The Anatomy of Suicide

Front matter

THE ANATOMY OF SUICIDE CY FORBES WINSLOW, MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, LONDON ; AUTHOR OF " PHYSIC AND PHYSICIANS." " But is there yet no other way, besides These painful passages , how we may come To death, and mix with our connatural dust? Nor love thy lite, nor hate : but what thou liv'st Live well ; now long or short permit to Heaven." MlI.TON. LONDON: HENRY RENSHAW, 356, STRAND. SOLD BY CARFRAE & SON, EDINBURGH; AND FANNIN & CO., DUBLIN 1840. AS TO JAMES JOHNSON, ESQ., M.D. PHYSICIAN EXTRAORDINARY TO THE LATE KING, etc. etc. ŒftisS OTorfe is UrttratriJ, A TESTIMONY OF RESPECT FOR HIS HIGH PROFESSIONAL ATTAINMENTS AND AS AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE ADVANTAGES DERIVED FROM A PERUSAL OF THE MANY ABLE WORKS WITH WHICH HE HAS ENRICHED HIE MEDICAL LITERATURE OF HIS COUNTRY. London,— Ma;,, 1840.

Preface

. This treatise had its origin in the fosiowing circumstance : — A few months ago, the author had the honour of reading before the Westminster Medical Society, a paper on " Suicide Medically considered," which giving rise to an animated discussion, and evolving an expression of the opinions of several eminent professional men, excited at the time much interest. It was the author's object in his paper to establish a fact, he believes, of primary importance, — that the disposition to commit self-destruction is, to a great extent, amenable to those principles which regulate our treatment of ordinary disease ; and that, to a degree more than is generally sup posed, it originates in derangement of the brain and abdominal viscera. Notwithstanding, however, these points were not considered with the minuteness commensurate with their value, the dis cussion which followed the author's communication afforded him great satisfaction.

It tended to strengthen in his mind an opinion previously formed, that the members of the medical profession were inferior to no other class in a knowledge of

PREFACE.

. VI those higher branches of philosophy that give dignity and elevation to human character. To explain more fully the author's views on the subject of Suicide is the object of the present work, which is, strange to say, the first in England that has been exclusively devoted to this important and interesting branch of inquiry. Hitherto suicide has been the theme of the novel and the drama, and has never, with the exception of an incidental notice in works on medical jurisprudence, been considered in this country in reference to its pathological and physiological character. That an intimate acquaintance with this branch of know ledge is highly important to the medical philosopher, few will deny ; that it is a subject of general and painful interest, all must admit. The apparent coolness with which suicide is often committed has induced many to suppose that the unfortunate perpetrator was at the time in possession of a sound mind ; and it is this idea which has induced the pro fession to conceive the subject as one foreign to their pursuits, and belonging rather to the province of the moral philo sopher.

How far the author has succeeded in disproving this opinion, it is for others to decide. He takes this opportunity of acknowledging the assistance he has received from the writings of Pinel, Esquirol, Falret, Fodere, Arnold, Crichton, Willis, Black, Haslam, Burrows, Conolly, Pritchard, Mayo, EUis, Paris, Smith, Beck, Taylor, and Ray. To the pages of Dr. Johnson's Medico-chirurgical Review, the Medical Gazette, the Lancet, and British and Foreign Medical Review, he is also largely indebted. In conclusion, the author, conscious of its imperfections, claims for his work no other praise than that it is the first

PREFACE.

