Cato

by Joseph Addison, William-Alan Landes, Sara S. Ruffner

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Genres: Plays, Classics, Fiction, Poetry, Philosophy, Literature, Drama

57 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1712

About the author

English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician.

Reviews

[Daniel Villines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cato was written 300 years ago based on events that happened 2,000 years ago. It’s message, however, was so clear that it captured the heart of the most respected actor in the creation of America 240 years ago and it’s once again relevant today.

Every now and then the timelessness of writing cannot be denied, which is to say the inevitability of human nature is inevitable. Our only hope is that the Catos among us forever grow in number.

Decius: What is a Roman, that is Cæsar's foe?

Cato: Greater than Cæsar: he's a friend to virtue... Alas! thy dazzled eye beholds this man in a false glaring light, which conquest and success have thrown upon him; did'st thou but view him right, thou'dst see him black with murder, treason, sacrilege, and crimes that strike my soul with horror but to name them.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it interesting that this was George Washington's favorite play.

[giso0 · Rating 4 out of 5]

از نمایشنامه های محبوب و الهام بخش در زمان استقلال ایالات متحده امریکا

[Marty Reeder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cato is what owning the Kindle is all about. An obscure, mostly out-of-print title that has historical if not literary value. You don't want to spend a ton of money getting some old copy and having it shipped to your house just to read it in five hours and then be done. Enter the Kindle. (you'll pardon the stage directions, but it was a play). All of the sudden the play is free and immediately available, you can read it off and on over the course of a few days, and once you're done, you don't have an extra book laying around that you need to find some bookshelf space for.

I am glad I was able to read it. At the same time, I'm glad it was a play, which meant that it ended sooner. Cato is a jewel as far as historical insight goes. While it does shed a little bit of light on some Roman history that I wasn't entirely aware of, it does more for shedding some insight on the view of governments, nobility, and chivalry in the day that it was written. Its popularity, especially, amongst the Founding Fathers of the United States is especially telling. There are plenty of quotable lines, and many of these quotable lines are not lost on the Founding Fathers, who either directly quote or paraphrase several lines from Addison's play in their correspondences with each other and others. Like I said, pretty intriguing.

At the same time, as far as tragedies go, the main character is pretty direly lacking in, well, character. Shakespeare spent some time on his tragic heroes, so that when their tragic moment comes, it is a truly emotionally straining moment--especially because of the main character's weaknesses are highlighted so clearly in advance. Cato, however, is a demi-god from the very beginning, and his tragic ending is more about situation and circumstance than character. And, as far as I'm concerned, his downfall was a huge flaw in character and decision-making that wasn't not acknowledged by the author, who seemed to mark it more as fate and as Cato's reputation as untouchable.

That's not to say that the side characters and situations are not interesting. Nor that their tragic moments are not heartfelt, for they certainly are much, much more felt than when Cato has his moment of tragedy. And, again, the ideas in the play are truly republican and noble, which is why there is no surprise of how much of an impression it made on the Founding Fathers. So, I'm glad I read it and I enjoyed most of it. I think, however, that I will leave further looks at this play only to the second hand quotes that it endowed on America's Revolutionary leaders.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

✔️Published in 1823. PRINTED FOR BAUDRY, ENGLISH, ITALIAN, SPANISH, PORTUGUESE AND GERMAN LIBRARY, RUE DU COQ-SAINT-HONORÉ. 1823..
🖊 My review: I enjoyed this old play; it has some great, memorable scenes.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. Cato, Mr. Cooke.
Portius, Mr. Siddons.
Marcus, Mr. H. Johnston.
Sempronius, Mr. Cory.
Juba, Mr. Brunton.
Syphax, Mr. Murray.
Lucius, Mr. Claremont.
Decius, Mr. Williams.
Lucia, Miss Marriott.
Marcia, Mrs. Litchfield.
🟣 Kindle version.
🟢 E-book format found here on : Project Gutenberg .
🔲 Excerpts of note:

🔸Portius: Remember what our father oft has told us: The ways of Heav'n are dark and intricate, Puzzled in mazes, and perplex'd with errors; Our understanding traces them in vain, Lost and bewilder'd in the fruitless search; Nor sees with how much art the windings run, Nor where the regular confusion ends.

🔸Sempronius: Sempronius gives no thanks on this account. Lucius seems fond of life; but what is life? 'Tis not to stalk about, and draw fresh air From time to time, or gaze upon the sun; 'Tis to be free. When liberty is gone, Life grows insipid.

✿●▬●✿●✿●▬●✿

[Ray LaManna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play was written in 1712. It's about the Roman senator Cato, a stoic who resisted Julius Caesar's forceful bid to usurp power and end the Roman Republic. It is imbued with themes of duty, honor and love of country over personal safety. What makes it important is that every one of the Founding Fathers knew this play intimately and used it as inspiration for the American Revolution.

BUT... this play is also relevant to our own day as well where echoes of usurpation of authority by those in power in the US are clearly heard.

The play needs to be read slowly since it uses 18th-century terminology, but worth the effort.

