Pro patria mori: From the Disticha Catonis to Dante’s Cato

Fuit enim illi continue spiritus aliqualis, tremulus tamen et semivivus potius quam virtute aliqua validus, ut in Catone, Prospero, Pamphilo et Arrighetto florentino presbitero, terminus quorum sunt opuscula parva nec ullam antiquatis dulcedinem sapientia. Verum evo nostro ampliores a celo venere viri, si satis adverto, quibus cum sint ingentes animi, totis viribus pressam relevare, et ab exilio in pristinas revo-care sedes mens est: nec frustra. Videmus autem, nec te legisse pigebit, ante alios nota dignos, seu vidisse potuimus, celebrem virum, et in phylosophie laribus versatum Dantem Allegherii nostrum [. . .]

—Giovanni Boccaccio, Letter to Iacopo Pizzinga (1371)¹

[In Italy there was always a spirit, though tremulous and but partly alive, rather than strong and vigorous, as in Cato, Prosper, Pamphilo, and Henry the Florentine priest; all they accomplished are petty volumes without the sweetness of the ancient wisdom. Truly, in our own time more illustrious men came from heaven—if I am not mistaken—who, as people of magnanimous spirit, aim with all their strengths to lift the oppressed [Italy] and lead her back from exile and to her ancient seat, and not in vain. Furthermore, we consider, before anyone who deserves note, if we can see—and you would not be unhappy with it—a famous man, well versed also in philosophy, our Dante Alighieri . . .]

As Giovanni Boccaccio’s Epistle to Iacopo Pizzinga reveals, it was common practice in late medieval Europe to identify the name “Cato” with neither Cato the Elder nor Cato Uticensis, but rather with the mysterious author of the Disticha Catonis. The majority of readers associated the name “Cato” with this text.² However, dantisti who have wrestled with the poet’s enigmatic representation of Cato have seldom taken note of this evidence. John Scott, Betsy Bowden, and Zygmunt Barański have all considered the Disticha Catonis in their interpretation of the Purgatorial Cato.³ In particular, Scott concluded that: “the author of the Commedia was convinced—primarily through his reading of the Pharsalia and the Disticha Catonis . . .—that Cato had been granted the grace of implicit faith.”⁴ These studies, however, offer no comprehensive analysis of the actual extent and quality of the Disticha’s influence on Dante’s reception and Christianization of Cato. The present article, therefore, aims to fill this lacuna and reappraise the significance of Dante’s Cato in light of the fortune and function of the Disticha Catonis in medieval education.

Robert Hollander famously argued that Dante’s Christianization of Cato was unprecedented, and that “whatever rationale we may find for his salvation by Dante, we must remember that the poet expected us to be amazed.”⁵ Hollander’s thesis sprung from the realization that Dante’s transformation of the ancient suicide into a Christian martyr elicited the disquiet of some among the ancient commentators on the Commedia—sometimes stirring up critical reactions, as in Benvenuto da Imola’s case.⁶ Dante himself contributes to the suspense surrounding the destiny of Cato Uticensis. In Inferno 14, when the pilgrim is about to leave the wood of the suicides and squanderers to enter the fiery desert of the violent, the poet compares the new landscape to the desert crossed by Cato:

  Lo spazzo era una rena arida e spessa,non d’altra foggia fatta che coleiche fu da’ piè di Caton già soppressa.

(Inf. 14.13–15)

Dante names Cato here for the obvious purpose of calling attention to his absence in the place where one would have expected to find him, among the suicides.

The hypothesis that Dante’s Christianization of Cato was an unexpected slap in the face of any medieval reader still holds sway in current scholarship, as consideration of recent studies confirms.⁷ Scholars such as Angelo Mangini, however, have recently questioned the core assumption of this thesis: namely, that Dante’s representation of Cato in Purgatory would be unproblematic and unambiguous.⁸ Engaging in a dialogue with both interpretive strains, I will argue that Dante’s Christianization of Cato was unprecedented only with regard to the ancient classical sources considered by the poet, whereas it was...