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"A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty is worth a whole eternity in bondage."
-Joseph Addison, Cato 1713
Joseph Addison was born in 1672 in Milston, Wiltshire, England. He
was educated in the classics at Oxford and became widely known as an
essayist, playwright, poet, and statesman. First produced in 1713, Cato,
A Tragedy inspired generations toward a pursuit of liberty. Liberty Fund’s
new edition of Cato: A Tragedy, and Selected Essays brings together
Addison’s dramatic masterpiece along with a selection of his essays that
develop key themes in the play.
Cato, A Tragedy is the account of the final hours of Marcus Porcius
Cato (95–46 B.C.), a Stoic whose deeds, rhetoric, and resistance to the
tyranny of Caesar made him an icon of republicanism, virtue, and liberty.
By all accounts, Cato was an uncompromisingly principled man, deeply
committed to liberty. He opposed Caesar’s tyrannical assertion of power
and took arms against him. As Caesar’s forces closed in on Cato, he chose
to take his life, preferring death by his own hand to a life of submission
to Caesar.
Addison’s theatrical depiction of Cato enlivened the glorious image of a
citizen ready to sacrifice everything in the cause of freedom, and it influenced
friends of liberty on both sides of the Atlantic. Captain Nathan
Hale’s last words before being hanged were, “I only regret that I have but
one life to lose for my country,” a close paraphrase of Addison’s “What pity
is it that we can die but once to serve our country!” George Washington
found Cato such a powerful statement of liberty, honor, virtue, and patriotism
that he had it performed for his men at Valley Forge. And Forrest
McDonald says in his Foreword that “Patrick Henry adapted his famous
‘Give me liberty or give me death’ speech directly from lines in Cato.”
Despite Cato’s enormous success, Addison was perhaps best-known as
an essayist. In periodicals like the Spectator, Guardian, Tatler, and Freeholder,
he sought to educate England’s developing middle class in the habits,
morals, and manners he believed necessary for the preservation of a free
society. Addison’s work in these periodicals helped to define the modern
English essay form. Samuel Johnson said of his writing, “Whoever wishes
to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not
ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the study of Addison.”
Christine Dunn Henderson is a Senior Fellow at Liberty Fund. Prior to joining Liberty Fund in 2000, she was assistant professor of political science at Marshall University.
Mark E. Yellin, also a Fellow at Liberty Fund, received his Ph.D. from
Rutgers University, has taught at North Carolina State University, and edited
Douglass Adair’s Intellectual Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy.
Click here for a pdf of the Cato: A Tragedy brochure
- Sales Rank: #1263246 in eBooks
- Published on: 2012-09-05
- Released on: 2012-09-05
- Format: Kindle eBook
About the Author
Yellin teaches at North Carolina State University. He recevied his Ph.D. from Rutgers University in political science. His work concentrates on eighteenth-century British and American political thought.
Forrest McDonald is Distinguished University Research Professor of History at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. He is the author of many books on American history including A Constitutional History of the United States, E Pluribus Unum, and Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution.
Most helpful customer reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
Defeated by Julius Caesar and Yet Is Honored Long Afterwards for Political Virtue
By Michael Wischmeyer
The Roman senator, Cato the Younger (95 BC - 46 BC) stubbornly resisted Julius Caesar's rise to power, but was ultimately defeated by Caesar in north Africa. Addison's play focuses on the last days of Cato's life, as Caesar's forces advanced. Although others urged Cato to come to terms with Julius Caesar, Cato resists to the end, finally committing suicide rather than surrendering. This tragedy has strong political overtones, addressing the conflict between individual liberty and government tyranny and republicanism versus monarchism.
Writing a political play during a period of intense political rivalry in England, Joseph Addison avoided charges of partisanship by having the prologue written by a Tory poet, Alexander Poe, and the epilogue by a Whig poet, Samuel Garth. Although this tragedy was held in high esteem throughout the eighteenth century, today's audience may find Addison's effusive praise of Cato's political virtue tends to be rather one-dimensional, and thus not entirely convincing.
Cato remained popular for decades in England and even longer in the American colonies, becoming a literary inspiration for the American Revolution. George Washington had it performed for the Continental Army at Valley Forge. The famous quotes by Patrick Henry and Nathan Hale were apparently derived from Addison's play.
Addison's characterization of Cato lacks the psychological depth and complexity that is found in Shakespeare's tragedies, or even what we have come to expect in modern biographical films like A Man for All Seasons, Lawrence of Arabia, Patton, and Gandhi. To be fair to Addison, Cato was described by his contemporaries, including his political enemies, as having high moral standards and incorruptible virtue. In contrast, Addison portrays Cato's sons Portius and Marcus, his close friend Lucius, and his protégé Juba, the prince of Numidia, in more realistic fashion, all decidedly loyal to Cato, but subject to private doubts and other emotions.
