[wasleys]

What does the author mean by 'pistol and ball'? Pistol and ammunition, in those days a ball. He is referring to suicide. So when he is depressed he goes to sea instead of killing himself. Cato killed himself, Ishmael boards a ship.

What's 'a philosophical flourish Cato'? I think 'throws' must be 'throwing', because the sentence begins with 'with'. Is that right? Cato the Younger killed himself with his own sword. In other words he threw himself on it. Here the writer seems to use the present ‘throws’ as a literary device to give ‘Cato kills himself, I go to sea.’

Philospohical flourish would refer to Cato’s demeanour when he killed himself. The use of philosophical could mean like a philosopher, or the word can often be used to mean ‘resigned acceptance’, eg ‘she was very philosophical about the theft of her car.

What does 'but knew' mean? Does 'but' here mean 'only'? Yes. So to paraphrase ‘ all men have a desire to go to sea at certain times in their life, but they don’t realise that they do.’

Michael