George Washington and the Classical Virtues
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Eras Edition 12, Issue 1, December 2010 – http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/publications/eras
George Washington and the Classical Virtues
Stanislav Sýkora
(Charles University in Prague)
Abstract: This article illustrates how George Washington personified the classical virtues of
ancient Rome and Greece, as recorded in the widely read classical works of his times.
Washington was introduced to classical thoughts by his contemporaries as well as through
literature – he owned Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, Seneca’s Morals, Cicero’s De Officiis, and
attended a performance of Addison’s tragedy Cato. Emulating Fabius’ temperament, as
recorded in Parallel Lives, Washington exemplified the Stoic calm by a firm constitution of
mind and rare equanimity in the greatest of perils. First-hand accounts report that
Washington was able to conceal the fiercest of passions behind his statue-like solidity. His
ability to harness emotional insurrections within himself made him an indispensable leader in
unifying the American colonies of diverse interests and customs. Seneca’s Morals contain a
plethora of classical virtues that Washington espoused, but perhaps the most intriguing was
his ability to shun the greatest of human vices, the love of money. At the time of the
Revolutionary War, Washington determined with an almost religious zeal that his service in
any public office would be rendered without monetary recompense. Washington believed
that separating public service from private interest was necessary for a virtuous life free of
corruption and he felt embarrassed when he was offered pecuniary rewards for his civil
service. In harmony with Cicero’s De Officiis, Washington was convinced that serving his
country was not only his civic duty, but also his moral obligation. To this end, he was willing
to sacrifice everything, even his beloved retirement at his Mount Vernon home. Addison’s
Cato taught him, however, that the post of honour is a private station, not a public office.
Having fulfilled his public duties, Washington retired from public life and took pleasure in
tranquil enjoyments of his agricultural pursuits.
George Washington is a giant in American history. General of the Continental Army
and first President of the United States, he is remembered with enormous respect. It
is not surprising then, that there is considerable scholarship devoted to
understanding him. Yet, in light of the rich source of Washington’s correspondence
becoming significantly more accessible due to its recent digitisation and publication
online, there is much to review and to reconsider. Washington’s relationship withclassical virtues is especially appealing because, in espousing classical notions of
honour and morality, his life constitutes a useful case study for understanding
classical ideals as they were practiced among the gentry in the eighteenth century.
Expressing his sentiments on the establishment of peace after the Revolutionary
War, Washington suggested: ‘we might have recourse to the Histories of Greece and
Rome in their most virtuous and Patriotic ages to demonstrate the Utility of such
Establishments.’1
On the whole, so enchanted was the eighteenth century by the classical ideals that
this revolutionary period has been referred to by some as the ‘cult of antiquity’. As
James R. Gaines notes:
Most leaders of the American and French revolutions were educated
in the Latin classics written in the last century BC and the first century
AD. Most of their schoolboy texts were by Virgil, Cicero, Horace,
Plutarch, Livy, Ovid, Tacitus, and others of their time and place.2
What seems to have been particularly appealing to the Founders was not the force
of arms that contributed to the stability and welfare of the Roman Republic, but
rather the benevolent character of its citizens. The shunning of excessive wealth,
and the embracing of frugality, industry, generosity, and impartiality – these were the
attributes of a yeoman citizen that kept the fabric of the nation together. Therefore,
for those casting their eyes back for inspiration on matters of good governance, it
was not the threat from outside, but rather the vices within that precipitated the fall of
the ancient republics.3
Page 2Virtue and selfless – or ‘disinterested’ – citizenship were considered the two
fundamental elements of classical republicanism. The two concepts are intertwined
and indicate the mutual interdependence between rectitude of behaviour and
beneficent citizenship. To the Founding Fathers, and especially to Washington, the
connection between classical ideas and virtuous life was evident.4
The American Revolutionaries drew their inspiration from various classical
philosophies and authors, but as Anthony A. Long notes, ‘[o]f all the Greek schools,
Stoicism was the most ambitious in its quest for a system that would explain how
human nature fits into the world.’5 For Stoics, human cognitive faculties (logos) are
considered to be a part of the greater cosmic Nature (God) and if an individual
comprehends the implications of this relationship and acts in accordance with the
best of his rationality, he will harmonize himself with the cosmic Nature (God), which
in its consequence is the goal of human existence.6
The pervasiveness of Stoic moral teaching on Western culture is amply
demonstrated in contemporary language: the characteristic attribute of the phrase
‘acting philosophically’ is that of Stoic forbearance and firmness.7 During the
Revolutionary War, Washington described his tenacity in a similar manner: ‘[I] hope I
shall always possess a sufficient degree of fortitude to bear without murmuring any
stroke which may happen.’8
The curricula of most colleges then placed special emphasis on reading classical
authors in the original language. However, Washington was one of the few
Page 3Founders, whose circumstances did not allow him to attend college. Despite his life-
long efforts to compensate his lack of college education by devoting his personal
time to reading books on his own, he never learned Greek or Latin.9
Writing about Washington’s virtues in light of literary records of classical Rome and
Greece is, in my view, a still understudied theme among the Washington scholars. In
the early twentieth century, Samuel E. Morison contributed to this area of research of
Washington studies by publishing an article entitled ‘The Young Man Washington’,
arguing that Washington’s impulse for self-discipline was incited by being introduced
to the Stoic and other classical thoughts via the Fairfaxes (his wealthy neighbours)
and literary and art productions of his times. In the latter half of the twentieth century,
Gary Wills’ book Cincinnatus drew several parallels between artistic portrayals of
Washington and other figures including ancient ones. The scope of his book
reaches, however, no further than Washington’s relationship with power. Among the
more contemporary authors, Carl J. Richard published two books on Roman and
Greek influences in the early American period that are particularly helpful in
understanding Washington in the context of classical virtues (The Founders and the
Classics, especially chapters 1, 3 and 6; Greeks and Romans Bearing Gifts,
especially chapters 1, 6 and 7).10
In this essay, I endeavour to illustrate George Washington’s emulation of classical
