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Essay II: Of Death
Essay II: Of Death
Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural
fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other. Certainly, the
contemplation of death, as the wages of sin and passage to another world, is
holy and religious; but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature, is weak.
Yet in religious meditations there is sometimes mixture of vanity and of
superstition. You shall read in some of the friars` books of mortification,
that a man should think with himself what the pain is if he have but his
finger`s end pressed or tortured, and thereby imagine what the pains of death
are, when the whole body is corrupted and dissolved; when many times death
passeth with less pain than the torture of a limb; for the most vital parts
are not the quickest of sense. And by him that spake ^1 only as a philosopher
and natural man, it was well said, Pompa mortis magis terret, quam mors ipsa
[It is the accompaniments of death that are frightful rather than death
itself]. Groans and convulsions, and a discolored face, and friends weeping,
and blacks, ^2 and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible. It is worthy
the observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man so weak, but it
mates ^3 and masters the fear of death; and therefore death is no such
terrible enemy when a man hath so many attendants about him that can win the
combat of him. Revenge triumphs over death; love slights it; honor aspireth to
it; grief flieth to it; fear pre-occupateth ^4 it; nay, we read, ^5 after Otho
the emperor had slain himself, pity (which is the tenderest of affections)
provoked many to die, out of mere compassion to their sovereign, and as the
truest sort of followers. Nay, Seneca adds niceness ^6 and satiety: Cogita
quamdiu eadem feceris; mori velle, non tantum fortis aut miser, sed etiam
fastidiosus potest [Think how long thou hast done the same thing; not only a
valiant man or a miserable man, but also a fastidious man is able to wish for
death]. A man would die, though he were neither valiant nor miserable, only
upon a weariness to do the same thing so oft over and over. It is no less
worthy to observe, how little alteration in good spirits the approaches of
death make; for they appear to be the same men till the last instant. Augustus
Caesar died in a compliment; Livia, conjugii nostri memor, vive et vale
[Farewell, Livia; and forget not the days of our marriage]. Tiberius in
dissimulation; as Tacitus saith of him, Jam Tiberium vires et corpus, non
dissimulatio, deserebant [His powers of body were gone, but his power of
dissimulation still remained]. Vespasian in a jest, sitting upon the stool; Ut
puto deus fio [As I think, I am becoming a god]. Galba with a sentence; Feri,
si ex re sit populi Romani [Strike, if it be for the good of Rome]; holding
forth his neck. Septimius Severus in despatch; Adeste si quid mihi restat
agendum [Be at hand, if there is anything more for me to do]. And the like.
Certainly the Stoics bestowed too much cost upon death, and by their great
preparations made it appear more fearful. Better saith he, ^7 qui finem vitae
extremum inter munera ponat naturae [who accounts the close of life as one of
the benefits of nature]. It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a
little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other. He that dies in
an earnest pursuit, is like one that is wounded in hot blood; who, for the
time, scarce feels the hurt; and therefore a mind fixed and bent upon somewhat
that is good doth avert the dolers of death. But, above all, believe it, the
sweetest canticle is, Nunc dimittis [Now lettest thou . . . depart]; when a
man hath obtained worthy ends and expectations. Death hath this also; that it
openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth envy. Extinctus amabitur idem
[The same man that was envied while he lived, shall be loved when he is gone].
[Footnote 1: Seneca.]
[Footnote 2: Mourning garments.]
[Footnote 3: Conquers.]
[Footnote 4: Anticipates.]
[Footnote 5: In Plutarch`s "Lives."]
[Footnote 6: Fastidiousness.]
[Footnote 7: Juvenal.]
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