An obscure suicide from antiquity played a big role in our nation’s independence. The American Revolution’s success depended, of course, on the steely determination of George Washington’s men, freezing in Valley Forge during the winter of 1777–78. But their endurance took at least part of its inspiration from the iron will of Cato, a Roman who ripped open his belly and bled to death in North Africa in 46 BC rather than beg Julius Caesar’s pardon. Indeed, Cato was a hero to Washington, who had Joseph Addison’s famous 1713 play, Cato, performed for his men at Valley Forge. By then, centuries of mythmaking had transformed Cato from a suicidal martyr into a hero of liberty.
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