virtues not simply as a mere description of his behavioural traits, but to draw a
connection between his virtues and the classical literary works widely read in his
times. In order to draw a more comprehensive portrait, I also include one modern
source treating a classical subject, Joseph Addison’s theatrical play Cato: A
Page 4Tragedy, which influenced Washington’s ‘mind and manners perhaps as much as
any single work’.11
Although Zeno of Citium was the founder of Stoicism, and Epictetus a systematic
Greek Stoic philosopher, it was Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, Seneca’s Morals, and
Cicero’s De Officiis that took centre-stage for the American revolutionaries.12 These
works drew the closest attention from the Founding Fathers, and thus they
represented a historical window which allowed them to see the particular desirable
qualities of an ancient republican citizen.13
Primus inter pares, Washington was the most conspicuous embodiment of the
classical virtues among the Fathers, and as Gordon Wood asserts: ‘he is the only
truly classical hero we have ever had.’14
Plutarch: Parallel Lives
Plutarch was among the top five most frequently mentioned authors among the
Founders in the latter half of the eighteenth century.15 We know that Washington
himself owned five volumes of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, most likely Dryden’s English
translation, published in 1711 in London.16 Although Plutarch’s work comprised more
commentary upon the work of other philosophers than original thought, he himself
being a Neoplatonist, his Parallel Lives is often appreciated as a valuable
contribution to the Stoic literature, for it is ‘actually little more than a multivolume
exercise in Stoic principles.’17
Page 5One of Plutarch’s characters in Parallel Lives is the third century BCE Roman
General, Fabius Maximus. Several parallels can be drawn between Fabius’ and
Washington’s temperament. Fabius’ predominant disposition seems to have been
self-possession and control over his emotions:
When all were plunged in boundless grief and helpless
confusion, [Fabius] was the only man to walk the city with
calm step, composed countenance, and gracious
address.18
Like Fabius, Washington often demonstrated great equanimity and control during the
heat of battle. It appears that the more confused and helpless a military situation
became, the more Washington found himself focused and composed. Washington
clearly possessed a ‘soldier’s knack of fatalism that enabled him to ignore the
bullets.’ One such instance was in the so-called Braddock’s Massacre during the
French and Indian War. Soon after Washington crossed the Monongahela River to
join General Braddock, the enemy enclosed the Virginia troops and a ‘blind, animal
panic’ ensued. The soldiers stampeded and ran ‘as Sheep before Hounds,’ leaving
artillery and provisions behind.19 Yet Washington kept his mind focused and his
disposition unperturbed. Despite the fact that several horses were wounded under
him and his clothes were pierced with several bullets, Washington escaped
unscathed. While his fellow troops were ‘in confusion’ fleeing for life, Washington
loaded a mortally wounded Braddock on a covered cart ‘in the best order he could’
and transported him off to safer ground.20 Washington’s contemporaries, too, took
note of his mastery over emotions. Gilbert Stuart, author of the Athenaeum and the
Page 6Lansdowne portraits of Washington, remarked that his facial features disclosed the
most forcible and ungovernable passions. Had he been born among the savage
tribes of the wilderness, Stuart speculated, he would have been the fiercest man
among them.21 Thomas Jefferson depicted him in a similar vein: ‘His temper was
naturally high toned; but reflection and resolution had obtained a firm and habitual
ascendency over it. If ever, however, it broke its bonds, he was most tremendous in
his wrath.’22
Given the widespread popularity of ancient philosophies among the Revolutionaries,
Longmore concludes his biography of Washington with the following observation: ‘his
was a century that distrusted human passions, therefore he must show himself a
man of reason and self-restraint, a man who has mastered his own spirit.’23 The
revolutionary generation understood very well the social and political consequences
of uncontrolled passions. If the nascent Union were not to disintegrate as a result of
centrifugal interests of localists, it would of necessity have required a leader capable
of harnessing emotional insurrections within himself.24
Seneca’s Morals
Washington acquired Seneca’s Morals by Way of Abstract at about the age of
seventeen and kept his copy on the shelves of his Mount Vernon study room.25
Seneca’s writings reflect a broad spectrum of Stoic principles and virtues.26 The
Stoics preached about the necessity of living a virtuous life free of vice, corruption
and immorality. They believed that much of the vice that corrupts humankind stems
from the love of money, which is in Apostle Paul’s rendering, ‘the root of all evil.’27
Likewise, Seneca asserts that ‘the great subject of human calamities is money. Take
Page 7all the rest together, as death, sickness, fear, desire, pain, labor; and those which
proceed from money exceed them all.’28
This is not to imply that Washington did not demand financial justice and fair
pecuniary rewards for military services rendered, but his complaints seem likely to
have arisen from issues of principle more than a love of money. The day after the
initial clash of the French and Indian War, Washington composed a letter to the
lieutenant governor of Virginia, in which the topic of pay for his troops was brought
up not less than thirteen times. Believing equal service ought to attract equal pay,
the fact that local soldiers were paid less than those from the colonial power, caused
the question ‘why the pay was Less than British’ to occupy Washington’s mind
incessantly at this time.29 In fact, he stated that he preferred to render his own
services ‘voluntary rather than on the present Pay.’30 Washington also sent a clear
message to Colonel Fitzhugh, who was then in temporary command of the Virginia
armies, stating ‘if you think me capable of holding a commission that has neither
rank nor emolument annexed to it, you must entertain a very contemptible opinion.’31
Furthermore, as a businessman as well as statesman, economic interests were
always on Washington’s agenda. He enlarged and developed his plantation farm at
Mount Vernon considerably. There, he raised cattle and crops. Interstate commerce
and purchasing and subsequent leasing of lands in the west also had singular
appeal to him. The enterprises he had undertaken were indeed profitable and
progressive for his time. Nevertheless, I believe there is little indication that
Washington yearned for vain accumulation of wealth; rather there is much evidence
that his motivations came from a desire to polish his honour and consequently
Page 8receive proper acknowledgment from his countrymen for his diligent labours. He was
quite frank about his desire for a good reputation and respect from his compatriots,
commenting ‘[t]o merit its [country’s] esteem—and the good will of my friends is the
sum of my ambition.’32
When learning of his unanimous appointment to the office of Commander-in-Chief of
the Continental Army, Washington made known to Congress that ‘no pecuniary
consideration could have tempted me to have accepted this Arduous employment.’
