"Now, Marcus, now, thy Virtue's on the Proof: / Put forth thy utmost Strength, work ev'ry Nerve, / And call up all thy Father in thy Soul: / To quell the Tyrant Love, and guard thy Heart / On this weak Side, where most our Nature fails, / Would be a Conquest worthy Cato's Son."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)


Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Tonson
Date
1713
Metaphor
"Now, Marcus, now, thy Virtue's on the Proof: / Put forth thy utmost Strength, work ev'ry Nerve, / And call up all thy Father in thy Soul: / To quell the Tyrant Love, and guard thy Heart / On this weak Side, where most our Nature fails, / Would be a Conquest worthy Cato's Son."
Metaphor in Context
PORTIUS.
Thou see'st not that thy Brother is thy Rival:
But I must hide it, for I know thy Temper.
[Aside.]
Now, Marcus, now, thy Virtue's on the Proof:
Put forth thy utmost Strength, work ev'ry Nerve,
And call up all thy Father in thy Soul:
To quell the Tyrant Love, and guard thy Heart
On this weak Side, where most our Nature fails,
Would be a Conquest worthy Cato's Son.

(I.i, p. 3)
Provenance
C-H Lion
Citation
First performed April, 1713; 8 editions that year. Over one 120 entries in the ESTC (1713, 1716, 1718, 1721, 1722, 1725, 1726, 1728, 1730, 1732, 1733, 1734, 1735, 1736, 1737, 1739, 1744, 1745, 1746, 1748, 1749, 1750, 1752, 1753, 1754, 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1761, 1763, 1764, 1765, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1793, 1795, 1799, 1800).

See Cato. A Tragedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, By Her Majesty's Servants. By Mr. Addison. (London: Printed for J. Tonson, 1713). <Link to ECCO-TCP> <Link to Google Books>

Reading also Cato: A Tragedy and Selected Essays, ed. by Christine Dunn Henderson and Mark E. Yellin, with a Foreword by Forrest McDonald (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004).
Date of Entry
07/21/2013

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.