. VII attempt in this country to reflect light on a branch of medical and moral philosophy, the importance of which is only equalled by the difficulties impeding its investigation. He will feel him self amply repaid, should his introductory essay (for such only can it be considered) stimulate others more competent than himself to prosecute the inquiry which he has commenced. Their success will afford him much satisfaction and pleasure ; for in the attainment of their endeavours will his hopes be fulfilled, and his ambition gratified. London,— May, 1840. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Suicides Of The Ancients

ANCIENT LAWS AND OPINIONS ON THE SUBJECT OF SUICIDE. Examples of antiquity no defence of suicide — Causes of ancient suicides — The suicides of Asdrubal, Nicocles, Isocrates, Demosthenes, Hannibal, Mitlnidates, the inhabitants of the' city of Xanthus, Cato, Charondas, Lyeurgus, Codrus, Themistocles, Emperor Otho, Brutus aud. Cassius, Mark Antony and Cleopatra, Petronius, Lucan, Lucius Vetus, Sardanapalus, M. Curtius, Empedocles, Theoxena, — Noble resistance of Josephus — Scripture suicides : Samson, Sau.1, Ahitophel, Judas Iscariot, Eleazar, Razis — Doctrines of the stoics, Seneca, Epictetus, Zeno— Opinions of Cicero, Pliny, on suicide — Ancient laws on suicide, p. 1—29

Chapter II. Writers In Defence Of Suicide

Opinions of Hume— Effect of his writings — Case of suicide caused by — The doctrines of Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Montaigne examined — Origin of Dr. Donne's celebrated work — Madame de StaeTs recantation — Robert of Normandy, Gibbon, Sir T. More, and Robeck's opinions considered ---------------p. 30 — 35

Chapter III. Suicide

A CRIME AGAINST GOD AND MAN. IT IS NOT AN ACT OF COURAGE. The sin of suicide — The notions of Paley on the subject — Voltaire's opinion — Is suicide self-murder ? — Is it forbidden in Scripture ? — Shakspeare's views on the subject — The alliance between suicide and murder — Has a X CONTENTS. man a right to sacrifice his own life ? — Everything held upon trust — Suicide a sin against ourselves and neighbour — It is not an act of cour age—Opinion of Q. Curtius on the subject — Buonaparte's denunciation of suicide — Dryden's description of the suicide in another world, • p. 36—44

Chapter IV. On The Influence Of Certain Mental States In Inducing The

DISPOSITION TO SUICIDE. Moral causes of disease — Neglect of psychological medicine — Mental philosophy a branch of medical study — Moral causes of suicide — Tables of Falret, &c. — Influence of remorse — Simon Brown, Charles IX. of France — Massacre of St. Bartholomew — Terrible death of Cardinal Beaufort, from remorse — The Chevalier de S . Influence of disappointed love — Suicide from love — Two singular cases — Effects of jealousy — Othello — Suicide from this passion — The French opera dancer — Suicide from wounded vanity — False pride — The remarkable case of Villeneuve, as related by Buonaparte — Buonaparte's attempt at suicide — Ambition — Despair, cases of suicide from — The Abbe de Ranc€ — Suicide from blind impulse — Cases— Mathews, the comedian — Opinion of Esquirol on the subject — Ennui, birth of — Common cause of suicide in France — Effect of speculating in stocks — Defective education — Diffusion of knowledge — " Socialism" a cause of self-destruction — Suicide common in Germany — Werter — Goethe's attempt at suicide — Influence of his writings on Hackman- — Suicide from reading Tom Paine's " Age of Reason" — Suicide to avoid punishment — Most remarkable illustrations — Political excitement — Nervous irritation — Love of notoriety — -Hereditary disposition — Is death painful? fully considered, with cases — Influence of irreligion, p. 45—107

Chapter V. Imitative, Or Epidemic Suicide

Persons who act from impulse liable to be influenced— Principle of imitation, a natural instinct— Cases related by Cabanis and Tissot— The suicidal barbers— Epidemic suicide at the Hotel des Invalids— Sydenham's epidemic— The ladies of Miletus— Dr. Parrish's case— Are insanity and suicide contagious? ----.---.__. p. 108 114

Chapter VI. Suicide From Fascination

Singular motives for committing suicide— A man who delighted in torturing himself— A dangerous experiment— Pleasures of carnage— Disposition CONTENTS. XI to leap from precipices— Lord Byron's allusion to the influence of fasci nation—Miss Moyes and the Monument— A man who could not trust himself with a razor — Esquirol's Opinion of such cases — Danger of as cending elevated places -----.-... p. 115 120