Subsequently, Washington refused any financial rewards annexed to such a high
office and instead requested to have his expenses reimbursed.33 The following year,
the Massachusetts General Court sent Washington a congratulatory address, in
which they recognised and commended his adherence to classical republican
disinterestedness in accepting the commanding office without a salary:
Your nobly declining to accept the pecuniary Emoluments annexed to
this high Office, fully evidenced to us that a warm regard to the Sacred
rights of humanity, and sincere love to your Country, solely Influenced
you in the Acceptance of this Important Trust.34
As Richard Harwell notes, his ‘modest characteristics had grown into positive virtues’
and this is nowhere more palpably demonstrated than in Washington’s behaviour
with regard to pecuniary matters.35 While Washington was pleased to see his
endeavours to open up new roads of navigation on the Ohio Valley rivers reach the
agenda of the concerned state Assemblies in 1785, he was made uneasy by one of
the acts passed by the Virginia Assembly. This act permanently assigned
Page 9Washington and his heirs one hundred shares of the navigation company. This
caused Washington much embarrassment and anguish since it ‘went against his
code of separating public service from private interest.’ Having counselled with his
close associates on the right course of conduct, he finally settled for a compromise:
to accept the shares, but to turn them into an educational trust.36
Self-conscious and cautious to set the right precedents for the future generations,
Washington carefully proofread his life-to-date biography compiled after the War by
Humphreys, his aide de camp. Washington inserted remarks and suggestions that
provided clarification or additional information. One such remark stated ‘whether it be
necessary to mention’ that the acceptance of public services was conditioned by no
expectations of any compensation ‘you can best judge.’ Washington not only wished
to serve his country on honourable terms, but he also wished others to know about
it.37
Washington’s prominent role during the French and Indian War set him up very
comfortably, and during the interwar period he continued his relentless efforts to
secure prospective lands that would earn him further regular income. A substantial
part of his wealth, however, came by marriage with Martha Dandridge Custis, one of
the richest widows in the colony. Although Washington held title to extensive
acreage approaching a ‘personal empire,’ ‘[h]e did have what we might call a cash
flow problem, meaning that his assets were tied up in land rather than more liquid
forms of wealth.’ In 1787, he admitted that his Mount Vernon Estate had run a deficit
for eleven consecutive years and less than two months prior to the presidential
inauguration he was even obliged ‘to be reduced’, for the first time, to borrowing
Page 10some money.38 When the voice of the American people called him to preside over
the new nation, his inaugural address contained this reaffirmation: ‘I should renounce
every pecuniary compensation . . . [from] the Executive Department’ and limit the
necessary expenditures as needs be in consideration of the public good. Washington
then prudently let his expenses rise only to the level of presidential salary as set by
Congress, though there were some who thought his expenses to be extortionate.39
Towards the end of Washington’s life, Mount Vernon struggled financially. Always
generous and willing to loan money to his friends throughout his life, Washington’s
pecuniary situation in the last decade of his life would no longer allow him to meet
‘the numerous applications’ for financial aid that continued to be sent to him.40 ‘My
friends entertain a very erroneous idea of my pecuniary resources,’ wrote
Washington in 1795, ‘when they set me down for a money lender.’41 On a number of
occasions, however, Washington consented to lend some of his money to his friends
even when it caused him to sink deeper in debt; out of $30,000 due him in the last
two years of his life, he had received only some $1700.42
Washington’s loyalty to his conviction of public service without a salary did not
vacillate when he asked to head the American army in light of unreconciled French
naval vexations in 1798. He responded with a familiar stipulation that he would
decline ‘any emoluments annexed to the appointment’ until his physical presence in
the field would be ‘indispensible by the urgency of circumstances’.43
Thus, it appears that Washington was acquainted with the ancient model of
republican disinterestedness and strove to pattern his life accordingly. If Seneca
Page 11hoped to promote the classical virtue by warning against ‘human calamities’ caused
by the love of money, we can give Washington credit for his unique espousal of this
classical virtue by serving his country disinterestedly in regards to pecuniary matters.
Cicero: De Officiis
“It would have been a less painful circumstance to me, to
have heard, that in consequence of your non-compliance
with their [enemy’s] request, they had burnt my House,
and laid the Plantation in ruins.” G. Washington to Lund
Washington44
Washington probably obtained a copy of Cicero’s De Officiis by way of inheritance
from his wife’s first husband, Daniel Custis. Although it may be difficult to determine
how much Washington read in this work, his philosophy and life seem to accord with
Cicero’s teachings to an uncommon degree.45 Thinking about Cicero’s belief in the
immortality of the soul, Washington says, ‘if I am in a grateful delusion, it is an
innocent one, and I am willing to remain under its influence.’46
Although Cicero was a an eclectic thinker, his De Officiis (On Duties or On
Obligations in English versions) has probably been his most influential work of
‘humane Stoicism’ and contains the ideas of other philosophers that he himself
believed to be worthy of approval, especially with regard to practical application in
human conduct.47 Referring to the teachings of Plato, Cicero writes that ‘we are not
born for ourselves alone, but our country claims a share of our being.’48 Cicero
Page 12believed that serving one’s country is closely associated with virtuous citizenship.
The topic of civic or patriotic obligation is a recurrent theme throughout Washington’s
life.
