Death of the The decent Exit of Fulvius's Wife. Nothing could be more decent than the Wife of Fulvius, who was a Favourite of Auguftus. This Emperor having difcovered that he had blabbed an important Secret which he had committed to him, he frowned upon him the next Morning that he came to attend him; upon which he returned Home full of Defpair, and told his Wife, with Sorrow, what a Misfortune he had fallen into, and that he was refolved to kill himself. To which fhe made anfwer, very frankly, 'Tis but Reason you should, fince you have, often enough, experienced the Incontinency of any Tongue, and could not take Warning: But, bold, let me kill myself first; and, without any more Difpute, fhe ran herself thro' the Body with a Sword. h Vibius, and of Vibius Virius, finding that his City, befieged by the Romans, could hold out no longer, and that The Death of he had no Mercy to hope for from the Befiegers, determined, after many Remonftrances on the Subject, in the laft Affembly of their Senate, that the noblest Way to escape their Fate was to do it by their own Hands, telling them, that the Enemy would honour them for it, and Hannibal would be fenfible what a Number of faithful Friends he had abandoned: He concluded with an Invitation to those who were of his Opinion, to go and partake of a good Supper which he had ready at Home, where, after they had eat heartily, they fhould drink to-' gether of a Beverage he had prepared, a certain Liquor which would free the Body from Torment, the Mind from Anguish, and the Eyes and Ears from fecing and hearing all the bitter and fcandalous Reproaches and Injuries which the Vanquished had to expect from the inraged and cruel Conqueror. I have, faid be, taken Care that there fhall be a Funeral Pile before my House, and that, as foon as we are expired, there fhall be proper Perfons ready to caft our Bodies into it. There were enough who approved of this noble Refolution, but few who imitated it. Twenty-feven Senators followed him, who, afD 3 Plutarch of Loquacity, ch. ix. * Tit. Liv. lib. xxvi. c. 1.3. ter i Tit. Liv. lib. xxvi. c. 13, 14, 15. ter having tried to drown this melancholy Thought in Wine, ended the Feast with this mortal Mefs, and embracing one another, after having jointly bewailed the Misfortune of their Country, fome returned to their own Houses, others ftaid to be burned in the fame Flames with Vibius, in which they were all fo long a dying, (the Vapour of the Wine having filled all their Veins, and retarding the Effect of the Poison) that fome of them were almoft within an Hour of feeing the Enemy enter Capua, which was taken the very next Morning; and of fuffering the Miseries which they had paid fo dearly for escaping. Taurea Jubellius, another Citizen of Capua', when Fulvius, the Conful, returned from the fhameful Cruelty of Ful- Butchery he had made of two hundred and twenty-five Senators, called him back undauntedly by his Name, and having made him ftop, Give the Word, faid he ", that I also may be dif patched after the Maffacre of fo many others, when thou mayeft boast of having killed a much stouter Man than thyself. The inhuman vius the Ro man Conful. n Fulvius fcorning him as a Man out of his Senfes, and having, that very inftant, received Letters from Rome, difapproving of the Inhumanity of his " Execution, which reftraining his Hands from fhedding more Blood; Jubellius then proceeded, faying, My Country being now taken, my Neighbours and Friends loft, and as I have killed my Wife and Children with my own Hand, to fave them from fuffering any Indignities, but am denied the fame Fate as my Fellow-Citizens, my Fortitude fhall be revenged on this hateful Life:' And drawing out a Dagger which he had concealed about him, he plunged it into his own Breaft, and fell down dead at the Conful's Feet. The Inhabitants of a City in the Indies that was be Indians who burnt themSelves alive in their City, when befiezed by Alexander the Great. fieged by Alexander, being very much preffed, put on a vigorous Refolution to deprive him of the Pleafure of this Conqueft, and burned themselves in general, together with their Town, in Spite of his Humanity. A new kind of War this, where the Enemy ftrove to fave 1 Or Campania. Titus Livius calls him Campanus, lib. xxvi. c. 15. n. Id. ibid. n Id. ibid. Diod. of Sicil. lib. xvii. c. 18. save them, and they to deftroy themselves, by doing every Thing to make themselves fure of Death, which Men do to fecure Life. The precipitant Spain. The Inhabitants of Aftapa, in Spain, finding their Walls and other Defence, too weak to hold out against the Romans, made one Heap of all their Wealth and Furniture; and having put all the Women and Children upon it, and furrounded it with Wood and other Combuftibles fit to make a sudden Blaze, and left fifty of their young Men to put their Design in Execution, they made a Salley, in which, according to their With, for want of the Power to defeat the Befiegers, they caufed themselves to be every Man flain: Then the fifty young Men, after having maffacred every living Soul in the Town, and fet fire to the Heap, threw themfelves into it, with their Arms, thereby putting an End to their generous Spirit of Liberty, rather in an infenfible than in a forrowful and difgraceful Condition; and demonftrating to the Enemy, that, if Fortune had so pleased, they had as well the Courage