“Thanks to the gods! my boy has done his duty.”
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act IV, scene iv.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
Quotes from bookCato
Joseph AddisonOriginal title Caton, tragédie par M. Addison ; traduite de l'anglois par Mr Abel Boyer (French, 1713)
“What pity is it
That we can die but once to serve our country!”
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act IV, scene iv.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
Context: How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue!
Who would not be that youth? What pity is it
That we can die but once to serve our country!
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act II, scene i.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
Context: My voice is still for war.
Gods! Can a Roman senate long debate
Which of the two to choose, slavery or death?
No, let us rise at once,
Gird on our swords, and,
At the head of our remaining troops, attack the foe,
Break through the thick array of his throng'd legions,
And charge home upon him.
Perhaps some arm, more lucky than the rest,
May reach his heart, and free the world from bondage.
“Strain not the laws to make their tortures grievous.”
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act III, scene v.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
Context: See they suffer death,
But in their deaths remember they are men,
Strain not the laws to make their tortures grievous.
“Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous man.”
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act V, scene iv.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
“The soul, secured in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.”
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act V, scene i.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
“Better to die ten thousand deaths,
Than wound my honour.”
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act I, scene iv.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
“The ideal man bears the accidents of life
With dignity and grace, the best of circumstances.”
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act V, scene i.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
“To my confusion, and eternal grief,
I must approve the sentence that destroys me.”
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act III, scene ii.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
“Were you with these, my prince, you'd soon forget
The pale, unripened beauties of the north.”
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act I, scene iv.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
“A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty
Is worth a whole eternity in bondage.”
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act II, scene i.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
“Young men soon give and soon forget affronts;
Old age is slow in both.”
Joseph Addison book Cato
Act II, scene v.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