Serving one’s country is reflected in the idea of sacrificing individual interests for the
sake of the greater good; this philosophical outlook comprised the essence of
eighteenth-century American republicanism. Those descended from the gentry were
expected, if not obliged, to render service to the state.49 Although Washington’s
genteel prospects appeared dim with the early deaths of his father and older step-
brother, in consequence of his ‘deep and dedicated love of country’, he still felt
prompted at an early age to seek out opportunities to serve his nation.50
At the outset of the French and Indian War, the then twenty-two-year-old Washington
declared both his own and his troops’ dedication to patriotism in a letter to Dinwiddie:
‘[we] are as ready, and willing to sacrafice our lives for our Country’s good.’51 Having
resigned his military commission in December 1758, Washington received a letter
that was composed by his former fellow officers of the Virginia Regiment, lamenting
the resignation of ‘One so renown’d for Patriotism’ and ‘Love to . . . King and
Country.’52
Washington regarded involvement in the Revolutionary cause to be a patriotic duty,
stating ‘it is a duty we owe our Country—a Claim posterity has on us.’53 As
mentioned above, his perseverance and tenacity in public offices was not aided by a
promise of pecuniary compensation. What he did expect, however, was the
honourable respect from others, ‘to merit its [country’s] esteem—and the good will of
Page 13my friends.’54 Thus, Washington was perceived by his contemporaries to be ‘moved
only by the most amiable and disinterested Patriotism.’55 Even those who were
inclined to be critical of Washington, such as John Adams, who was certainly not one
of Washington’s confidants, also believed him to be guided by ‘duty, not interest nor
glory . . . from the beginning.’56
If Washington had ever pondered Cicero’s dictum, ‘we are not born for ourselves
alone, but our country claims a share of our being,’ the most likely occasion would
have been when he began to feel that his potential rejection of the presidential office
would be too detrimental for the welfare of the country.57 His desire to retire to the
private seclusion of his home until the end of his mortal days appeared to be in
conflict with his deep-rooted consciousness of patriotic duty. Washington was
warned by his friends that his rejection of his likely election to the Presidency ‘woud
[sic] prove fatal in many Parts’ of the United States. He was frankly admonished by
the influential Gouverneur Morris that his ‘Temper is indispensibly necessary to give
a firm and manly Tone to the new Government . . . you therefore must I say must
mount this Seat’.58
Thus, no American President approached his office with greater reluctance than
Washington did.59 Not only did the public offices hold ‘no charms’ for him, but the
realisation of giving ‘up all the prospects of tranquillity of his retirement seemed
almost too great a sacrifice.60 But the more Washington pondered the subject, the
more he realised that acceptance of the office was his civic duty, should he be
elected. Less than one year before his appointment, when Washington must have
been aware of the likelihood of the election’s outcome, he wrote to James Madison
Page 14attesting that ‘the consciousness of having discharged that duty which we owe to our
Country, is superior to all other considerations.’61
David Humphreys, the author of the only biography Washington superintended,
expressed the first President’s sentiments pointedly: ‘Influenced by principles of duty,
his private inclination was overcome by a sense of public obligation.’62 Further,
Jefferson’s notes on one conversation with the President disclose ‘the extreme
wretchedness of his existence while in office.’63 Against his own inclinations,
Washington persevered in office until the end of his second term mainly due to the
‘strong solicitations’ of his compatriots and ‘the strict line of my duty,’ which
Washington perceived he was obliged to render to his newborn country.64
Addison: Cato: A Tragedy
“If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”
King George III on Washington’s intentions to return to his farm.65
When evaluating Washington’s notions of classical ideals, one additional source
needs to be consulted: Joseph Addison’s Cato: A Tragedy. Although the play was
compiled in the eighteenth century, it enjoyed a wide popularity in the British colonies
and imbibed Washington with models of classical virtues perhaps more than any
other single literary work.66
Paul Leicester Ford even asserts that Washington remembered lines of Addison’s
Cato by heart.67 Given the fact that the play was one of the most popular theatrical
Page 15performances in America during much of the eighteenth century and that
Washington was especially fond of attending staged plays, we may ascribe a
considerable credibility to Ford’s assertion.68
Addison modelled his play after Plutarch’s biography of Cato the Younger, where he
is delineated ‘as the embodiment of the Stoic virtues.’ Given the interplay of morality
and politics in the ancient Roman Republic, Cato’s renown in the Senate depended
largely on his moral reputation. Therefore, it is not surprising that Addison’s play
contains the noun ‘virtue’ and the adjective ‘virtuous’ sixty-four times.69
The play intends to present Cato as the provider of ‘models of good behavior’ and as
Alexander Pope rehearses in his prologue to the play, ‘to make mankind in
conscious virtue bold.’70 It was probably for this particularity that Washington grew
especially fond of this theatre piece. In fact, Washington admired the principles
contained in Addison’s Cato to the extent that he had the play performed on 11 May
1778 during the Valley Forge encampment despite congressional resolution banning
stage productions as inconsistent with republican sentiments.71
In the tragedy’s Act IV and Scene IV Cato counsels Juba, the Prince of Numidia, on
the beneficence of honourable citizenship:
Let me advise thee to retreat betimes
To thy paternal seat, the Sabine field,
Where the great Censor toiled with his own hands,
Page 16And all our frugal ancestors were blest
In humble virtues, and a rural life.
There live retired, pray for the peace of Rome:
Content thyself to be obscurely good.
When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway,
The post of honour is a private station.72
Here, Cato connects the idea of retirement from the pomp and the eyes of the public
with humble virtues. Being obscurely good in a private station is the post of honour.
The Stoics considered the world liable to pain and suffering, where only those whose
innate goodness was properly cultivated were able ‘to achieve any peace of mind,
and that in solitude.’73
Washington’s first attempt at retirement from public service was at the age of twenty-
three. When the Virginia Regiment was disbanded in 1754 due to lack of financial
support, Washington resigned his military commission. Although his inclinations were
still ‘strongly bent to arms,’ his recent infelicitous experiences in the military
‘determined me to lead a life of retirement into which I was just entering at no small
expence.’74 Washington returned to serve in the Virginia militia during the French
and Indian War, but later gravitated towards retirement ‘from all Publick [sic]
Business’ again.75 Gradually, he would come to prefer private citizenship to any
public office. In harmony with Cato’s counsel, the twenty-seven-year-old Washington
said he hoped to ‘find more happiness in retirement than I ever experiencd amidst a
wide and bustling World.’76
Page 17While Washington felt it was his moral obligation to fulfil his public duties when the
country needed him, throughout his military service he yearned for tranquillity and
the serene enjoyments of his Mount Vernon home. As Esmond Wright notes,
Washington’s numerous references to Mount Vernon throughout the Revolutionary
War indicate his lifelong attachment to agricultural life in the rolling hills by the
Potomac.77 During the Revolutionary War, Washington disclosed to his younger
brother John Augustine that nothing would contribute more to his bliss than ‘to be
once more fixed among you in the peaceable enjoymt of my own vine, & fig Tree.’78
By surrendering his military commission to Congress and returning to his farms,
Washington literally resurrected an almost forgotten Roman legend of a virtuous
retirement – Cincinnatus – and was thus entitled as ‘The Cincinnatus of the West.’
