Emily Dickinson Lexicon

Cato (-'s), proper n. [L. catus, sharp, shrewd, cunning.]

1. Marcus Porcius Cato (95-46 B.C.); Cato the younger; vocal opponent to Caesar; Roman politician, orator, and military hero; uncle of Brutus; father of Portia; protagonist of a 1712 tragedy that Joseph Addison wrote; [fig.] a persuasive speech maker; a stoic orator; a lecturing moralist.
2. Senator; congressman; representative; [fig.] Edward Dickinson; Massachusetts statesman; father of Emily Dickinson; [metaphor] God; Father in Heaven; higher power in nature and the universe.