Chapter VII. Of The Enthusiasm And Mental Irritability Which, If Encouraged, Would

LEAD TO SUICIDE. Connexion between genius and insanity — Authors of fiction often feel what they write — Metastasio in tears — The enthusiasm of Pope, Alfieri, Dryden — Effects of the first reading of Telemachus and Tasso on Madame Roland's mind— Raffaelle and his celebrated picture of the Transfiguration — The convulsions of Malbranche — Beattie's Essay on Truth — Influence of intense study on Boerrhave's mind — The demon of Spinello and Luther — Bourdaloue and his violin — Byron's sensitiveness — Men do not always practise what they preach— Cases of Smollett, La Fontaine, Sir Thomas More, Zimmerman — Tasso's spectre — Johnson's superstition — Concluding remarks .---_-..-__ p. 121 — 129

Chapter VIII. Physical Causes Of Suicide

Influence of climate— The foggy climate of England does not increase the number of suicides — Average number of suicides in each month,. from 1817 to 1826 — Influence of seasons — Suicides at Rouen — The English not a suicidal people — Philip Mordaunt's singular reasons for self-destruction — Causes of French suicides — Influence of physical pain — Unnatural vices — Suicide the effect of intoxication — Influence of hepatic disease on the mind — Melancholy and hypochondriasis, Burton's account of — Cowper's case of suicide — Particulars of his extreme depression of spirits — Byron and Burns's melancholy from stomach and liver derangement — Influence of bodily disease on the mind — Importance of paying attention to it — A case of insanity from gastric irritation — Dr. Johnson's hypochondria — Hereditary suicide, illustrated by cases — Suicide from blows on the head, and from moral shocks communicated to the brain — Dr. G. Mantell's valuable observations and cases demonstrative of the point — Concluding remarks ------- -p. 130 — CONTENTS. XII

Chapter IX

, MORAL TREATMENT OF SUICIDAL MANIA. Diseases of the brain not dissimilar to affections of other organs— Early symptoms of insanity — The good effects of having plenty to do — Occupation—Dr. Johnson's opinion on the subject — The pleasure derived from cultivating a taste for the beauties of nature — Effect of volition on diseases of the mind — Silent grief injurious to mental health — Treatment of ennui— The time of danger, not the time of disease — The Walcheren expedition — The retreat of the ten thousand Greeks under Xenophon — Influence of music on the mind in the cure of disease — Cure of epidemic suicide — Buonaparte's remedy — How the women of Miletus were cured of the disposition to suicide, and other illustrations — Cases shewing how easily the disposition to suicide may be diverted — On the cure of insanity by stratagems — On the importance of removing the suicidal patient from his own home — On the regulation of the passions - - p. 162 — 194

Chapter X. Physical Treatment Of The Suicidal Disposition

On the dependence of irritability of temper on physical disease — Voltaire and an Englishman agree to commit suicide — The reasons that induced Voltaire to change his mind — The ferocity of Robespierre accounted for — The state of his body after death — The petulance of Pope dependant on physical causes — Suicide from cerebral congestion, treatment of — Advantages of bloodletting, with cases — Damien insane — Cold applied to the head, of benefit — Good effects of purgation — Suicide caused by a tape-worm — Early indications of the disposition to suicide — The suicidal eye — Of the importance of carefully watching persons disposed to suicide — • Cunning of such patients — Numerous illustrations — The fondness for a particular mode of death — Dr. Burrows' extraordinary case — Dr. Conolly on the treatment of suicide — Cases shewing the advantage of confinement, p. 195—220