Washington’s life was much like the semi-mythical Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus who
was called from his plough to head his nation’s army against the Aequi only to
surrender his powers afterwards in order to return to his farm.79 One Philadelphia
journal published a poem composed by Philip Morin Freneau at the occasion of the
victorious Washington’s return to his home:
Now hurrying from the busy scene–
Where thy Potomac’s waters flow,
Mayst thou enjoy the rural reign,
And every earthly blessing know:
So HE* who Rome’s proud legions sway’d,
Return’d and sought his native shade.80
Page 18[*Cincinnatus]
This stanza not only applauds Washington for his Cincinnatus-like revival of giving
up power to the republic, but also parallels well with the already mentioned lines in
Addison’s Cato, where the protagonist advocates a ‘private station’ and a ‘rural life’
over the ‘busy scene’ of the public arenas. Emulating the classical notions of humble
virtues, Washington contented himself ‘to be obscurely good’ in his rural retirement
in order ‘to achieve . . . peace of mind.’81
How much Washington loved the virtuous quiet life of a private citizen, as depicted in
Addison’s Cato, is especially revealing in the following letter addressed to Marquis
de Lafayette:
At length my Dear Marquis I am become a private citizen
on the banks of the Potomac, & under the shadow of my
own Vine & my own Fig tree, free from the bustle of a
camp & the busy scenes of public life, I am solacing
myself with those tranquil enjoyments, of which the
Soldier who is ever in pursuit of fame—the Statesman
whose watchful days & sleepless Nights are spent in
devising schemes to promote the welfare of his own—
perhaps the ruin of other countries, as if this Globe was
insufficient for us all—& the Courtier who is always
watching the countenance of his Prince, in hopes of
Page 19catching a gracious smile, can have very little
conception.82
To Marquis de Chastellux, Washington described his prospects of viewing the world
of commotions and intrigues ‘“in the calm lights of mild philosophy”—& with that
serenity of mind,’ which those pursuing glory or fame, he repeats, are too busy to
enjoy. In this letter, Washington is quoting from Act I, Scene I of Addison’s Cato,
where Cato’s sons, Marcus and Portius, engage in the opening dialogue of the play.
Marcus commends Portius for viewing Caesar’s late conquests ‘in the calm lights of
mild philosophy’; the word ‘philosophy’ being footnoted in the recent edition of the
play as Stoicism.83 Washington viewed this ‘mild species of philosophy’ benevolently,
for his comprehension of these principles was that it was ‘promoting human
happiness.’84
His retirement to Mount Vernon, however, did not last as long as he wished and
Washington faced a great dilemma when his election to the Presidency was
becoming imminent in the late 1780s. For him, ‘the post of honour’ was a ‘private
station’ and returning to public life, especially to such a one so easily susceptible to
public criticism, was discouraging. A few weeks before the inauguration his feelings
were, he said, ‘not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution’
and was unwilling ‘to quit a peaceful abode for an Ocean of difficulties.’ Yearning for
a virtuous retirement, Washington looked forward to the end of his Presidency to
return to his ‘private station’ to be ‘obscurely good,’ for Washington preferred, as he
declared one year after his inauguration, to be at home accompanied by one or two
Page 20friends ‘than to be attended at the Seat of Government by the Officers of State and
the Representatives of every Power in Europe.’85
Epilogue
To his twenty-year-old nephew Bushrod, Washington admitted ‘I am not such a Stoic
as to suppose you will . . . [always] be in Company with Senators and
Philosophers.’86 Washington also admonished his teenage adoptive grandson
George to be diligent in his studies in order to lay ‘the foundation of your own
happiness’ and become ‘a useful member of society.’ Washington was aware of the
disadvantages of devoting merely to philosophical studies and recommended to his
grandson some physical training also: ‘I do not mean by it, that you are to become a
stoic, or to deprive yourself in the intervals of study of any recreations or manly
exercise which reason approves.’87
It appears that Washington lived according to a number of traditional Roman virtues
and perhaps some of them without his conscious effort to adhere to them, they being
a part of his dignified and reserved nature and self-controlled disposition.88
Washington, like Fabius of old, was capable of mastering his emotions and
maintaining his focus in the heat of confusion, which was especially evident in the
military scenarios.89
In Seneca’s hierarchy of vices, ‘the great subject of human calamities is money . . .
which exceeds them all.’90 Declining any emoluments for his acceptance of the office
of Commander-in-Chief, Washington adopted a system of separation of ‘public
service from private interest’ with an almost religious zeal.91 Further, he professed
Page 21that no pecuniary motives could have induced him to be subjected to the troubles of
a military leader.92 ‘To merit its [country’s] esteem—and the good will of [his] friends’
was in harmony with the classical notions of honour.93
Whether or not Washington was inspired by Cicero’s De Officiis, he believed that the
country claimed a share of his being.94 Although his soul longed for tranquillity in the
secluded shades of his farms, Washington felt it was his moral obligation to resume
his public life, ‘which God knows has no charms for me,’ for the good of society and
preservation of the Union.95 He was aware of his patriotic duties and overcame his
private inclinations when his country needed him: ‘the consciousness of having
discharged that duty which we owe to our Country, is superior to all other
considerations.’96
Addison’s Cato was not only highly popular in eighteenth-century America, but one
of the favourite plays Washington ever attended. The play further inculcated
Washington with classical virtues of honour and self-discipline. Washington not only
memorised some passages of the play, but also took to heart Cato’s admonition, that
‘the post of honour is a private station.’97 Although victorious in war, he had no
interest in the victor’s crown, but surrendered his power when his patriotic duties
were fulfilled and literally returned, like the classical Cincinnatus, to his plough.
