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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Sulla80, post: 4754202, member: 99456&quot;]It is probably appropriate to add to the Carthage pile this Roman Republican coin from the Carthaginian city of Utica.&nbsp; Carthage was to the East of Lake Tunis, and Utica about 50km northwest of the site of ancient Carthage.</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p><font size="3">&quot;Utica was an ancient Phoenician and Carthaginian city located near the outflow of the Medjerda River into the Mediterranean, between Carthage in the south and Hippo Diarrhytus (present-day Bizerte) in the north. It is traditionally considered to be the first colony to have been founded by the Phoenicians in North Africa.&nbsp; After Carthage&#039;s loss to Rome in the Punic Wars, Utica was an important Roman colony for seven centuries.&quot;</font></p><p><font size="3">-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utica,_Tunisia" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utica,_Tunisia" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a></font></p></blockquote><p><font size="3">[ATTACH=full]1160402[/ATTACH]</font></p><p><br /></p><p>Caesar defeated the Pompeians in the battle of Thapsus. M. Porcius Cato, &quot;The Younger&quot;, fled to Utica in North Arfrica. Cato famously committed suicide rather than accept Caesars offer of clemency:</p><blockquote><p><font size="3">&quot;For if,&quot; said he, &quot;I were willing to be saved by grace of Caesar, I ought to go to him in person and see him alone; but I am unwilling to be under obligations to the tyrant for his illegal acts. And he acts illegally in saving, as if their master, those over whom he has no right at all to be the lord.”</font></p><p><font size="3">- Plutarch, <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Cato_Minor*.html#66" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Cato_Minor*.html#66" rel="nofollow">The Life of Cato the Younger, 66.1</a></font></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>Cato&#039;s story of determined fight against the populist Julius Caesar to protect republican principles and institutions of Rome, inspired American revolutionaries fighting against the tyranny of King George III.&nbsp; A play by Joseph Addison, “Cato, A Tragedy”, written in 1713, was very popular in the 18th century and provided inspiration to American patriots like Nathan Hale, &quot;I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country&quot;, and Patrick Henry, &quot;Give me liberty or give me death!&quot; – both lines variants of lines from the play.&nbsp; George Washington had &quot;Cato&quot; performed at Valley Forge in 1778 to rally the troops.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1160398[/ATTACH]</p><p>Roman Republic 47-46 BC AR Denarius</p><p><b>M. Porcius Cato Uticensis</b>, African mint (Utica)</p><p><b>Obv:</b> draped female bust right (possibly roma), with hair tied, M CATO PRO PR before, border of dots</p><p><b>Rev:</b> Victory seated right, holding patera in right hand and palm branch in left hand; border of dots, VICTRIX in exergue</p><p><b>Ref: </b>Crawford <a href="http://numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-462.1c" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-462.1c" rel="nofollow">462/1c</a>; RSC Porcia 9; BMC Africa 15[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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