Chapter XI. Is The Act Of Suicide The Result Of Insanity

? The instinct of self-preservation — The love of life — Dr. Wolcott's death-bed — Anecdote of the Duke de Montebello — Louis XI. of France — Singular CONTENTS. XIII death of a celebrated lawyer — Dr. Johnson's horror of dying — The organ of destruction universal — Illustrations of its influence— Sir VV. Scott, on the motives that influence men in battle — Have we any test of in sanity ? — Mental derangement not a specific disease — Importance of keeping this in view — Insanity not always easily detected — Is lowness of spirits an evidence of derangement ? — The cunning of lunatics — Esquirol's opinion that insanity is always present — Moral insanity — The remarkable case of Frederick of Prussia — Suicide often the first symptom of insanity — Cases in which persons have been restored to reason from loss of blood, after attempting suicide— The cases of Cato, Sir Samuel Romilly, Lord Castlereagh, Colton, and Chatterton, examined — Concluding remarks, p. 221—245

Chapter XII Suicidf

IN CONNEXION WITH MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE. The importance of medical evidence — The questions which medical men have to consider in these cases — Signs of death from strangulation — Singular positions in which the bodies of those who have committed suicide have been found— The particulars of the Prince deConde's case — On the possibility of voluntary strangulation — General Pichegru's singular case — The melancholy history of Marc Antonie Calas — How to discover whether a person was dead before thrown into water — Singular cases — Admiral Caracciolo — Drowning in a bath — The points to keep in view in cases of suspicious death — Was Sellis murdered ? — Death from wounds — The case of the Earl of Essex ---------- p. 246— 264

Chapter XIII. Statistics Of Suicide

Number of suicides in the chief capitals of Europe from 1813 to 1831 — Statistics of death from violence in London from 1828 to 1832 — Number of suicides in London for a century and a half — Suicides in Westminster from 1812 to 1836 — Suicide more frequent among men than women — Mode of committing — Influence of age — Effect of the married state — Infantile suicides — M. Guerry on suicides in France— Cases — Suicide and murder — Suicide in Geneva --------p. 265 — CONTENTS. XI V

Chapter XIV. Appearances Presented After Death In Those Who Have Committed Suicide

Thickness of cranium— State of membranes and vessels of brain — Osseous excrescences — Appearances discovered in one thousand three hundred and thirty-eight cases — Lesions of the lungs, heart, stomach, and intestines — Effect of long-continued indigestion ------ p. 280 — 282

Chapter XV. Singular Cases Of Suicide

Introduction — Contempt of death — Eustace Budgel — M. de Boissy and his wife — Mutual suicides from disappointed love — Suicide from mortification — Mutual suicide from poverty — A French lady while out shooting — A fisherman after praying — Determination to commit if not cured — Extraordinary case after seduction — Madame C. from remorse — M. de Pontalba after trying to murder his daughter-in-law — Young lady in a pet — Sir George Dunbar — James Sutherland whileGeorge III. was passing — Lancet given by a wife to her husband to kill himself — Servant girl — Curious verses by a suicide — Robber on being recognised — A man who ordered a candle to be made of his fat — After gaming — Writing whilst dying — From misfortune just at a moment of relief — Curious papers written by a suicide — By heating a barrel in the fire — By tearing out the brains — Sisters by the injunction of their eldest sister— Mutual from poverty — Girl from a dream — Three servants in one pond — Indifference as to mode — By starvation — A man forty-five days without eating — mutual of two boys after dining at a restaurateur's — By putting head under the ice — By a pair of spectacles — By jumping amongst the bears — Young lady from gambling — Verses by a suicide — To obtain salvation — A lover after accidentally shooting his mistress — Mutual attempt — M. Kleist and Madame Vogle — Richard Smith and wife — Love and suicide — Bishop of Grenoble — Suicide in a pail of water — Mutual suicide of two soldiers — Lord Scarborough — A man who advertised to kill himself for benefit of family — The case of Creech, and the romantic history of Madame de Monier — Suicide of M. — , after threatening to kill his brother — Two young men — Two lovers — Homicide and suicide from jealousy — Cure of penchant for suicide — Attempt at prevented — Man in a belfry — Attempt at — The extraordinary case of Lovat by crucifixion - - p. 283 — CONTENTS.

