ESSAYS OF BOOK THE SECOND (Continued) CHAPTER XIII OF JUDGING OF THE DEATH OF ANOTHER WHEN we judge of another's assurance in death, which, without doubt, is the most remarkable action of human life, we are to take heed of one thing, which is that men very hardly believe themselves to have arrived to that period. Few men come to die in the opinion that it is their latest hour; and there is nothing wherein the flattery of hope more deludes us; it never ceases to whisper in our ears, "Others have been much sicker without dying; your condition is not so desperate as 'tis thought; and, at the worst, God has done other miracles." Which happens by reason that we set too much value upon ourselves; it seems as if the universality of things were in some measure to suffer by our dissolution, and that it commiserates our condition, forasmuch as our disturbed sight represents things to itself erroneously, and that we are of opinion they stand in as much need of us as we do of them, like people at sea, to whom mountains, fields, cities, heaven and earth are tossed at the same rate as they are: "Provehimur portu, terræque urbesque recedunt:"1 Whoever saw old age that did not applaud the past and 1 "We are carried out of port, and cities and lands recede."-Eneid, iii. 72. condemn the present time, laying the fault of his misery and discontent upon the world and the manners of men ?— Jamque caput quassans, grandis suspirat arator . . Præteritis, laudat fortunas sæpe parentis, "1 Et crepat antiquum genus ut pietate repletum." We will make all things go along with us; whence it follows that we consider our death as a very great thing, and that does not so easily pass, nor without the solemn consultation of the stars: "Tot circa unum caput tumultuantes deos," 2 and so much the more think it as we more value ourselves. "What, shall so much knowledge be lost, with so much damage to the world, without a particular concern of the destinies? Does so rare and exemplary a soul cost no more the killing than one that is common and of no use to the public? This life, that protects so many others, upon which so many other lives depend, that employs so vast a number of men in his service, that fills so many places, shall it drop off like one that hangs but by its own simple thread ?” None of us lays it enough to heart that he is but one: thence proceeded those words of Cæsar to his pilot, more tumid than the sea that threatened him : And these: 1 "Italiam si cœlo auctore recusas, Me pete sola tibi causa est hæc justa timoris, "Credit jam digna pericula Cæsar Fatis esse suis; tantusne evertere, dixit, "Now the old ploughman, shaking his head, sighs, and compares present times with past, often praises his parents' happiness, and talks of the old race as full of piety."-Lucretius, ii. 1165. 2 "All the gods in agitation about one man."-Seneca, Suasor, i. 4. Me superis labor est, parvà quem puppe sedentem, and that idle fancy of the public, that the sun bore on his face mourning for his death a whole year: "Ille etiam extincto miseratus Cæsare Romam, "2 and a thousand of the like, wherewith the world suffers itself to be so easily imposed upon, believing that our interests affect the heavens, and that their infinity is concerned at our ordinary actions: "Non tanta cælo societas nobiscum est, ut nostro fato mortalis sit ille quoque siderum fulgor." 3 Now, to judge of constancy and resolution in a man who does not yet believe himself to be certainly in danger, though he really is, is not reason; and 'tis not enough that he die in this posture, unless he purposely put himself into it for this effect. It commonly falls out in most men that they set a good face upon the matter and speak with great indifference, to acquire reputation, which they hope afterwards, living, to enjoy. Of all whom I have seen die, fortune has disposed their countenances and no design of theirs; and even of those who in ancient times have made away with themselves, there is much to be considered whether it were a sudden or a lingering death. That cruel Roman emperor would say of his prisoners, that he would make them feel death, and if any one killed himself in prison, "That fellow has made an escape from me; he would prolong death and make it felt by torments: 1 "Cæsar now deemed these dangers worthy of his destiny: 'What!' said he, is it for the gods so great a task to overthrow me, that they must be fain to assail me with great seas in a poor little bark.'”—Lucan, v. 653. 2 "Cæsar being dead, the sun in mourning clouds, pitying Rome, clothed himself."-Virgil, Georg., i. 466. 3 "There is no such alliance betwixt us and heaven, that the brightness of the stars should be made also mortal by our death."-Pliny, Nat. Hist., ii. 8. "Vidimus et toto quamvis in corpore cæso In plain truth, it is no such great matter for a man in health and in a temperate state of mind to resolve to kill himself; it is very easy to play the villain before one comes to the point, insomuch that Heliogabalus, the most effeminate man in the world, amongst his lowest sensualities, could forecast to make himself die delicately, when he should be forced thereto; and that his death might not give the lie to the rest of his life, had purposely built a sumptuous tower, the front and base of which were covered with planks enriched with gold and precious stones, thence to precipitate himself; and also caused cords twisted with gold and crimson silk to be made, wherewith to strangle himself; and a sword with the blade of gold to be hammered out to fall upon; and kept poison in vessels of emerald and topaz wherewith to poison himself, according as he should like to choose one of these ways of dying: "Impiger ad letum et fortis virtute coactâ.” 2 Yet in respect of this person, the effeminacy of his preparations makes it more likely that he would have thought better on't, had he been put to the test. But in those who with greater resolution have determined to despatch themselves, we must examine whether it were with one blow which took away the leisure of feeling the effect: for it is to be questioned whether, perceiving life, by little and little, to steal away the sentiment of the body mixing itself with that of the soul, and the means of repenting being offered, whether, I say, constancy and obstinacy in so dangerous an intention would have been found. 1 "We have seen in tortured bodies, amongst the wounds, none that have been mortal, inhuman mode of dire cruelty, that means to kill, but will not let men die."-Lucan, iv. i. 78. "Resolute and brave in the face of death by a forced courage."Idem, iv. 798. 4 In the civil wars of Cæsar, Lucius Domitius, being taken in the Abruzzi,1 and thereupon poisoning himself, afterwards repented. It has happened in our time that a certain person, being resolved to die and not having gone deep enough at the first thrust, the sensibility of the flesh opposing his arm, gave himself two or three wounds more, but could never prevail upon himself to thrust home. Whilst Plautius Silvanus was upon his trial, Urgulania, his grandmother, sent him a poniard with which, not being able to kill himself, he made his servants cut his veins.2 Albucilla in Tiberius' time having, to kill himself, struck with too much tenderness, gave his adversaries opportunity to imprison and put him to death their own way. And that great leader, Demosthenes, after his rout in Sicily, did the same; and C. Fimbria, having struck himself too weakly, entreated his servant to despatch him. On the contrary, Ostorius, who could not make use of his own arm, disdained to employ that of his servant to any other use but only to hold the poniard straight and firm; and bringing his throat to it, thrust himself through.5 "Tis, in truth, a morsel that is to be swallowed without chewing, unless a man be thoroughly resolved; and yet Adrian the emperor made his physician mark and encircle on his pap the mortal place wherein he was to stab to whom he had given orders to kill him. For this reason it was that Cæsar, being asked what death he thought to be the most desired, made answer, "The least premeditated and the shortest."6 If Cæsar dared to say it, it is no cowardice in me to believe it. "A short death," says Pliny," "is the sovereign good hap of human life." People do not much care to recognise it. No one can say that he is resolute for death who fears to deal with it and cannot undergo it with his eyes open: 1 At Corfinium, near the river Aternus. The last French variorum reads La Prusse. 2 Tacitus, Annals, iv. 22. 4 Plutarch, Life of Nicias, c. 10. 6 Suetonius, in Vitâ, c., 87. 3 Idem, ibid., vi. 48. 5 Tacitus, Annals, xvi. 15. 7 Nat. Hist., vii. 53. |