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Front Page  Titles (by Subject) SCENE III - Cato: A Tragedy and Selected Essays
SCENE III - Joseph Addison, Cato: A Tragedy and Selected Essays [1710]Edition used:Cato: A Tragedy and Selected Essays, ed. by Christine Dunn Henderson and Mark E. Yellin, with a Foreword by Forrest McDonald (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004).
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- Foreword
- Introduction
- The Life of Joseph Addison
- Addison the Essayist
- Cato, a Tragedy
- Editors’ Note
- Acknowledgments
- Cato: a Tragedy
- Prologue By Mr. Pope 2
- Dramatis Personae
- Act I —
- Scene I
- Scene Ii
- Scene Iii
- Scene Iv
- Scene V
- Scene Vi
- Act Ii —
- Scene I
- Scene Ii
- Scene Iii
- Scene Iv
- Scene V
- Scene Vi
- Act Iii —
- Scene I
- Scene Ii
- Scene Iii
- Scene Iv
- Scene V
- Scene Vi
- Scene Vii
- Act Iv —
- Scene I
- Scene Ii
- Scene Iii
- Scene Iv —
- Act V —
- Scene I
- Scene Ii
- Scene Iii
- Scene Iv
- Epilogue By Dr. Garth. 1
- Selected Essays
- Tatler, No. 161
- Tatler, No. 162
- Whig Examiner, No. 5
- Spectator, No. 55
- Spectator, No. 125
- Spectator, No. 169
- Spectator, No. 215
- Spectator, No. 219
- Spectator, No. 231
- Spectator, No. 237
- Spectator, No. 243
- Spectator, No. 255
- Spectator, No. 256
- Spectator, No. 257
- Spectator, No. 287
- Spectator, No. 293
- Spectator, No. 349
- Spectator, No. 446
- Spectator, No. 557
- Guardian, No. 99
- Guardian, No. 161
- Freeholder, No. 1
- Freeholder, No. 2
- Freeholder, No. 5
- Freeholder, No. 10
- Freeholder, No. 12
- Freeholder, No. 13 1
- Freeholder, No. 16
- Freeholder, No. 29
- Freeholder, No. 34
- Freeholder, No. 39
- Freeholder, No. 51
- The Life and Character of M. Cato of Utica [ ]
SCENE III
Sempronius, Lucius, Cato.
Sempronius- Cato, we thank thee.
- The mighty genius of immortal Rome
- Speaks in thy voice, thy soul breathes liberty:
- Caesar will shrink to hear the words thou utterest,
- And shudder in the midst of all his conquests.
Lucius- The senate owns its gratitude to Cato,
- Who with so great a soul consults its safety,
- And guards our lives, while he neglects his own.
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, and has lost its relish.
- Oh, could my dying hand but lodge a sword
- In Caesar’s bosom, and revenge my country,
- By heavens, I could enjoy the pangs of death,
- And smile in agony.
Lucius- Others perhaps
- May serve their country with as warm a zeal,
- Though ’tis not kindled into so much rage.
Sempronius- This sober conduct is a mighty virtue
- In lukewarm patriots.
Cato- Come! no more, Sempronius,
- All here are friends to Rome, and to each other.
- Let us not weaken still the weaker side
- By our divisions.
Sempronius- Are sacrificed to Rome—I stand reproved.
Cato- Fathers, ’tis time you come to a resolve.
Lucius- Cato, we all go into your opinion.
- Caesar’s behaviour has convinced the senate
- We ought to hold it out till terms arrive.
Sempronius- We ought to hold it out till death; but, Cato,
- My private voice is drowned amid the senate’s.
Cato- Then let us rise, my friends, and strive to fill
- This little interval, this pause of life,
- (While yet our liberty and fates are doubtful,)
- With resolution, friendship, Roman bravery,
- And all the virtues we can crowd into it;
- That heaven may say, it ought to be prolonged.
- Fathers, farewell—The young Numidian prince
- Comes forward, and expects to know our counsels.
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