XV

Chapter XVI. Can Suicide Be Prevented By Legislative Enactments

? INFLUENCE OF MORAL INSTRUCTION. — CONCLUSION. The legitimate object of punishment — The argument of Beccaria — A legal solecism— A suicide not amenable to human tribunals — Evidence at coroners'- courts ex-parte — The old law of no advantage — No penal-law will restrain a man from the commission of suicide. — Verdict of felo-de-se punishes the innocent, and therefore unjust — All suicides insane, and therefore not responsible agents — The man who reasons himself into suicide not of sound mind — Rational mode of preventing suicide by promoting religious education -- .-------p. 335 — ERRATA Page 46, for " mens conscia1' &c. read mens sana hi corpora suno, and for " Horace'' read Juvenal. the ANATOMY OF SUICIDE.

Chapter I. Suicides Of The Ancients

— ANCIENT LAWS AND OPINIONS ON THE SUBJECT OF SUICIDE. Examples of antiquity no defence of suicide — Causes of ancient suicides — The suicides of Asdrubal, Nicocles, Isocrates, Demosthenes, Hannibal, Mithridates, the inhabitants of the city of Xanthus, Cato, Charondas, Lycurgus, Codrus, Themistocles, Emperor Otho, Brutus and Cassius, Mark Antony and Cleopatra, Petronius, Lucan, Lucius Vetus, Sardanapalus, M. Curtius, Empedocles, Theoxena, — Noble lesistance of Josephus — Scripture suicides : Samson, Saul, Ahitophel, Judas Iscariot, Eleazar, Razis — Doctrines of the stoics, Seneca, Epictetus, Zeno — Opinions of Cicero, Pliny, on suicide — Ancient laws On suicide. Human actions are more under the influence of example than precept ; consequently, suicide has often been justified by an appeal to the laws and customs of past ages.

An undue reverence for the authority of antiquity induces us to rely more upon what has been said or done in former times, than upon the dictates of our own feelings and judgment. Many have formed the most extravagant notions of honour, liberty, and courage, and, under the impression that they were imitating the noble example of some ancient hero, have sacrificed their lives. They urge in their defence that suicide has been enjoined by positive laws, and allowed by ancient custom ; that the greatest and bravest nation in the B ST'ICIDES OF THE ANCIENTS. world practised it; and that the most wise and virtuous sect of philosophers taught that it was an evidence of courage, magnanimity, and virtue. There is no mode of reasoning so fallacious as that which is constantly appealing to examples. A man who has made up his mind to the adoption of a particular course can easily discover reasons to justify himself in carrying out his preconceived opinions.

If a contemplated action, abstractedly considered, be good, cases may be of service in illustrating it. There must be some test by which to form a correct estimate of the just ness or lawfulness of human actions ; and until we are agreed as to what ought to constitute that standard, examples are per fectly useless. No inferences deduced from the consideration of the suicides of antiquity can be logically applied to modern instances. We live under a Christian dispensation. Our no tions of death, of honour, and of courage, are, in many respects, so dissimilar from those which the ancients entertained, that the subject of suicide is placed entirely on a different basis. In the early periods of history, self-destruction was considered as an evidence of courage ; death was preferred to dishonour.

These principles were inculcated by celebrated philosophers, who exercised a great influence over the minds of the people ; and, in many instances, the act of self-immolation constituted a part of their religion. Is it, theD, to be wondered at, that so many men, eminent for their genius, and renowned for their valour, should, under such circumstances, have sacri ficed themselves? The famous suicides of antiquity generally resulted from one of three causes : — First, it was practised by those who wished to avoid pain and personal suffering of body and mind; secondly, when a person considered the act as a necessary vindication of his honour ; and thirdly, when life was sacri ficed as an example to others. The first class is the most excusable of the three. Pain, physical or mental, puts a man's courage severely to the test.

