Jan 30 2010
Melville’s Allusion to Roman History
As Professor Friedman has said, Melville makes numerous references to literature, philosophy, and Greek/Roman mythology and history in Moby Dick.
In the first paragraph of the novel, Melville alludes to the Roman politician known as Cato the Younger. Cato lived from 95 BC to 46 BC and was a statesmen during the late Roman Republic. He is remembered for his stubbornness and being in staunch opposition to Gaius Julius Caesar and the triumvirate. I may be simplifying this quite a bit, but I believe that a Civil War broke out between supporters of Caesar and a faction of the Senate who opposed Caesar; the latter group included Cato. After Caesar’s troops defeated the rebellion army in the Battle of Thaspus, Cato committed suicide by stabbing himself (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_the_Younger)
In Moby Dick, Ishmael compares his need to go to sea to Cato’s suicide: Melville writes:
Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world… This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship (3).
I know we talked briefly in class about how “pistol and ball” could mean that sailing is Ishmael’s substitute for either killing himself or going on a murderous rampage; however, I believe this reference to Cato’s suicide indicates that Ishmael is referring to the former. It would also be difficult for Ishmael to kill others with a just a single ball which also implies suicide.
Melville could be making this reference to Cato for a couple of reasons. He could be trying to foreshadow that Ishmael is a rebellious character who might stand up to Captain Ahab (the nautical Caesar). He could also be trying to illustrate that Ishmael’s character is somewhat pretentious since he is comparing himself to Roman figure who had the courage to oppose Caesar. Finally, Melville could simply be making a reference to Cato because he wants to show the readers that he is familiar with the history and is therefore an educated and learned individual.
2 Responses to “Melville’s Allusion to Roman History”
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Charlie, you did a great job of closely analyzing one aspect of the novel (one aspect, in fact, of the first paragraph!). I like such detail work, because it allows you to focus and then draw bigger conclusions from a small part of the text. In this case, the allusion to Cato might seem like a throwaway line, but it’s not, and your reading of it is good. You are right — the allusion to Cato is meant to underscore Ishmael’s potential suicidal feelings, AND, as you point out so nicely, raise the readers consciouness that maybe, just maybe, Ishmael is going to turn out to be a rebel like Cato, someone who goes against the vision of Caesar/Ahab (another good comparison you draw here). Whether or not this turns out to be true remains to be seen — but rest assured that the theme of rebellion against absolute tyranny is a BIG theme in this novel.
This is interesting. Could he also be foreshadowing that the trip will not go smoothly (as in, Cato threw himself passionately into something he believed in, threw himself onto his sword, and died. I quietly took to this ship, and then…)