to have robbed them of the Victory, as they had to fruftrate and render it dreadful, nay, and mortal to thofe, who, allured by the Splendor of the melted Gold running in the Fire, hurried in fuch Numbers to catch it, that fome were burnt, and others fuffocated, being pushed too near the Flames by the Throng of thofe behind them, who were equally greedy to fnatch the fhining Ore. deans. The Abydeans, when preffed hard by King Philip, took the fame Refolution, but were fo curbed that The rafb Death they could not execute it; for the King, who of the Abycould not think of an Act of fuch Precipitancy without Abhorrence, (the Treasure and Furniture which they had condemned, partly to Fire, and partly to Water, being firft feized) drawing his Soldiers off, granted them three Days to kill themfelves with the more Eafe and Decency. This Time they filled with bloody Murders, beyond all hoftile Cruelty, infomuch that there was fcarce a fingle Perfon left alive, who was able D 4 r P Tit. Liv. lib. xxviii. c. 22, 23. wxxxi. c. 17, 18. 9 Id. ibid. c. 23. to Id. lib. Book II. to difpofe of himself as he pleased. There are infinite Examples of like popular Conclufions, which seem to be the more cruel by how much the Effect of them is the more univerfal, and yet, in Reality, are lefs cruel than fuch as are particular. The Judgments of private Perfons are fo captivated by the Charms of Society, that Reason will have that Weight with all in general, which it would not have with Individuals. Good. The condemned Perfons in the Reign of Tiberius, who Death defired kept themselves alive till they fuffered Death by for the Hopes the Hands of the Executioner, forfeited their of a greater Eftates, and were deprived of Burial: They who faved the Executioner a Labour, by executing themselves, were interred, and might make a Will. But Death is alfo defired, fometimes, for the Hopes of a greater Good. I defire, faid St. Paul, to depart, and to be with Chrift: And, Who shall loofe me from thefe Bands? Cleombrotus Ambraciota, having read Plato's Phadon, thirfted fo much after the Life to come, that, for no" other Cause, he threw himself into the Sea. From hence it appears, with what Impropriety we affix the Term Defpair to that voluntary Diffolution of ourselves, to which the Eagerness of Hope does often excite us, and as often a fedate and fettled Inclination of the Judgment. Jantes Chastel, Bishop of Soiffons, in St. Lewis's ExpediThe voluntary tion beyond the Seas, feeing the King and Death of the whole Army on the Point of returning James Chatel, to France, he left the Affairs of Religion Bishop of Soif imperfect, took a Refolution rather to go to Paradife; and, having bid Adieu to his Friends, he rufhed alone, in the Sight of every one, upon the Enemy's Army, and was prefently cut to Pieces. In a certain Kingdom of the new-difcovered World, upon a Day of folemn Proceffion, when the Idol they adore is drawn about in Public on a Chariot of furprising Grandeur, feveral are then feen cutting off Slices of their Flesh to offer to it; befides a Number of others who proftrate themfelves as it goes along, caufing themselves to be broke and fons. • Tacit. Annal. lib. vi. lib. i. c. 34. Phil. ch. i. v. 23. " Cic. Tufc. Quæft. and ground to Pieces under the maffy Wheels, in order, by their Death, to obtain the Veneration of Sanctity, which is accordingly paid them. This Death of the faid Bishop, with his Sword in his Hand, has more Bravery in it, and lefs Senfation, the Heat of the Battle flifling the latter in fome Measure. There are certain Governments which have taken upon them to regulate the Juftice and proper Time of voluntary Deaths. A Poifon prepared prepared at the for fuch as were inclined to make Use of it. Poifon kept and from Hemlock, at the Expence of the Pub-public Expence, lic, was kept, in Times past, in our City" of Marseilles, for all who had a mind to haften their latter End, after they had produced the Reasons for their Defign to the Six hundred who composed their Senate; nor was it lawful for any Person to lay Hands upon himself, otherwife than by Leave of the Magiftracy, and upón juft Occafions. As Sextus Pom Courageous Death of a Woman who poisoned herself in Public. This was a Law alfo in other Places. peius was going to Afia, he touched at Cea, an Ifland of Negropont; and, whilft he was there, it accidentally happened, (as we have it from one * who was with him) that a Lady of great Authority having given an Account to her Countrymen, why fhe was refolved to put an End to her Life, defired Pompeius to be prefent at her Death, to render it the more honourable, which he was; and having a long Time tried, to no Purpose, all the Force of Eloquence (of which he was Master in a wonderful Degree) to diffuade her from her Purpose, he, at length, fuffered her to take her own Courfe. She was above ninety Years of Age, in a very happy State both of Body and Mind; but was, at that Time, lain down upon her Bed better dreffed than ufual, and leaning on her Elbow. The Gods, faid fhe, O Sextus Pompeius, and • rather those I leave, than thofe I go to feek, take it well at thy Hands, that thou haft not difdained to be both the Counsellor of Life to me, and the Witnefs of my • Death. W Valerius Maximus, lib. ii. c. 6. de externis Inftitutis, fect. 7. * Valerius Maximus himself, from whom the whole Narrative is taken. |