Legacy of Cato the Younger

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An inscribed bronze bust of Cato the Younger.

Cato the Younger (95 BC – 46 BC) was an Ancient Roman politician during the late republic. He was famous in ancient times and through to the modern era as an exemplar of moral virtue and as a martyr for the Roman republic.

Antiquity

Cato, who upheld the strong traditional Roman principles, was remembered particularly well. His suicide was seen as a symbol for those who followed the conservative, Optimate principles of the traditional Roman. Cato was a follower of Stoicism and was one of the most active defenders of the

Anti-Cato. Caesar's pamphlet has not survived, but some of its contents may be inferred from Plutarch's Life of Cato, which repeats many of the stories that Caesar put forward in his Anti-Cato. Plutarch specifically mentions the accounts of Cato's close friend Munatius Rufus and the later Neronian senator Thrasea Paetus
as references used for parts of his biography of Cato. While Caesar proclaimed clemency towards all, he never forgave Cato. This stance was something that others in the anti-Caesarian camp would remember, including Cato's nephew and posthumous son-in-law Brutus.

Republicans under the Empire remembered him fondly, and the poet

Lucan
, but Cato continued nevertheless as a righteous ideal for generations to come.

Lucan, writing under

Velleius Paterculus and Valerius Maximus along with Lucan and Seneca in the 1st century AD, and later authors, such as Appian and Dio
, celebrated the historical importance of Cato the Younger in their own writings.

Silver denarius of Cato (47–46 BC)

Middle Ages

In

Divine Comedy, Cato is portrayed as the guardian of the mountain of Purgatory (Cantos I–II). Cato is one of the two pagans presented by Dante in Purgatorio, the other being Statius.[2] Whilst Cato's suicide warranted a placement of his soul in the seventh circle of Hell, Dante bases his decision to place Cato in Purgatory on Roman ethics instead of Christian ethics.[3] Since Cato was a follower of Stoicism, he represents leading a virtuous life free from sin.[3] Hence, Cato embodies the cardinal virtues and is referred to as an analogue of God by Dante.[3][4] To Dante, Cato's suicide was a sacrifice for a just cause because he sought to preserve the freedom of the Roman Republic.[3][4] Given his imperfect actions, Cato is not allowed into Purgatory proper; he instead exists on the shores of the "High Mount" in part of ante-purgatory.[2]

Cato appears in Purgatorio not as a soul who is purifying himself of their sins but holds a more administrative role in the realm.[2] Here, Cato welcomes the new souls who arrive on the shores of Purgatory in an angel-led ship.[2] Cato is depicted as a solitary old man and a figure of reverence.[3] Contrary to his unkempt depiction in Lucan's Pharsalia, Cato's appearance in Divine Comedy is carefully designed to be enclosed in light.[3] References to the four holy stars on Cato's beard strengthen his association with the cardinal virtues.[5] At the shores of Mount Purgatory, Cato sternly questions the pilgrim's and Virgil's intentions as they are breaking the rules of the world by being here.[5] After Virgil convinces Cato of their journey, Cato imparts geographical information on Mount Purgatory to the pilgrim and Virgil before promptly disappearing, preparing Dante the pilgrim for the climb of Mount Purgatory.[3][5] In Canto II, Cato urges Virgil and the pilgrim to make haste and ascend to Mount Purgatory.[5]

Early Modernity (1500–1800)

The 16th-century French writer and philosopher Michel de Montaigne was fascinated by the example of Cato, the incident being mentioned in multiple of his Essais, above all in Du Jeune Caton in Book I.[6] Whether the example of Cato was a potential ethical model or a simply unattainable standard troubled him in particular, Cato proving to be Montaigne's favoured role-model in the earlier Essais before he later chose to follow the example of Socrates instead.

Cato was lionized during the republican revolutions of the Enlightenment.

Johann Adolf Hasse and Piccinni
, in two versions.

A collection of letters on the topic of republicanism were published in the early 18th century under the title Cato's Letters, using Cato as a pseudonym. The libertarian Cato Institute think tank was later named after this work.

The death of Cato (La mort de Caton d'Utique) was a popular theme in revolutionary France, being sculpted by Philippe-Laurent Roland (1782) and painted by Bouchet Louis André Gabriel, Bouillon Pierre, and Guérin Pierre Narcisse in 1797. The title-page of the third book ("Of Morals") of

Musée du Louvre
.

Late Modernity (1800–1900)

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Clerval, in an attempt to comfort his friend dismayed over the recent news of his young brother William's murder, remarks to Frankenstein that "even Cato wept over the dead body of his brother"[citation needed]. Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick refers to Cato in the first paragraph: "With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship"[citation needed].

Contemporary media

Cato is a major character in several novels of

Ides of March, where Cato is described by Caesar as one of "four men whom I most respect in Rome" but who "regard me with mortal enmity". Cato also appears as a major character in Robert Harris' Imperium and Lustrum novels, appearing as a heroic guardian of republican virtues, foreseeing Caesar's aggregation of power as perilous for the long-term stability of Rome. Cato is a major and continuing character in the SPQR historical mystery novels
by John Maddox Roberts, where he is portrayed as an impressive but rather tedious figure.

In the television series

Julius Caesar, Cato as played by Christopher Walken is depicted as much older than he was, seen as a major figure in the senate when Caesar is just a young man, although Caesar was five years older than Cato. Cato was featured in the BBC docudrama Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
.

References

  1. ^ Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions, 7.1.121
  2. ^
    OCLC 54011754
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 9780520940529
    .
  4. ^ a b "Dante's Purgatorio - Ante-Purgatory". danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
  5. ^
    OCLC 32430822
    .
  6. OCLC 4845114
    .
  7. ^ Donald Robertson. "Cato’s Speech on Stoic Philosophy from Lucan’s The Civil War". How to Think Like a Roman Emperor – Philosophy as a Way of Life.
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