1
‘Sentiments on a Peace Establishment, 2 May 1783,’ in John C. Fitzpatrick (ed.), The Writings of
George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745-1799, 39 vols, Government Printing
Office, Washington, D. C., 1931-1944, at: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/washington/fitzpatrick/index.html,
Accessed 25 May, 2010. For subsequent references, WGW.
Page 222
James R. Gaines, For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions, W. W.
Norton & Company, New York, 2007, p. 13.
3
Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787, W. W. Norton & Company,
New York, 1969, pp. 52-53.
4
Carl J. Richard, The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American enlightenment,
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1994, p. 37; see also Carl J. Richard, Greeks and Romans
Bearing Gifts: How the Ancients Inspired the Founding Fathers, Rowman & Littlefield, Plymouth,
2008; ‘First Inaugural Address: Final Version, 30 April 1789,’ in Theodore J. Crackel (ed.), The Papers
of George Washington Digital Edition, American Founding Era Collection, Rotunda, at:
http://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu:8080/pgwde/dflt.xqy?mode=menu, Accessed 10 March, 2010. For
subsequent references, PGW.
5
Anthony A. Long, Stoic Studies, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 2001, p.
xi, at: http://books.google.com/books?id=m52fjYyOAOoC, Accessed 29 April, 2010.
6
Anthony A. Long, Hellenistic Philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics, University of California
Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1986, p. 108, at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=aa8s7ZnuIMAC, Accessed 29 April, 2010.
7
Anthony A. Long, Hellenistic Philosophy, p. 107.
8
‘To L. Washington, 29 May 1779,’ in WGW.
9
B. Franklin and G. Wythe did not attend college either. Carl J. Richard, The Founders and the
Classics, pp. 36, 51; Carl J. Richard, Greeks and Romans Bearing Gifts, p. 17; Washington admitted
that ‘Books being chiefly in a foreign Language (which I do not understand),’ ‘To Boinod & Gaillard, 18
February 1784,’ in PGW.
10
Samuel E. Morison, ‘The Young Man Washington.’ in The Great American Parade, 1935, pp. 118-
40; Garry Wills, Cincinnatus: George Washington & the Enlightenment: Images of Power in Early
America, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, 1984; Carl J. Richard, The Founders and the Classics;
Carl J. Richard, Greeks and Romans Bearing Gifts.
11
Jeffry H. Morrison, The Political Philosophy of George Washington, Johns Hopkins University
Press, Baltimore, 2009, pp. 88, 91.
12
Carl J. Richard, The Founders and the Classics, p. 175.
13
‘To Chastellux, 1 February 1784’, in PGW; ‘To B. Washington, 15 January 1783’, in WGW; ‘To G.
W. P. Custis, 28 November 1796’, in WGW; Richard N. Smith, Patriarch: George Washington and the
New American Nation, Houghton Mifflin, Boston and New York, 1993, p. 7; Jeffry H. Morrison, The
Political Philosophy, pp. 94-95; Paul K. Longmore, The Invention of George Washington, University of
Virginia Press, Charlottesville, 1999, p. 181; Jeffry H. Morrison, The Political Philosophy, p. 12; see
also H. C. Montgomery, ‘Washington the Stoic’, in The Classical Journal, Vol. 31, No. 6, March 1936,
pp. 371-73.
14
Gordon S. Wood, ‘The Greatness of George Washington’, in The Virginia Quarterly Review: A
National Journal of Literature & Discussion, Spring 1992, pp. 189-207, at:
http://www.vqronline.org/articles/1992/spring/wood-greatness-george-washington, Accessed 29 April,
2010.
15
Donald S. Lutz, ‘The Relative Influence of European Writers on Late Eighteenth-Century American
Political Thought’, in American Political Science Review, Vol. 78, 1984, pp. 189-97, cited in Jeffry H.
Morrison, The Political Philosophy, pp. 70-71.
16
‘Settlement of the Daniel Parke Custis Estate, Appendix D: Inventory of the Books in the Estate, c.
1759’, in PGW; Jeffry H. Morrison, The Political Philosophy, p. 80.
17
John Sellars, Stoicism, Vol. 1 of Ancient Philosophies, University of California Press, Berkeley and
Los Angeles, 2006, p. 21, at: http://books.google.com/books?id=5X-46TqjDv0C, Accessed 29 April,
2010; Ben R. Schneider, Jr, Materials for the Construction of Shakespeare’s Morals: The Stoic
Legacy to the Renaissance, website last updated 11 March, 2004, at:
http://www.stoics.com/why_stoics.html, Accessed 10 March, 2010.
18
‘The Life of Fabius Maximus’, in Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, Vol. III, Loeb Classical Library edition,
1916, Bill Thayer (ed.), at:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Fabius_Maximus*.html,
Accessed 10 March, 2010.
19
Joseph J. Ellis, His Excellency: George Washington, Vintage Books, New York, 2004, p. 38;
Thomas A. Lewis, For King and Country: George Washington, The Early Years, John Wiley & Sons,
New York, 1993, pp. 183, 187; ‘To R. Dinwiddie, 18 July 1755’, in PGW.
Page 2320
Rosemarie Zagarri (ed.), David Humphreys’ ‘Life of General Washington’ with George
Washington’s ‘Remarks’, University of Georgia Press, Athens, p. 16.
21
Paul K. Longmore, The Invention of George Washington, pp. 180-81.
22
‘T. Jefferson to W. Jones, 2 January 1814’, The Works of Thomas Jefferson, 12 vols., Federal
Edition, in Paul L. Ford (ed.), G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, 1904-5, p. 167, at:
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mtj:@field(DOCID+@lit(tj110133)), Accessed 10
March, 2010.
23
Paul K. Longmore, The Invention of George Washington, pp. 225-26.
24
Paul K. Longmore, The Invention of George Washington, p. 181.
25
The date of acquisition (c. 1749) is based on Washington’s youthful autograph inside the book,
Appleton P. C. Griffin, A catalogue of the Washington collection in the Boston Athenaeum in four
parts: I. Books from the library of General George Washington II. Other books from Mount Vernon III.
