Two tin cans linked by a badly frayed string on a dark olive background.

Original artwork, not a still

Cato  ·  1712

Joseph Addison

From hence, let fierce contending nations know What dire effects from civil discord flow.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The lines urge quarrelling nations to learn from this example how destructive internal strife can be. Civil discord is portrayed as producing terrible consequences, and rival powers are invited to take warning rather than repeat the ruin that division brings.

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