Cato is considered by many as the best tragedy written in eighteenth century England. I give it four stars, in part for its historical significance.
Note: Individual editions of Cato may not be easy to find, but it is often included in collections of eighteen century English plays. The Everyman edition, titled The Beggar's Opera and Other Eighteenth Century plays (edited by David Lindsay), is a good source.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent Edition
By Garland J. Thayer
I suppose there is a reason Washington, Adams, Franklin and Adam Smith, among others, thought highly of Joseph Addison's play, Cato, A Tragedy, along with Addison's Spectator essays [Liberty Fund, Inc., 2004, 282 pages]. The play, written in 1713, covers the period during which, in recognizing Caesar's tyrannical overreach, Cato (the younger or of Utica) found himself aligned with Pompey in opposition to Caesar. Following Pompey's defeat in 46BC at Pharsalus, Cato finds himself in North Africa, Utica, facing the reality that his defense of the Roman Senate and liberty were futile as Caesar's forces were too great. Realizing that he would most likely be pardoned by Caesar, Cato told his party to flee, thereafter taking his own life symbolically gesturing the death of Roman Liberty. Also this has been seen as denying Caesar a moral victory, and "one man's refusal to accept a life under tyranny and therefore as a vindication of individual liberty." (pp.xxi) Following Cato's death, Caesar killed the members of the senate he could track down. Cicero had a tendency to call certain things the parent or father of all others. For example, gratitude is not just the greatest virtue, "but the parent of all others." Cicero's On the Ends of Good and Evil, casts Cato of Utica as the "spokesman of Stoicism."(pp.XX). Like his great grandfather, Cato the Censor, Cato the Younger held fast to stoicism's ideals, such as thrift and austerity. Cato was ironically seen as representing both the republic and liberty. The play has an opening by Pope, a Tory, and the epilogue by Samuel Garth, a Whig. This can perhaps be attributed to its timing, following the English civil war. Washington broke with protocol and had the play performed to boost the morale of his troops at Valley Forge, who were engaged against the tyrannical King George III. Stoicism, indifference to pleasure and pain, sees virtue as the highest goal in accord with nature. Fulfilling one's duty for the correct reason - a commitment to high principles. Seneca, Nero's advisor, was also a stoic. The play itself is well written and a quick entertaining read. A few lines of note, "The post of honor is a private station," cited by Washington. "And that which he delights in must be happy," Franklin's handbook autobiography. "Beneath a helmet in your father's battles," again, cited by Washington for mutinous officers at Newburgh. "But chains of conquest, liberty or death," Patrick Henry's give me liberty or give me death. "Better to die ten thousand deaths, than to wound my honor," Demosthenes to Philip II of Macedon. "What virtues grow from ignorance and choice," Aristotle's take that virtue comes from choosing the right action for `the right reasons' (stoicism). "Tis not in mortals to command success," paraphrased by both Adams and Washington in letters. This publication also includes numerous of Addison's essays as written in his Spectator.
Addendum: It should be noted that by and large the appeal of Cato and Demosthemes, three centuries prior, by this nation's founders was not only their non-imperialist, anti-tyrannical take, but their non-expansionary or non-interventionist expoundings which related not simply to defense of liberty but the protection of the public purse, or less theft of the peoples' property through taxes. Non-interventionism and open trade.
[...]
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
A seminal and welcome addition to the growing library of literature promoting conservative values
By Midwest Book Review
Collaboratively and expertly co-edited by academicians Christine Dunn Henderson and Mark E. Yellin (both of whom are Fellows at Liberty Fund), Cato: A Tragedy, And Selected Essays is a compilation of the writings of Joseph Addison, beginning with his "Cato: A Tragedy" which is an account of the final hours of Marcus Porcius Cato (95-46 B.C.), a Stoic whose deeds, rhetoric, and resistance to the tyranny of Julius Caesar made him an icon of republicanism, virtue, and liberty to this very day. Although popular in its day (1713), the play had fallen into neglect and this is the first scholarly addition to be made available to the general reading public. The play is then added to in this volume to provide readers with examples of Addison's attempts to educate England's 18th century developing middle class of merchants and tradespeople in the habits, morals, and manners he felt necessary to the preservation of limited government and a free, commercial society. Also available in a hardcover edition (086597442X, $24.00), Cato: A Tragedy, And Selected Essays is a seminal and welcome addition to the growing library of literature promoting conservative values such as liberty, self-government, an opposition to tyranny, the advancement of justice, and the advocacy of honor, patriotism, and integrity.
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