The writings of Washington IV. Washingtoniana with an appendix, the inventory of Washington's
books drawn up by the appraisers of his estate...by William Coolidge Lane, Boston Athenaeum,
Boston, 1897, cited in Jeffry H. Morrison, The Political Philosophy, p. 198 (n. 164); ‘Settlement of the
Daniel Parke Custis Estate, Appendix D: Inventory of the Books in the Estate, c. 1759’, in PGW; ‘List
of Books at Mount Vernon, c. 1764’, in PGW.
26
John Sellars, Stoicism, pp. 168, 172.
27
1 Timothy 6:10, The Holy Bible (KJV), Intellectual Reserve, Salt Lake City, 1979, p. 1511.
28
Seneca’s Morals by Way of Abstract to which is Added a Discourse under the Title of an
Introduction by Sir Roger L’Estrange, Knt., Roger L’Estrange (transl.), A. L. Burt, New York, pp. 310-
11, at: http://www.archive.org/details/senecasmorals010925mbp, Accessed 29 April, 2010.
29
‘To R. Dinwiddie, 29 May 1754’, in PGW; see also ‘To R. Dinwiddie, 7 March 1754’, in PGW; ‘To R.
Dinwiddie, 9 March 1754’, in PGW; ‘Expedition to the Ohio, 1754: Narrative,’ in PGW; ‘To R.
Dinwiddie, 18 May 1754’, in PGW; ‘To R. Dinwiddie, 27 May 1754’, in PGW; ‘To R. Dinwiddie, August
1754’, in PGW.
30
‘To R. Dinwiddie, 29 May 1754’, in PGW.
31
‘To W. Fitzhugh, 15 November 1754’, in PGW.
32
‘To W. Byrd, 20 April 1755’, in PGW.
33
Desiring no financial benefit (which would have been 500 dollars a month), Washington preferred to
keep an exact account of his expenses to be discharged. ‘Address to the Continental Congress, 16
June 1775’, in PGW; Journals of the Continental Congress, XXXIV vols, in Worthington C. Ford (ed.),
Library of Congress, 1905, A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional
Documents and Debates, 1774-1875, Vol. II, p. 91, at:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwjc.html, Accessed 10 March, 2010.
34
‘Address from the Massachusetts General Court, 28 March 1776’, in PGW.
35
Richard Harwell, Washington: An Abridgement in One Volume by Richard Harwell of the Seven-
volume George Washington by Douglas Southall Freeman, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1968,
p. 222.
36
Paul Johnson, George Washington: the Founding Father, HarperCollins, New York, 2005, p. 82.
37
Rosemarie Zagarri (ed.), Life of General Washington, p. 33.
38
Joseph J. Ellis, His Excellency, pp. 262, 167; ‘To R. Conway, 4 March 1789’, in PGW; see also ‘To
M. B. Washington, 15 February 1787’, in PGW.
39
‘First Inaugural Address: Final Version, 30 April 1789’, in PGW; U.S. House Journal, 1789, 1st
Cong., 1st sess., 16 July, at: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwhj.html, Accessed 21 April,
2010. The congressional reimbursements of his presidential expenses are said to have been nearly
equivalent to what his salary would have been. Not all financial advances, however, were
administered by the President himself, but rather by the Treasury Department. The size of
Washington’s presidential expenses seems to have been a point in an ongoing political debate since
newspaper articles took either affirmative or negative positions depending on whether the newspaper
was run by a federalist or a republican editor. Richard M. Ketchum, The World of George Washington,
American Heritage, New York, 1974, p. 186; Douglas Southall Freeman, George Washington, vol. 7,
pp. 320-21.
40
‘To C. T. S. von Molitor and G. H. Vulteius, 21 May 1789’, in PGW.
41
‘To C. Carter, 10 March 1795’, in WGW.
42
Douglas Southall Freeman, George Washington, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1948-57, 7
vols, vol. 7 completed by John A. Carroll and Mary W. Ashworth, pp. 576-77. A few examples of
Page 24Washington dealing with cash loan petitions in the last decade of his life are provided in the same
source, pp. 41, 240, 431, 497, 578-79.
43
‘To J. Adams, 13 July 1798’, in PGW.
44
‘To L. Washington, 30 April 1781’, in WGW.
45
Martha Dandridge Custis was widowed in 1757 and married George Washington in 1759. Jeffry H.
Morrison, The Political Philosophy, p. 89; ‘From J. Boucher, 15 July 1768’, in PGW; ‘To J. Boucher,
31 July 1768’, in PGW.
46
‘To A. B. Stockton, 31 August 1788’, in PGW.
47
Anthony A. Long, Hellenistic Philosophy, p. 231.
48
Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Officiis: With an English Translation by Walter Miller, T. E. Page and W.
H. D. Rouse (eds), Macmillan, New York, 1913, p. 23 (I. 22), at:
http://www.archive.org/details/deofficiis03cicegoog, Accessed 29 April, 2010.
49
Gordon S. Wood, The Creation, p. 53; Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American
Revolution, Vintage, New York, 1991, p. 104.
50
William G. Sayen, ‘“A Compleat Gentleman”: The Making of George Washington, 1732-1775’,
unpublished PhD thesis, University of Connecticut, 1998, pp. 6, 16, 107, 246; Richard Harwell,
Washington, p. 513.
51
‘To R. Dinwiddie, 10 June 1754’, in PGW.
52
‘Address from the Officers of the Virginia Regiment, 31 December 1758’, in PGW.
53
‘To J. A. Washington, 31 March 1776’, in PGW.
54
‘To W. Byrd, 20 April 1755’, in PGW.
55
‘T. Burke to the North Carolina Assembly, 29 April 1778’, in John P. Kaminski (ed.), The Founders
on the Founders: Word Portraits from the American Revolutionary Era, University of Virginia Press,
Charlottesville, 2008, p. 479.
56
Rosemarie Zagarri (ed.), Life of General Washington, pp. 51, 114 (n. 144); ‘J. Adams to R. R.
Livingston, 16 June 1783’, in John P. Kaminski (ed.), The Founders on the Founders, p. 485.
57
Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Officiis, p. 23 (I.22); ‘To M. de Lafayette, 1 February 1784’, in PGW.
58
‘From Gouverneur Morris, 30 October 1787’, in PGW.
59
Richard N. Smith, Patriarch, p. 359.
