Original artwork, not a still
Cato · 1712
Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought!
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It names the double feeling people have about death and infinity: the hope of living on and the dread of what that might mean. Addison's Cato says it facing a sword, but the line stood on its own long after the play, as an 18th-century favourite of speeches and sermons. Its two opposed adjectives, pleasing and dreadful, are why writers still reach for it when eternity comes up.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for CatoShow the scene
The line opens a soliloquy in Act V, scene 1 of Joseph Addison's blank-verse tragedy Cato, written in 1712 and first staged at Drury Lane on 14 April 1713. By this point Cato the Younger, the last champion of the Roman Republic, has led the senate's remnant to Utica and learned that Caesar's legions are coming. Alone, he weighs whether to fall on his sword, and the speech reasons toward the soul's immortality. Seconds after the passage, he asks what untried being awaits. He then takes his own life.
Sources (2)
- Wikiquote: Joseph Addison, CatoCato (1713), Act V, scene iReference checked
- Wikipedia: Cato, a TragedyPlot; infoboxReference checked
Context reviewed
