Cato, Dionysius (lived 3rd century)

Reputed author of Dionysii Catonis Disticha de Moribus ad Filium (3rd or 4th century), a book of moral injunctions and precepts which was very popular in the Middle Ages. It was translated into many languages, and Caxton printed a version at Westminster 1483.

Each apophthegm (maxim) is enclosed in a couplet of dactylic hexameters. There is an amusing reference to the book in Chaucer's ‘Nonne's Preste's Tale’ in the Canterbury Tales.