POP1
After the battle of Long Island, Nathan Hale was captured by the British forces in Queens, New York. He was tried for espionage and condemned to death. He was hung on the gallows near the corner of 66th street and Third avenue on September 22nd, 1776. Before he died he spoke the immortal words - "I only regret that I have but one life to give my country".
After the battle of Long Island, Nathan Hale was captured by the British forces in Queens, New York. He was tried for espionage and condemned to death. He was hung on the gallows near the corner of 66th street and Third avenue on September 22nd, 1776. Before he died he spoke the immortal words - "I only regret that I have but one life to give my country".
Let us go back a few years to April 14th, 1713. It's the premiere of Joseph Addison's play Cato. The play is set on a field of battle where the army of the Roman Republic is fighting against the imperial forces of Julius Caesar. George Washington saw the play many times and even had it performed for his troops at Valley Forge.
In the play Cato learns that his son Marcius has been killed. He looks down on his son's body and says:
"How beautiful is death ; when earned by virtue.
Who would not be that youth? What pity is it
That we can die but once to serve our country!"
These are the words 'quoted' by Nathan Hale. In the play Cato speaks the line not about his own impending death but about the death of his son. Nathan Hale however was speaking about his own death. So there it is. He did not invent the words. He was quoting a line from a play written by a British playwright.
POP2
What an insight we now have into Nathan Hale's state of mind at that critical moment, and what an insight into that special moment in America's history! Here's the scene: British officers are standing around Hale. They are surely quite sophisticated. They have seen the play or at least are familiar with the quoted words. They had felt ennobled when they first heard them and had imagined themselves on the side of Cato and the republic, fighting for their freedom against the tyrant Caesar. Now here comes this young upstart from an upstart revolution, and he throws their noble words back in their faces. He's the one claiming to be fighting for liberty and they, by inference, are the tyrants. What a slap in the face for the deluded British officers, and a sweet moment of triumph for the young patriot; perhaps even a moment of vanity.
POP3
Other quotations from the play:
"A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty,
Is worth a whole eternity in bondage."
and:
"liberty or death".
"How beautiful is death ; when earned by virtue.
Who would not be that youth? What pity is it
That we can die but once to serve our country!"
These are the words 'quoted' by Nathan Hale. In the play Cato speaks the line not about his own impending death but about the death of his son. Nathan Hale however was speaking about his own death. So there it is. He did not invent the words. He was quoting a line from a play written by a British playwright.
POP2
What an insight we now have into Nathan Hale's state of mind at that critical moment, and what an insight into that special moment in America's history! Here's the scene: British officers are standing around Hale. They are surely quite sophisticated. They have seen the play or at least are familiar with the quoted words. They had felt ennobled when they first heard them and had imagined themselves on the side of Cato and the republic, fighting for their freedom against the tyrant Caesar. Now here comes this young upstart from an upstart revolution, and he throws their noble words back in their faces. He's the one claiming to be fighting for liberty and they, by inference, are the tyrants. What a slap in the face for the deluded British officers, and a sweet moment of triumph for the young patriot; perhaps even a moment of vanity.
POP3
Other quotations from the play:
"A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty,
Is worth a whole eternity in bondage."
and:
"liberty or death".
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