Post by Patriot on May 12, 2005 22:22:06 GMT -5
Conservatives tend to look back on Roman antiquity with nostolgia, and with good reason. It was the era of courage and manhood. The era of the Four Virtues: virtus, pietas, simplicicas, and gravitas. The same virtues which made America great.
But like every other culture, Rome had its own share of corruption, graft, and bribery.
It was into this culture that Marcus Porcius Cato, known to history as Cato the Younger, was born in 95 BC. He showed an intense devotion to the principles of the Early Republic: the days before Rome became an empire. He relished the tales told by the historian Suetonius, of individuals like Cincinnatus, a farmer who left the plow to lead troops in the field, defeat the enemies of Rome, and return to the fields as an ordinary citizen. Of course, George Washington did the same.
Cato the Younger set out to emulate those men of the Early Republic. Plutarch writes of Cato:
"It is said of Cato that even from his infancy, in his speech, his countenance, and all his childish pastimes, he discovered an inflexible temper, unmoved by any passion, and firm in everything...to go through with what he undertook. He was rough and ungentle toward those that flattered him, and still more unyielding to those who threatened him. It was difficult to excite him to laughter, his countenance seldom relaxed even into a smile; he was not quickly or easily provoked to anger, but if once incensed, he was no less difficult to pacify."
Austere, humorless, puritanical, incapable of compromise, he was a fanatic in defense of liberty and the Republic. Cato was deeply admired by Americans in the Revolutionary period; Addison's play Cato, in which Cato defies the tyrant Caesar in verse, was a favorite of George Washington. In his own time, while regarded as one of the greatest Romans, his implacable moral stands apparently stirred both reverence and exasperation.
It was Cato who dared to oppose the Triumvirate of Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, and Licinius Crassus- all of whom attempted to usurp the Republic and turn it into an empire for their own gain. Eventually, Caesar and his cohorts were successful, but this story is all about one man-- Cato-- who chose death over life under tyranny.
After suffering a brutal defeat at the Battle of Thapsus, against the combined forces of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, Cato- the sole defender of the Old Republic- refused to surrender. In his tent, he stabbed himself in the stomach and churned the flesh until he fainted. A few hours later, his servant discovered him and managed to bring him to consciousness. "Caesar is willing to pardon you and grant you estates outside Rome", was the message Cato's servant spoke. Instead, Cato sat upright, reached into his stomach with his bare hands, and began ripping out his own entrails, throwing them on the ground in front of him. Thus he died and has since been worshipped by Roman historians and Republics ever since.
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www.lmu.edu/images/HNRS-220Plutarch.JPG [/img]
But like every other culture, Rome had its own share of corruption, graft, and bribery.
It was into this culture that Marcus Porcius Cato, known to history as Cato the Younger, was born in 95 BC. He showed an intense devotion to the principles of the Early Republic: the days before Rome became an empire. He relished the tales told by the historian Suetonius, of individuals like Cincinnatus, a farmer who left the plow to lead troops in the field, defeat the enemies of Rome, and return to the fields as an ordinary citizen. Of course, George Washington did the same.
Cato the Younger set out to emulate those men of the Early Republic. Plutarch writes of Cato:
"It is said of Cato that even from his infancy, in his speech, his countenance, and all his childish pastimes, he discovered an inflexible temper, unmoved by any passion, and firm in everything...to go through with what he undertook. He was rough and ungentle toward those that flattered him, and still more unyielding to those who threatened him. It was difficult to excite him to laughter, his countenance seldom relaxed even into a smile; he was not quickly or easily provoked to anger, but if once incensed, he was no less difficult to pacify."
Austere, humorless, puritanical, incapable of compromise, he was a fanatic in defense of liberty and the Republic. Cato was deeply admired by Americans in the Revolutionary period; Addison's play Cato, in which Cato defies the tyrant Caesar in verse, was a favorite of George Washington. In his own time, while regarded as one of the greatest Romans, his implacable moral stands apparently stirred both reverence and exasperation.
It was Cato who dared to oppose the Triumvirate of Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, and Licinius Crassus- all of whom attempted to usurp the Republic and turn it into an empire for their own gain. Eventually, Caesar and his cohorts were successful, but this story is all about one man-- Cato-- who chose death over life under tyranny.
After suffering a brutal defeat at the Battle of Thapsus, against the combined forces of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, Cato- the sole defender of the Old Republic- refused to surrender. In his tent, he stabbed himself in the stomach and churned the flesh until he fainted. A few hours later, his servant discovered him and managed to bring him to consciousness. "Caesar is willing to pardon you and grant you estates outside Rome", was the message Cato's servant spoke. Instead, Cato sat upright, reached into his stomach with his bare hands, and began ripping out his own entrails, throwing them on the ground in front of him. Thus he died and has since been worshipped by Roman historians and Republics ever since.