Cato a Tragedy

Joseph Addison wrote the play Cato a Tragedy in 1712 and it was shown for the first time on April 14 1713. It is based on the events of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis often known as Cato the Younger who lived from 95 to 46 BC and was a Stoic whose actions speeches and resistance to Julius Caesars dictatorship made him an image of republicanism virtue and liberty. Themes covered in Addisons play include individual liberty vs tyranny by the government republicanism versus monarchy reason versus passion and Catos internal fight to uphold his principles in the face of death. Alexander Pope wrote the plays prologue and Samuel Garth wrote the epilogue. The original cast included Barton Booth as Cato Theophilus Keene as Lucius John Mills as Sempronius Robert Wilks as Juba Colley Cibber as Syphax George Powell as Portius Lacy Ryan as Marcus John Bowman as Decius Anne Oldfield as Marcia and Mary Porter as Lucia. For numerous generations the plays appeal grew particularly in the American colonies. Indeed since many of the Founding Fathers were familiar with it it was very certainly a literary inspiration for the American Revolution.