Cato gave his pregnant wife Marcia to the orator Hortensius, and took her back as Hortensius's rich widow

Quintus Hortensius, the leading orator of Rome, first asked Cato the Younger for his daughter Porcia, who was married to Bibulus. Cato refused. Hortensius then asked for Cato's own wife, Marcia. Plutarch says Hortensius argued that Cato already had heirs enough. Cato agreed, on condition that Marcia's father Philippus approve. Philippus consented only if Cato himself was present to give the bride away. Plutarch cites a report that Marcia was pregnant by Cato at the time. Hortensius died in 50 BC and left Marcia his heir. At the start of the civil war, as Caesar marched on Rome, Cato took her back, saying his household and daughters needed someone to look after them. She was now a wealthy widow. Caesar, in a pamphlet against Cato, mocked the remarriage as profit, implying Marcia had been set as bait for Hortensius to be taken back rich. Plutarch rejected the charge. Quintilian used the case as a classroom question: "was Cato right in transferring Marcia to Hortensius?"