Cato, a Tragedy

Act II begins at the Roman senate in Utica, as Cato addresses the senators and asks them to give their thoughts on Caesar’s approach. He asks whether they should “fight it to the last” or if their “hearts [are] subdued […] to a submission” (18). Sempronius responds that they must go to war and “attack” Caesar’s troops, while Lucius, another senator, disagrees, as there has already been so much bloodshed. “‘Tis time to sheath the sword, and spare mankind,” he says (19). Cato insists that they should not go to either extreme, saying that “immod’rate valour swells into a fault” and “fear, admitted into public councils, betrays like treason” (19). Cato instead thinks they should prepare for war and “wait […] till Caesar’s near approach / Force us to yield” to “draw [Rome’s] term of freedom out” (19). He says that if he perishes, “A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty, / Is worth a whole eternity in bondage” (20).

At this point Decius, a messenger for Caesar, enters with an offer of friendship for Cato that would spare his life. Cato refuses and talks of Caesar’s tyranny and lack of virtue. He says the only thing that would allow him to forgive Caesar is for the dictator to “disband his legions, / Restore the commonwealth to liberty, / Submit his actions to the public censure, / And stand the judgment of a Roman senate” (21). Decius leaves, noting that after he reports Cato’s rejection of Caesar’s friendship, “all Rome will be in tears” (22). The senate praises Cato for not giving in, although Lucius pronounces that Cato’s soul “consults its safety, / And guards our lives, while he neglects his own” (22). The senate agrees to “hold it out” until terms from Caesar arrive (23), and tells Juba, who then arrives, that they will keep “the sword unsheathed, and turn its edge on Caesar” (23).

Juba mentions his late father to Cato and suggests that they leave Utica and “court / Th’ assistance of my father’s powerful friends” instead of facing battle (24). Cato rejects this idea, saying that he won’t “fly before the sword of Caesar” (24) and that “valour soars above / What the world calls misfortune and affliction” (25). Juba then tells Caesar of his love for Cato’s daughter Marcia, which Cato immediately shuts down. “I would not hear a word / Should lessen thee in my esteem,” he says before exiting, and Juba immediately laments to Syphax that Cato now “thinks meanly of me” (26). Syphax suggests that Juba “commands Nubia’s hardy troops” to “snatch this damsel up;” when Juba protests that such an act would “destroy mine honour,” Syphax claims, “honour’s a fine imaginary notion” (27). Juba still contests Syphax’s ideas, though, calling him a “traitor” and saying he’ll tell Cato. Syphax, realizing he’s “gone too far” (28), gets back into Juba’s good graces by saying he only proposed that plan “to gain you whom you love, at any price” (29). Juba accepts this and promises that, if he gets the crown, he’ll make Syphax his second-in-command. After Juba leaves, though, Syphax immediately scorns him as a “rash boy,” saying in a soliloquy that his “foolish fondness” for Juba has disappeared and “Caesar, I’m wholly thine” (30).

Sempronius then enters and reports he’s told Decius that both he and Syphax are on Caesar’s side. Sempronius assents to the fact that Syphax was not able to get Juba on their side, saying, “He’ll make a pretty figure in a triumph, / And serve to trip before the victor’s chariot” (31). Syphax tells Sempronius he still believes Sempronius should have Marcia instead of Juba, and that once Caesar defeats Cato, “Caesar will never refuse thee such a trifle” (31). Sempronius says that he’s spread discontentment with Cato among the soldiers so they’ll be on their side, and Syphax plans to rally his troops against Cato. He predicts Cato “will look aghast, while unforeseen destruction / Pours in upon him from every side,” and will soon die (31).