He may have to choose between the alternative of years of unmitigated anguish, or an immediate release from torture. Need we feel surprise at many resorting to the latter alter native, when they have been taught to believe death either to be an eternal sleep, or a sure entrance into regions of hap piness ! How many instances have we on record of persons who have dispatched themselves to avoid falling into the hands of an enemy ! The case of the wife of Asdrubal, the Cartha ginian general, is a famous instance of the kind. Asdrubal had deserted his post, and had fled to Scipio ; and during his absence his wife took shelter with her troops in the temple, which she set on fire. She then attired herself in her richest robes, and holding her two children in her hands, addressed Scipio — who had surrounded the building with his troops — in the following language : — " You, O Roman, are only acting according to the laws of open war ; but may the gods of Carthage, and those in concert with them, punish that false wretch who, by such a base desertion, has betrayed his country, his gods, his wife, his children !

Let him adorn thy gay triumph; let him suffer in the sight of all Rome those indignities and tortures he so justly merits !" The case of Nicocles, King of Paphos, in Cyprus, who committed suicide in conjunction with his wife and daughter, on the approach of King Ptolemy, is another in point. Isocrates, the celebrated Athenian orator, starved himself to death, sooner than submit to the dominion of Philip of Macedon. Demosthenes also poisoned himself, when Anti pater, Alexander's ambassador, required the Athenians to deliver up their orators, fearful of being subjected to slavery and disgrace. The persecution to which the Romans subjected Hannibal, after he was oppressed with years and sunk in obscurity, impelled him to have recourse to the poison which he always kept about him in a ring, against sudden emergencies.

Mithridates took poison, and administered the same to his wives and daughters, in order to escape being taken prisoner b by Pompey, before whose victorious arms he had been com pelled to fly. The case of the inhabitants of the city of Xanthus is another remarkable instance of the determination exhibited by thou sands of persons, resolved sooner to die by their own hands than submit to the dominion of a conqueror. Notwithstanding the proffered clemency of Brutus, who not only wept at the dreadful scene he witnessed, but commanded his soldiers to extinguish the fire, and even offered a reward for every in habitant whose life was saved, the people were so eager for death that they rushed into the flames with exclamations of delight, and forceably drove back the soldiers who were sent by Brutus for the purpose of saving their lives.

The example of Cato is applauded by some writers as a proof of magnanimity ; the action was the reverse ; it was the effect of pride and timidity. If ever Rome required his experience and patriotic counsels it was at that very period. To desert the duty which Rome had a right to demand by a voluntary death was the meanest conduct in his character. It stamped an indelible stain on his reputation, which only a supposition that his intellect was impaired could rationally excuse. It was not the virtuous Cato who had stemmed the torrent of tyranny, who had crushed the Cataline conspiracy, who had given the most noble examples of virtuous resolution and rectitude in moral conduct, but the enfeebled Cato, sinking under the accumulation of evils, whose soul was depressed with suspense and distracting passions, waiting an opportunity for revenge, or preparing to finish his life on the first disappointment.

If such examples were admitted magnanimous, in any serious quarrel or war, where success could not be com manded, it might be considered laudable to commit suicide. The consequences of such reasoning would be obvious. On such occasions, countries would lose their bravest generals, private families their noblest and most experienced supporters. " If I cannot acquire what I wish," says Cato, " I will kill myself; I will not live to grace Cæsar's triumph, though I know Cæsar to be the most generous and clement of con querors ; I cannot consent to receive Cæsar's favours. My pride is wounded ; my fears destroy all tranquillity ; my body is sinking under adversity ; I will not dedicate my services to my distressed country under the auspices of successful Cæsar. I will plunge a sword into my bosom, and commit an injustice to myself, which through a long life I never committed to others.

