptly married Marcia, and she bore him an heir. After Hortensius' death in 50 BC, she inherited "every last sesterce of his estate"
Marcia and her children moved back into Cato’s household. Plutarch asserts that Cato remarried Marcia after Hortensius's death, whereas Appian's histories relate that Cato merely reestablished her in his own household. Either way, this caused a minor scandal, as after Hortensius' death, her return made the household rich.
Julius Caesar accused Cato of wife trafficking and marrying Marcia off to Hortensius simply in order to gain his wealth. . "For why," said Caesar, "should Cato give up his wife if he wanted her, or why, if he did not want her, should he take her back again? Unless it was true that the woman was at the first set as a bait for Hortensius, and lent by Cato when she was young that he might take her back when she was rich."
My ways of trying to frame this were really unclear, too. Perhaps to simplify it even more, I could have just asked: "Are human efforts sufficient to truly evolve in a spiritual sense?" And by "spiritual" I mean things relating to 'higher' realities, beings, consciousness, values. 
