Tis not in mortals to command success; but we'll do more, Sempronius, we'll deserve it.

I keep coming across, in histories of the American Revolution, allusions to the impact that Joseph Addison's Cato had on the thoughts and emotions of so many Founding Fathers, and others.  

I have finally tracked down a copy to read.  I note in the Wikipedia account of the play, at least four citations attributing the influence of Addison's Cato to the words and sentiments of Revolutionary leaders.

Patrick Henry's famous ultimatum: "Give me liberty, or give me death!"

(Supposed reference to Act II, Scene 4: "It is not now time to talk of aught/But chains or conquest, liberty or death.").

 

Nathan Hale's valediction: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

(Supposed reference to Act IV, Scene 4: "What a pity it is/That we can die but once to serve our country."). 

 

Washington's praise for Benedict Arnold in a letter to him: "It is not in the power of any man to command success; but you have done more—you have deserved it." 

(Clear reference to Act I, Scene 2: "'Tis not in mortals to command success; but we'll do more, Sempronius, we'll deserve it."). 

 

Charles Thomson, a Patriot leader from Pennsylvania whom John Adams once described as "the Sam Adams of Philadelphia," paraphrased a passage from Cato in a letter to Benjamin Franklin about Parliament's violations of the freedoms of the colonists. Thomson wrote, “I am ready to ask with the poet [referring to Joseph Addison] 'Are there not some chosen thunders in the stores of heaven armed with uncommon wrath to blast those Men, who by their cursed schemes of policy are dragging friends and brothers into the horrors of civil War and involving their country in ruin?' Even yet the wounds may be healed and peace and love restored; But we are on the very edge of the precipice."

Thomson paraphrased Cato Act I: Scene 1 Verses:21 – 24.