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In 67-66 BC Cato was the Roman military tribune, a high-ranking officer, in Macedonia. Back in Rome he was quaestor, a treasury officer, in 64 BC. In 63 BC came the famous conspiracy of [[Catiline]] against the Roman government, a conspiracy which stopped thanks to the courage and energy of the consul Cicero. In the Senate debate on the fate of the senators involved in the conspiracy, [[Julius Caesar]] argued against their execution. Cato's uncompromising advocacy of severity carried the day, and they were executed.  In another case Cato tried to unseat Murena, a consul notorious for bribery; Cicero, believing that the situation needed Murena as consul, managed to block.

In 67-66 BC Cato was the Roman military tribune, a high-ranking officer, in Macedonia. Back in Rome he was quaestor, a treasury officer, in 64 BC. In 63 BC came the famous conspiracy of [[Catiline]] against the Roman government, a conspiracy which stopped thanks to the courage and energy of the consul Cicero. In the Senate debate on the fate of the senators involved in the conspiracy, [[Julius Caesar]] argued against their execution. Cato's uncompromising advocacy of severity carried the day, and they were executed.  In another case Cato tried to unseat Murena, a consul notorious for bribery; Cicero, believing that the situation needed Murena as consul, managed to block.

Cato is probably most famous as a staunch opponent of [[Julius Caesar]], who he believed would overthrow the Republic and set himsef up as a [[tyrant]].  Long an enemy of Caesar, Cato joined [[Pompey the Great]]'s forces in the civil war; and after Pompey's defeat and death in 48 BC, Cato led a remnant of the Pompeians to North Africa. His forces were decisively defeated at [[Battle of Thapsus]], and Cato, retreating to nearby Utica, committed suicide rather than fall into Caesar's hands.<REF> He is sometimes called "Cato of Utica"</ref>  

Cato is probably most famous as a staunch opponent of [[Julius Caesar]], who he believed would overthrow the Republic and set himself up as a [[tyrant]].  Long an enemy of Caesar, Cato joined [[Pompey the Great]]'s forces in the civil war; and after Pompey's defeat and death in 48 BC, Cato led a remnant of the Pompeians to North Africa. His forces were decisively defeated at [[Battle of Thapsus]], and Cato, retreating to nearby Utica, committed suicide rather than fall into Caesar's hands.<REF> He is sometimes called "Cato of Utica"</ref>  

 

Caesar complained that he had been denied the opportunity to pardon Cato. Cicero wrote an essay which made Cato a symbol of the lost republican cause. 18 centuries after his death Catgo became a hero of [[Enlightenment]] poltical theorists in Europe and the American colonies. He became the model of civic virtue for [[David Hume]] and many of the American [[Founding Fathers]], along with [[Brutus]], [[Cassius]] and [[Cicero]].

Caesar complained that he had been denied the opportunity to pardon Cato. Cicero wrote an essay which made Cato a symbol of the lost republican cause. 18 centuries after his death Cato became a hero of [[Enlightenment]] political theorists in Europe and the American colonies. He became the model of civic virtue for [[David Hume]] and many of the American [[Founding Fathers]], along with [[Brutus]], [[Cassius]] and [[Cicero]]. Thus George Washington admired Cato so greatly that he had [[Joseph Addison]]'s 1712 play about Cato performed in Valley Forge to boost the troops' morale.  Cato's speeches (as reported in the 1713 play by [[Joseph Addison]] were echoed by [[Patrick Henry]], ''Give me liberty or give me death!,"'' by the cry of [[Nathan Hale]] before his execution as an American spy, ''"I regret I have but one life to lose for my country,"''

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