Daily national Democrat., 1861-03-12

Suicide.

same black and melancholy list. Statislicilus,
we believe, are Of the opinion that with th~
extension Of civilization, the growth Of largely
populated cities and dense communities, the
Increase of human wants, and the difficulty,
in the midst Of social complications, conlen-
tiohs and rvalres of business, and ambition
of whatsoever kind, 10 supply and satisfy
these wants, suicide becomes more and more
common. When mems wants were fewer
and simpler, their lives palmer aud more
natural, there were fewer disappointments
and fewer shocks Of any other character 10
the mental constitution. In high state Of
civilization, the prosperity Of one is apt to
lie the adversity Of another. one prosper
Gus man receives more than his share Of
wealth and good fortune, and, while he
monoplizes comforts and luXurics a dozen Of
his fellows, or more, are made TO suffer ly
the lack Of a proper distribution Of the ad-
vantagcs and profits Of business. Compete
tion, while it is the life Of trade, is often the
death of individual prosperity, and the pro-
HAo VI oulut lhI lithidI bIhICI OI business
being divided among many, amount to
scarcely nothing in The hands Of those COM
peting. But it is not necessary TO Illustrate
very extensively. Everybody knows that
there are Thousands Of causes at work in the
operations of civilized life, to produce misery
Simply TO exist at all, is a struggle with "a
vast number Of the civilized portion Of the
human race, and there are hundreds OF
thousands Of people who are every day in
rags and dirt, and on the very verge Of
starvation Intoxicating drinks are a fruitful
source of those mental deprcssons which
come by fits, with such dcsolatiag power.
and drive men to sell-murder The enerya-
ting effects Of luxurious living, the debauch-
cries and eXeesses too common in civilized
society, and the diseases which they produce
leave their faint in the minds and physical
constitutions of succeeding generations, and
it so happens that the happiest and most for
tunate, SO far as all external circums stances
are concerned, become deeply detected,
loathe life, and are so miserable that they
must Kill themselves.
The Christian religion pronounces its Can
on gaust seli-slaughtcr," but it is amusing
to see how strenuously many Of the ancient
philosophers contended in its favor. Plato
declared that there were extreme cases in
which it was deiensibe Socrates said that
if man were afflicted with any incurable
disease, which rendered him useless to him
self and to others, he undoubtedly had
moral right TO make lis exit from the world
by his own hand The authority which we
have before Us says that Epicurus held to the
same opinion, for a man who had no pleasure
Of his life was unfit to live. Ills follow
crs always inculcated the same ideas The
Cynics, for the most part, held to the same
notion, and Diogenes, the hero Of the tub, on
being complained to by Spucsippcs who was
i;ch, but miserable, said to him: | don't
pity you at all; You may be free Whenever
You will" That is, lac might relieve himself
Ly death. piiny asks the question in one Of
his books, Why has the earth produced
poisons, in so great a quantity, but that men
in distress might make away with them
selves p Seneca, the great moral philoso-
phcr of Neros time, praised Cato and
Lucrctia to the Skies for their hcroism in
sell-slaug ughtcr-Cato for putting an end to his
life rather than fall into the hands of Cesar.
against whom he was contcndng, and Lu- !
r,,-,
by Sextus Tarqunius. Those who wish to
see Sencca's reasoning on the subject, can
consult his work, entitled, "De Proyidcntia,
sive quare bonis yiris mala acci'ant, cum sit
Providenta, &c Concerning Providence, or
wherefore evils happen to good men, there
being Providence" St jerome, it seems,
put Seneca down in lis list of Saints not
this doctrine of his favoring
suicide and St jerome, for that matter, 0p-
proved suicide himself, in particular eases;
for instance, the suicide of Sampson, and the
suicide Of those virgins who have taken their
lives to save their yirginity.
TO wind up this loosely written, and per-
haps uninteresting article, we will quote from
Burton, who says:
"Sir Thomas More, in his Utopia, COM
mends voluntary death, if he be troublesome
to himself or others, especially if to live be
torment, etc. And It's the same tenet which
Laertius relates of Zeno, and which Plato APP
proves, if old age, poverty, ignorance, etc,
oppresseth 1t is an ordinary thing
in China (saith Matt. Riccius, the Jesuit,) if
they be in despair of better fortunes, or tired
and tortured with misery, to lcreave them
selves of life and many times, to spite their
enemies more, to hang at their door Taci
tus, the historian, Plutarch, the philosopher
much approve a voluntary departure. The
ombrotus Ambraciotes persuaded, | know
not how many hundreds Of his auditors 10y
luculent Grafton he made Of the miseries
of this, and happiness of the other life, to
rrecipthte themselves. And having read
Plato's divine tract, de duio,a, for example
led the way first
But these are all false and Pagan positions,
profane, stoical paradoAes, wicked examples,
it boots not what heather philosophers de-
termne in this kind, they are impious,
abominable, and upon wrong ground,
.
"Thls only let me add, that in some cases.
those hard ceasurers of such as offer violence
Co their own persons, or in some desperate