The voluntary death impropriety we affix the term despair to that voluntary dissolution of ourselves, to which the eagerness of hope often excites us, and as often a sedate and settled inclination of the judgment. James Chastel, bishop of Soissons, in St. Lewis's of James expedition beyond the seas, seeing the king and the Chastel, whole army on the point of returning to France, he bishop of left the affairs of religion imperfect, took a resolu Soissons. Poison kept and prepared tion rather to go to paradise; and, having bid adieu to his friends, he rushed alone, in the sight of every one, upon the enemy's army, and was presently cut to pieces. In a certain kingdom of the new-discovered world, upon a day of solemn procession, when the idol they adore is drawn about in public on a chariot of surprising grandeur, several are then seen cutting off slices of their flesh to offer to it; besides a number of others who prostrate themselves as it goes along, causing their bodies to be broke and ground to pieces under the massy wheels, in order, by their death, to obtain the veneration of sanctity, which is accordingly paid them. This death of the said bishop, with his sword in his hand, has more bravery in it, and less sensation, the heat of the battle stifling the latter in some measure. There are certain governments which have taken upon them to regulate the justice and proper time of voluntary deaths. A poison prepared from hemlock, at the expense of the public, was kept, in times past, at the pub-in our city of Marseilles,* for all who had a mind to hasten their latter end, after they had produced the reasons for their design to the six hundred who composed their senate: nor was it lawful for any person to lay hands upon himself, otherwise than by leave of the magistracy, and upon just occasions. Jic ex pense, for such as were in clined to make use of it. Courage This was a law also in other places. As Sextus ous death Pompeius was going to Asia, he touched at Cea, an mau who island of Negropont; and, whilst he was there, it of a wo * Valerius Maximus, lib. ii. cap. 6, de externis institutis, sect. 7. ༡༩ ༢༩, herself in accidentally happened (as we have it from one who poisoned was with him),* that a lady of great authority, having public. given an account to her countrymen why she was resolved to put an end to her life, desired Pompeius to be present at her death, to render it the more honourable, which he was; and having a long time tried, to nó purpose, all the force of eloquence (of which he was master in a wonderful degree) to dissuade her from her purpose, he, at length, suffered her to take her own course. She was above ninety years of age, in a very happy state both of body and mind; but was, at that time, laid down upon her bed better dressed than usual, and leaning on her elbow. "The 66 gods," said she, "O Sextus Pompeius, and ra"ther those I leave, than those I go to seek, take "it well at thy hands, that thou hast not disdained to be both the counsellor of life to me, and the "witness of my death." death. For my own part, as I have "always had the experience of the smiles of fortune, "for fear lest the desire of living too long may make "her frown upon me, I am going, by a happy period, "to dismiss the remains of my soul, leaving behind "me two daughters of my body, and a legion of "grand-children." Having said this, and given some exhortations to her family to live in peace and union, divided her estate amongst them, and recommended her eldest daughter to the protection of the domestic gods; she boldly took the cup in her hand, in which was the poison, and having made her vows to Mercury, accompanied with prayers that he would conduct her to some happy seat in the other world, she drank off the mortal beverage. She then entertained the company with the progress of its operation; and as the parts of her body were seized with a chillness, one after another, she told them, at length, it had reached her heart and bowels; and then called her daughters to do the last office for her, and to close her eyes. * Valerius Maximus himself, from whom the whole narrative is taken. The volun of the Hy reans. Pliny tells us of a certain Hyperborean country, tary death where, by reason of the mild temperature of the air, perboy the inhabitants rarely end their lives but by the voluntary surrender of them; inasmuch, that, when they are weary and surfeited with life, it is usual for them, after they have lived to a good old age, to make a sumptuous feast, and then to throw themselves into the sea, from a certain rock destined to that service. Pain, and the fear of a worse death, seem to me to be the most excusable inducements.* X um on the translator tarch. CHAPTER LXI. To-morrow is a New Day. An eulogi- OF all our French writers, James Amyot, in my language of opinion, deserves the palm,t not only for the proAmyot, the priety and purity of his language, in which he surof Plu- passes all others; nor for his constant perseverance in so long a labour; nor for the depth of his knowledge, having so happily unravelled the intricacies of so difficult an author (for people may say what they please, though I understand nothing of Greek, yet I perceive a sense so well connected and maintained throughout his whole translation, that surely he must have perfectly known the author's true thoughts, or, by being long conversant with him, must have had a general idea of Plutarch's mind strongly imprinted in his soul, forasmuch as he has delivered us nothing from him that in the least derogates from or contradicts him); but, above all, I am pleased with him for having singled out a book so proper, so * Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. iv. cap. 12. To this, I think, should be added, that Amyot, by his translation of Plutarch, has not only polished, but even enriched, our language. We dunces worthy for a present to his country. I was just now reading that passage in Plutarch,* Curiosity where he says of himself, that Rusticus, while greedy af pre- ter news sent at a declamation of his at Rome, received a pacquet from the emperor, but delayed to open it till all was ended; for which, said he, the whole audience highly applauded this person's gravity. It is true, that as I am on the subject of curiosity, and that eager and ravenous appetite for news, which makes us, with so much indiscretion and impatience, abandon every thing to entertain a novelty, and, without any manner of respect or civility, break open, in what company soever, all letters that are brought to us, he had reason to applaud the gravity of Rusticus upon this occasion, and might, likewise, have commended his civility and courtesy in not interrupting the course of his declamation. But I doubt whether his prudence deserves to be praised; for, as the letters came to him unexpected, and especially from an emperor, it might have fallen out that the deferring to read them would have been very prejudicial. The vice opposite to curiosity is Negligence negligence, or indifference, to which I certainly have the oppoa natural propensity by my constitution, and to curiosity. which I have seen some men so extremely addicted, that they have kept letters in their pockets, un * In the treatise of Curiosity, ch. 14, Amyot's translation. site vice to The read ing of let ters ought not to be deferred. The consu opened, for three or four days together. I never open any letters, neither those committed to my care, nor those which pass through my hands by accident; and I am uneasy with myself, if my eyes inadvertently catch any contents of letters of importance that a great men is reading when I am close by him. Never was a man less inquisitive, or less prying into other people's affairs. In our father's days, M. de Boutieres, had like to have lost Turin, because, being in good company at supper, he deferred to read an advertisement which was sent him of the treason that was plotted against the said city, of which he was governor. And this very Plutarch has given us to understand, that Julius Cæsar had saved himself, if he had read a paper that was presented to him as he went to the senate, on that very day he was killed by the conspirators. He also tells the story of Archias, the tyrant of Thebes, that, the night before Pelopidas put his plot into execution for killing him in order to restore his country's liberty, he had a circumstantial account of the whole conspiracy sent him in writing by another Archias, an Athenian, and that the pacquet having been delivered to him while he sat at supper, he deferred the opening of it, saying, what afterwards turned to a proverb in Greece, "To-morrow is a new day." A wise man may, in my opinion, for the sake of another person, either for fear, like Rusticus, of indecently disturbing the company, or of breaking off another affair of importance, put off the reading or hearing any new thing that is brought to him; but if a man, for his own particular interest or pleasure, even though he holds a public office, will not interrupt his dinner, nor be awaked out of his nap, he is inexcusable. And there was anciently, at Rome, the consular lar place place, which they called the most honourable, at * In the Life of Julius Cæsar, cap. 17. In his treatise of Socrates's Dæmon, ch. 27. |