35 pages • 1 hour read
Joseph AddisonCato, a Tragedy
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1713A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Liberty and the Republic Versus Tyranny
The primary theme of Cato, a Tragedy is liberty and the republic versus tyranny, as Cato and his followers fiercely oppose Julius Caesar’s tyrannical reign and want to fight to preserve the Roman Republic, and, by extension, their own liberties. Cato frequently extemporizes on the importance of liberty, and he preserves his personal liberty by committing suicide and avoiding surrender to Caesar’s tyranny. Cato is a senator who represents the republic of Rome and fiercely believes in its importance. When asked how Caesar could get back in Cato’s good graces, he insists on returning to the virtues of republicanism, saying that the ruler must “restore the commonwealth to liberty […] and stand the judgment of a Roman senate” (21).
Virtue Versus Passion and Ambition
A major theme in Cato is the importance of virtue and honor over passion and personal gain, as characters frequently put virtuous ideals and the greater good over their own emotions. Until the end, Marcia and Lucia both cast off Juba and Portius’s affections and their own romantic feelings because of Cato’s current trials and the effect that Lucia and Portius’s love will have on Marcus. Conversely, Sempronius and Syphax’s villainy is illustrated through their unvirtuous and dishonorable actions; Syphax schemes and tells Juba that honor is a “fine imaginary notion” (27), while Sempronius is driven by a sense of personal gain, as he lies and schemes against Cato to win Marcia for himself.
Cato, who subscribes to the philosophy of Stoicism, most clearly illustrates putting honor and virtue over personal gain. As he tells Juba, the prince must learn “success and fortune” from Caesar; from Cato, he can only learn the “laborious virtues” of “watchings, abstinence, and toil” (25). In addition to his death, in which he puts his own beliefs above his desire to live, Cato’s adherence to virtue above all else is shown when his reaction to Marcus’s death is not sadness but rather pride that his son died so valiantly. “How beautiful is death, when earn’d by virtue!” Cato says (51).
Patriotism and Roman Pride
In addition to virtue and honor, Cato and his Roman allies also represent a strong sense of patriotism and national pride, as their actions are driven by a belief in Rome and its principles. “My life is grafted on the fate of Rome,” Cato tells Decius (20). After Marcus dies, for instance, Cato mourns not his own son, but that his death by Syphax’s troops—who are allied with Caesar—suggests the fall of Rome. “‘Tis Rome requires our tears,” Cato says, going on to lovingly describe Rome as “the mistress of the world, the seat of empire, / the nurse of heroes, the delight of gods, / that humbled the proud tyrants of the earth” (51).
