So excited for my book, The Lives of Cato the Younger from Ancient Rome to Modern America to be released today by University of Michigan Press! Here are a couple fun facts about Cato – he was most likely the inspiration for Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” line and Dante thought he was the human most fitting to be compared to God, yikes! A thorn in the side of Julius Caesar and a critic of his rapacious conquest of Gaul, he refused to live under Caesar’s dictatorship and has been an icon of resistance to tyrants ever since.
Of course, Caesar called him a drunk and accused him of divorcing and remarrying his wife just for the inheritance. Further one person’s statesman is another person’s tyrant, thus Cato became a hero of the Lost Cause. Complex and nuanced matters that all get discussed throughout the book. Request a copy for your library now.