60
‘To D. Stuart, 15 June 1790’, in PGW; ‘To J. Porter, 30 April 1788’, in WGW.
61
‘To J. Madison, 2 March 1788’, in PGW.
62
Rosemarie Zagarri (ed.), Life of General Washington, p. 56.
63
‘T. Jefferson’s Notes on a Conversation with G. Washington, 7 February 1793’, in PGW.
64
‘T. Jefferson’s Notes on a Conversation with G. Washington, 7 February 1793’, in PGW; ‘To J. E.
Howard, 30 November 1795’, in WGW.
65
Garry Wills, Cincinnatus, p. 13.
66
Jeffrey H. Morrison, The Political Philosophy, p. 91.
67
Paul Leicester Ford, Washington and the Theatre, Dunlap Society, New York, 1899, p. 1, at:
http://www.archive.org/details/washingtonandth00fordgoog, Accessed 29 April, 2010; Carl J. Richard,
The Founders and the Classics, p. 60.
68
James Thomas Flexner, George Washington and the New Nation 1783-1793, Little, Brown and
Company, Boston and Toronto, 1969, p. 201; Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism, p. 197; Paul
Leicester Ford, Washington and the Theatre, pp. 1-2; David McCullough, 1776, Simon & Schuster,
New York, 2005, p. 47; Donald Jackson (ed.), The Diaries of George Washington, 6 vols, vol. 2
(1766–1770), copyright 1976 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, 2 May 1768; vol.
3 (1771–75; 1780–1781), copyright 1978 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, 23
and 29 January, 2, 3 and 8 May, 25 July, 24, 26 and 28 September, 29, 30 and 31 October, 1 and 4
November 1771, 12, 17, 19, 25 and 26 March, 5, 7, 8 and 9 October 1772; vol. 6 (January 1790–
December 1799), copyright 1979 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, 9 January, 27
February 1797; 11 May 1778, at:
http://rotunda.upress.virginia.edu/founders/default.xqy?keys=GEWN-print-01&mode=TOC, Accessed
12 October, 2010; Albert Furtwangler, ‘Cato at Valley Forge’, in Modern Language Quarterly, Vol. 41
No. 1, March 1980, p. 38.
69
James R. Gaines, For Liberty and Glory, p. 13; Joseph Addison, Cato: A Tragedy and Selected
Essays, Christine Dunn Henderson and Mark E. Yellin (eds), Liberty Fund, Indianapolis, 2004,
‘Introduction: Cato, a Tragedy’ at: http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1229, Accessed 11 March, 2010.
70
James R. Gaines, For Liberty and Glory, p. 13; Joseph Addison, Cato, Prologue by Mr. Pope.
71
Joseph Addison, Cato, Foreword; Albert Furtwangler, ‘Cato at Valley Forge’, p. 38.
Page 2572
Joseph Addison, Cato, Act IV, Scene IV.
73
Carl J. Richard, The Founders and the Classics, p. 180.
74
Joseph J. Ellis, His Excellency, p. 18; ‘To W. Fitzhugh, 15 November 1754’, in PGW; ‘To R. Orme,
15 March 1755’, in PGW.
75
‘To J. Stanwix, 4 March 1758’, in PGW.
76
‘To R. Washington, 20 September 1759’, in PGW.
77
Esmond Wright, Washington and the American Revolution, English Universities Press, 1957, p. 82.
Washington’s first name is indicative of his private station: George comes from Greek Georgios,
meaning ‘husbandman, farmer’, which is derived from ge ‘earth’ and ergon ‘work’. Online Etymology
Dictionary, 2001-2010, Douglas Harper, at: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=George,
Accessed 18 March, 2010.
78
‘To J. A. Washington, 6 November 1776’, in PGW; For ‘vine, & fig Tree’ see also 1 Kings 4:25,
Micah 4:4, The Holy Bible (KJV), pp. 471, 1153.
79
Baron George Gordon Byron, Complete Poetical Works of Lord Byron, J. W. Lovell, New York,
1884, p. 198, at: http://www.archive.org/details/poeticalworksofl03byronge, Accessed 29 April, 2010;
Jeffry H. Morrison, The Political Philosophy, p. 84. The word ‘Cincinnatus’ or ‘Cincinnati’ is not
mentioned in Washington’s correspondence at all before the end of the Revolutionary War; the
Society of the Cincinnati was founded 13 May 1783.
80
Philip Morin Freneau, ‘Verses occasioned by General Washington’s arrival in this city, on his way to
his Seat in Virginia’, in Freeman’s Journal, Philadelphia, 10 December 1783, p. 2, at:
http://www.genealogybank.com, Accessed 11 March, 2010.
81
Joseph Addison, Cato, Act IV, Scene IV; Philip Morin Freneau, ‘Verses’, p. 2; Carl J. Richard, The
Founders and the Classics, p. 180.
82
‘To M. de Lafayette, 1 February 1784’, in PGW.
83
‘To Chastellux, 1 February 1784’, in PGW; Joseph Addison, Cato, Act I, Scene I, n. 7; see also n.
31.
84
‘To Chastellux, 18 August 1786’, in PGW.
85
‘To H. Knox, 1 April 1789’, in PGW; Joseph Addison, Cato, Act IV, Scene IV; ‘To D. Stuart, 15 June
1790’, in PGW.
86
‘To B. Washington, 15 January 1783’, in WGW.
87
‘To G. W. P. Custis, 28 November 1796’, in WGW.
88
Joseph J. Ellis, His Excellency, pp. 37-39, 272-75.
89
‘The Life of Fabius Maximus’, in Plutarch, The Parallel Lives, vol. III.
90
Seneca’s Morals, p. 310-11.
91
Paul Johnson, George Washington, p. 82; ‘To P. Henry, 27 February 1785,’, in PGW.
92
‘To R. H. Lee, 29 August 1775’, in PGW.
93
‘To W. Byrd, 20 April 1755’, in PGW.
94
Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Officiis, p. 23 (I.22).
95
‘To D. Stuart, 15 June, 1790’, in PGW.
96
‘To J. Madison, 2 March 1788’, in PGW.
97
Joseph Addison, Cato, Act IV, Scene IV.
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