From the uniformity of my former patriotic character, writers, without deep reasoning, will paint this concluding action in glowing colours ; they will give additional lustre to an immortal reputation." Such, we conceive, were the secret springs of action in Cato's mind ; such were the contending passions which excited the delirium. It was not the placid, judicious Cato of former years, but the depressed Cato, impos mentis, committing a rash action, contrary to all his former great reasoning, and virtuous persevering conduct. It was, in fact, Cato's act of insanity ; it was not dying to serve his country, but to effectually rob Cæsar of his eminent services ; it therefore appears more the effect of private pique and despondency than a demonstration of public virtue or courage. Had all others concerned in that civil war fol lowed this extraordinary example, the country would have been robbed of many of its brightest ornaments.

Cato could not say with Horace, " Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori," for it was not for his countrymen that he died, but to gratify a selfish caprice, a personal resentment and hatred to Cæsar and his power. Had Cæsar attacked the city while Cato enjoyed a vigour of mind and body, and when the citizens were better disciplined and less corrupt, he would have despised such inglorious conduct ; he would rather have hoped for some future opportunity to dispel the dark clouds overwhelming the distracted country. Physicians have frequent opportunities of observing the diminution of human courage and wisdom from long continued misfortunes, or bodily infirmities. The most lively, spirited, and enterprising, have become depressed from reiterated disappointment ; cowardice and despair have succeeded to the most unquestionable bravery and ambition.

The man is then changed ; his blood is changed ; and with these his former sentiments. The timidity is no longer Cato's, but belongs to the miserable debilitated body of Cato, which had lost that vigorous soul that so eminently distinguished on other important occasions this excellent and divine patriot La Motte observes, with reference to Cato's death — " Stern Cato, with more equal soul, Had bowed to Cæsar's wide control, With Rome, had to her conqueror bowed, But that his spirit, rough and proud, Had not the courage to await A pardoned foe's too humbling fate." Voltaire, in alluding to the lines quoted above, says, " It was, I believe, because Cato's soul was always equal, and re tained to the last its love for his country and her laws, that he chose rather to perish with her than to crouch to the tyrant.

He died as he had lived. " Incapable of surrendering, and to whom ? to the enemy of Rome — to the man who had forcibly robbed the public treasury in order to make war upon his fellow citizens, and enslave them by means of their own money. A pardoned foe ! It seems as if La Molte Houdart was speaking of some revolted subject who might have obtained his Majesty's par don by letters in chancery. It seems (continues Voltaire) rather absurd to say that Cato slew himself through weakness. None but a strong mind can thus surmount the most power ful instinct of nature. This strength is sometimes that of frenzy ; but a frantic man is not weak." In forming an estimate of the condition of Cato's mind, we must not look at him as delineated by the dramatist and poet, but as exhibited by the historian and philosopher.

Our notions of Cato are too often based on Addison's, and not Plutarch's description of his character. That Cato was one of the most complete and perfect examples in antiquity of private manners and of public spirit cannot be questioned; and therefore, in this respect, worthy to be held up as an example. Sallust thus eulogizes Cato : — " His glory can neither be increased by flattery nor lessened by detraction. He was one who chose to be, rather than to appear good. He was the very image of virtue, and in all points of disposition more like the gods than men. He never did right that he might seem to do right, but because he could not do otherwise. That only seemed to be reasonable which was just. Free from all human vices, he was superior to the vicissitudes of fortune." It was the dignity of Cato's life that stamped a celebrity on the mode of his death.

In forming a judgment of the motives which led this dis tinguished man to sacrifice his life, we must look at him in connexion with his great enemy, Cæsar. He was not only opposed to him on public, but on private grounds. Cæsar's intimacy with Servilia, Cato's sister, was the ground of much conversation at Rome. During one of the debates concerning the Cataline conspiracy, Cæsar received a letter whilst he was in the senate house. Cato, who had intimated that Cæsar had been privy to Cataline's proceedings, and believing that the letter might refer to the subject, from the manner in which Cæsar endeavoured to conceal it, demanded that it should be handed over to him. The letter was accordingly handed to Cato, when, perceiving that it was a letter from Servilia to Cæsar, full of protestations of love to his deadliest enemy, he threw it at Cæsar in a great rage, and called him a drunkard.