Cato. A Tragedy. (1712)

 A play that birthed a nation...

Many works of literature inspired the creation of the United States. Classical works from the ancient authors of Greece and Rome, works from the Enlightenment, both argumentative and entertaining, to contemporary works that appeared only a few short years before the fateful meeting on Lexington Green. One in particular really fired up our founding fathers...Cato.

A Roman revolutionary who opposes Caesar, Cato doesn't far to well in the end...but his lust for freedom and the will to oppose tyranny live on as a literary catalyst for a country yearning to be let loose of the harness of a king named George.  Written in 1713 and first performed the following year, it was still extremely popular in the mid to later 18th century, enough so that many of the quotes from this play were allegedly used by the likes of Patrick Henry and Nathan Hale.

Give me a first edition of Cato, or give me death!  As you wish...

Cato. A Tragedy.