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,"'' | 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,"'' |