[Elena Hebson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to read this because I heard it had inspired many of the founding fathers of America, and I can see why. The whole "liberty or death" theme is central to the play. However, Cato as a character became more and more unlikable as the play went on and it was hard for me to understand his justification of his later actions. I did enjoy it generally, but it is by no means an outstanding play.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sought this book to understand (one of the) cultural forces present at the time of the American Revolution. From Cato:

"What pity is it, That we can die but once, to serve our country."

May the Force be with you. Bigly.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good play.

[Dominic Muresan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of tragic and emotional tension, Addison's first play still shines today, it's teaching that one's life is not too small a price to pay for freedom.

[Tina]

Cato was one of the people from the period of the Late Republic of Rome whose life echoed profoundly. Despite being a fierce rival of Julius Caesar and an inspiration for the return of the republic, in the beginning of the Roman Empire Augustus appreciated Cato and tolerated some praise of him.

Later on, he became a source of fascination during the Age of Enlightenment in Europe concerning the value of a republic, such as in this play, which presented Cato’s final battle against Caesar as a tragedy. The play made Cato a source of inspiration for both the Tory and Whig factions of the British Parliament as well as for figures of the American Revolution.

The themes of the play center around juxtaposition with liberty versus tyranny, virtue versus vice, parent versus child, etc. with there also being an emphasis on a personal struggle over belief. Such themes makes one wonder about the noted obstruction and lack of willingness to compromise that Cato showed in life. Despite his intentions, over and over again these qualities helped in part make possible the further degrading of the Roman Republic and Cato’s defeat by Julius Ceasar. If he was willing to be less stubborn in his actions, could the course of Rome have possibly changed?

Quotes:
Remarks - “‘Cato,’ says Pope, in a letter to one of his friends, written at the time, ‘was not so much the wonder of Rome in his days, as he is of Britain in ours.’”

Second Act, Cato - “Immod’rate valour swells into a fault; And fear, admitted into public councils, Betrays like treason. Let us shun them both.”

Third Act, Cato - “ Remember, O my friends, the laws, the rights, The generous plan of power deliver'd down, From age to age, by your renown'd forefathers, (So dearly bought, the price of so much blood) O let it never perish in your hands! But piously transmit it to your children.”

Fifth Act, Portius - “What dire effects from civil discord flow: ‘Tis this that shakes our country with alarms; And gives up Rome a prey to Roman arms; Produces fraud, and cruelty, and strife, And robs the guilty world of Cato’s life.”

[Zadignose]

Poppycock!

My intent was to read read this play, enjoy it, and try to comment on it while making no mention of Shakespeare or the critical responses of others to the play, but this isn't good enough to deserve such treatment.

Once upon a time, Voltaire went insane and declared this the best play ever staged. He even dared to say that there is no reason to go on praising Shakespeare when, in out times (the 18th century) we have as great a playwright as Addison. George Washington also declared this his favorite play, and it gave inspiration to him and others in their pursuit of American liberty and modern republicanism. Apparently they even staged it in the field while encamped during the American Revolution, to inspire the troops.

This is technically competent but shallow political propaganda theater in praise of heroic self-sacrifice in the name of liberty. It has none of the nuance, wit, depth of understanding of character, irony, or genius of a Shakespearean play, and when it does have a bit of something stylish in it, it feels like a cheap counterfeit of Shakespeare's style.

Samuel Johnson wrote, in reference to Voltaire's praise of Addison, "Cato affords a splendid exhibition of artificial and fictitious manners, and delivers just and noble sentiments, in diction easy, elevated and harmonious, but its hopes and fears communicate no vibration to the heart..."

I believe Samuel Johnson was being kind. And Voltaire, I know your first language wasn't English, and you may have been caught up in the glow of a popular fad of your day (was a revival of this play the equivalent of a "Hamilton" of the 18th century?), but you should have shown better judgement than this.

It's a mediocrity remembered for historical reasons and associations, but not for any real aesthetic accomplishment. It may have stoked the fires of political revolution, but it was not a literary revolution, and it is far from a classic.

[abs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah, Alex Aster definitely didn't read this.

(I mean, she might have, but she wasn't very enthusiastic about reading between the lines if ANY part of this inspired her work. It's incredibly unsurprising that publishing's favorite nepo baby wasn't very enthusiastic about the core message of the play being how the world is ultimately unfair and lets tyrants and bullies like Caesar destroy the lives of honest people. Makes sense that she cherry-picked a quote for her epigraph.)

Oh, and Joseph Addison wrote a better love triangle than Alex. Change my mind.

[Pyramids Ubiquitous · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brief play which serves to give important historical context to the American Revolution, acts as a springboard to investigating Roman history, and is also simply an enjoyable exploration of commitment to an ideal. The play has its basis in historical events and it does not step outside of that other than to venerate Cato and provide some memorable dialogue.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cato: A Tragedy is a tale utterly timeless, a darling of self-styled stoics the world over, and to dust it off for the thesbians to take a crack at it is a tantalizing idea. It follows a reliable blow by blow of the famous events in a way that feels largely correct, and the melodrama comes off as more tempered than one might expect.

