nd it is
_reasons_ that we want; mere empty phrases or words of abuse we cannot
accept. If the criminal law forbids suicide, that is not a reason that
holds good in the church; moreover, it is extremely ridiculous, for what
punishment can frighten those who seek death? When a man is punished for
trying to commit suicide, it is his clumsy failure that is punished.

The ancients were also very far from looking at the matter in this
light. Pliny says: "_Vitam quidem non adeo expetendam censemus, ut
quoque modo trahenda sit. Quisquis es talis, aeque moriere, etiam cum
obscoenus vixeris, aut nefandus. Quapropter hoc primum quisque in
remediis animi sui habeat: ex omnibus bonis, quae homini tribuit natura,
nullum melius esse tempestiva morte: idque in ea optimum, quod illam
sibi quisque praestare poterit_." He also says: "_Ne Deum quidem posse
omnia. Namque nec sibi potest mortem consciscere, si velit, quod homini
dedit optimum in taniis vitae poenis_," etc.

In Massilia and on the island of Ceos a hemlock-potion was offered in
public by the magistrate to those who could give valid reasons for
quitting this life. And how many heroes and wise men of ancient times
have not ended their lives by a voluntary death! To be sure, Aristotle
says "Suicide is a wrong against the State, although not against the
person;" Stobaeus, however, in his treatise on the Peripatetic ethics
uses this sentence: _[Greek: pheukton de ton bion gignesthai tois men
agathois en tais agan atychiais tois de kakois kai en tais agan
eutychiais]. (Vitam autem relinquendam esse bonis in nimiis quidem
miseriis pravis vero in nimium quoque secundis_) And similarly: [Greek:
Dio kai gamaesein, kai paidopoiaesesthai, kai politeusesthai], etc.;
[Greek: kai katholou taen aretaen aokounta kai menein en to bio, kai
palin, ei deoi, pote di anankas apallagaesesthai, taphaes pronoaesanta]
etc. _(Ideoque et uxorem ducturum, et liberos procreaturum, et ad
civitatem accessurum,_ etc.; _atque omnino virtutem colendo tum vitam
servaturum, tum iterum, cogente necessitate, relicturum,_ etc.) And we
find that suicide was actually praised by the Stoics as a noble and
heroic act, this is corroborated by hundreds of passages, and especially
in the works of Seneca. Further, it is well known that the Hindoos often
look upon suicide as a religious act, as, for instance, the
self-sacrifice of widows, throwing oneself under the wheels of the
chariot of the god at Juggernaut, or giving on