(the Younger, Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis)
Incorruptible politician, insightful Stoic philosopher, long-time stubborn rival and opponent to Julius Caesar’s despotism; Cato was one of the most active defenders of the Roman Republic and his suicide was considered by later Romans a great psychological and cultural victory over Caesar's tyranny. Hero in Virgil’s Aeneid, mentioned in the first paragraph of Moby Dick, immortalized through the ages in plays, novels, poetry, opera, and television; Dante described him in Purgatorio as a “saved soul” who was “worthy of so much reverence that never a son owed his father more.” Immune to bribes and corruption, he became a symbol for individual liberty over governmental tyranny; democracy over monarchy, reason over belief and superstition; Cato greatly influenced George Washington and the founding of the US government.
“After I am dead, I would rather have men ask why Cato has no monument that why he had one.”
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“There are people who owe more to bitter enemies than to apparently pleasant friends: the former often speak the truth, the latter never.”
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“Cato—who was the oldest and wisest man of his day—was given the name "The Wise" as a kind of honorary title and in extreme old age because of his varied experience of affairs, and his reputation for foresight and firmness, and the sagacity of the opinions which he delivered in senate and forum”
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“a 'saved soul' who was worthy of so much reverence that never a son owed his father more”
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