You can often pick up on virtues and values that reflect more the sentiments in vogue when it was written, however, more so than at the time of the events depicted. It has a lot to say about Roman Virtus, of course, and marries it well to conversations about tyranny and centralized power (though some would argue that the historical Cato the Younger was problematic in his own way - I go back and forth on this, myself).

It's dense with powerful language, authoritarian in its command of your attention, and reflective on deeper, if timeless, considerations. Whether it glorifies a man already-glorified or not, it is a narrative undeniably enduring, and Addison had the foresight to avoid making it overly long.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

George Washington had this Addison play performed over and over at Mont Vernon. It wasn’t Cæsar or Alexander, but CATO, who Washington emulated.

Not self-promotion but virtue and character — not so much origin, inheritance, religion, race, gender, orientation, wealth or position — but what we do with what we’re given; restraining our worst aspects and elevating our best, striving for perfection. This drama plays out the crucial importance of character, in the range between corruption and integrity, displayed in CATO who said no to the bribe of CÆSAR.

[Nathan Schultz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this after I learned that it was the favorite of George Washington. After reading the play I could really appreciate how Washington must have connected to the plight of Cato. It would be awesome to see this play live.

[Jon Beadle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a remarkable work. One that inspired George Washington and many of the founders. There’s nothing more annoying that characters who speak only in paragraphs, but the heights of the play eclipse the depths.

[Terence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cato successfully creates several storylines, escalates tensions, creates intrigue, and concludes the matters in such a short period of time that it is quite impressive.

[Cheryl]

Surely an influence on the Founding Fathers - just look online. Very relevant today.

"Some scholars, including historian David McCullough, the author of 1776, believe that several famous quotations from the American Revolution came from or were inspired by Cato. They include:

Patrick Henry's famous ultimatum: "Give me liberty or give me death!"
(Supposed reference to Act II, Scene 4: "It is not now time to talk of aught/But chains or conquest, liberty or death.").

Nathan Hale's valediction: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
(Supposed reference to Act IV, Scene 4: "What a pity it is/That we can die but once to serve our country.").

Washington's praise for Benedict Arnold in a letter to him: "It is not in the power of any man to command success; but you have done more—you have deserved it."
(Clear reference to Act I, Scene 2: "'Tis not in mortals to command success; but we'll do more, Sempronius, we'll deserve it.").

[Joseph Ficklen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very famous play in its day, quoted and homaged by liberty-loving politicians on both sides of the Atlantic in the 18th Century. George Washington put this play on for his troops as an example of republican virtue. And it certainly does have excellent examples of stern republican virtue, though Cato does not seem as forbidding as he is sometimes portrayed. He charts a middle course between the schemes of Sempronius and the vacilation of Lucius, remaining constant while he faces plots and the death of his son in battle. At last, Cato's end comes at his own hand, preserving his freedom and independency and honor up till the very end.

I would recommend reading up on Cato before reading this play, as some of the history was very obscure. I also noted similarities and direct quotations from Seneca's De Providencia.

[C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Cato, Joseph Addison creates what must have then been a modern take on the romantic hero. Not a man prepared to die for anything as vague as love or honor but for his political ideas. Cato in this work stands for the ideals of republicanism (in it's 18th century definition) and with that comes a principal opposition to tyranny, the tragedy comes in where Cato tragically cannot exist in a world where his idealism is misguided.

[Bernard English · Rating 3 out of 5]

You just can't go too far when you are Cato. When he sees his fallen son's body Cato says:
"Welcome, my son! Here lay him down, my friends,
Full in my sight, that I may view at leisure
The bloody corpse, and count those glorious wounds"

This was the most performed play in the early days of the Republic, more so than any of Shakespeare's plays. Washington in particular admired it and tried to live up to the republican virtue he believed Cato represented.

[J.D. Cetola · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is worthy as an historical document given it's influence on George Washington and other American Revolutionary figures. The content is interesting enough (Cato and family vs Caesar and his supporters) and there are some good quotes within.s However, it's a short play with period English (early 18th Century) that makes it mildly annoying to read. Still, it's worthy and a quick read.

[Emily W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in hopes to shed light on why Dante puts Cato at the foot of the mountain of Purgatory and walked away with so much more. The play is powerfully written with moving speeches on Roman conduct/virtue, (obviously relatable to the modern western world) and ends beautifully in the crossroads of hope and despair of those standing up against Caesar. Highly recommend!

[Chiquita Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this one alongside last temptation (kazantzakis), which is very funny. Addison makes of a human man a completely unlikeable divinity: Kazantzakis makes of a divinity an eminently sympathetic human man.

[Austin Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

89/100

5 stars - 90/100
4 stars - 80/100
3 stars - 70/100
2 stars - 60/100
1 star - 50/100

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many inspiring quotes. You can tell from their writings that John and Abigail Adams and George Washington read this play many times, probably committing much of it to memory.

[Alan Eyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Evidently George Washington’s favorite play. Evidently Cato was a much bigger deal among people early in our nation’s early days.

[Colby · Rating 3 out of 5]

“What is a Roman, that is Caesar’s foe?

Greater than Caesar: he’s a friend to virtue. ”