202 SUICIDE FROM A LEGAL POINT OF VIEW. 



who have thus considered as thing's of no value the body and 

 the possessions of the body. Wait, then ! Do not depart with- 

 out a reason." It is to be noted that he puts thieves and courts 

 of justice on the same footing'. He regarded both as a means 

 by which jDersons were deprived of their property. This is 

 rather an extreme view, especially when we consider that Roman 

 law was at its zenith at the time. 



But though Stoicism does not condemn suicide in all circum- 

 stances, its great maxim was restraint and endurance ; it preached 

 manliness and courage in the face of misfortune, and it is quite 

 opposed to the hysterical and emotional type of mind which 

 tends towards suicide. 



The idea of the extreme sinfulness ( f suicide, which we have 

 seen is reflected in the older law, appears to have been a develop- 

 ment of Christianity. This is curious when we take into account 

 that the central fact of Christianity is to some extent analogous 

 to suicide, and also that there is nothing in the Old or New 

 Testaments to account for the severe attitude of reprobation 

 adopted by the early and mediaeval church. In the Old Testa- 

 ment several suicides are narrated. Saul (I Samuel, ch. xxxi) 

 is described as killing himself after a defeat by the Philistines 

 to prevent his falling into their hands. His armour-bearer, 

 faithful in death, follows 'his example. In the lament of David 

 on the death of Saul and Jonathan, their deaths are described as 

 of the " mighty fallen in the midst of the battle." In II Samuel, 

 ch. xvii, 23, Ahitophel is described as kiUing himself because his 

 counsel has been disreg"arded by Absalom. Zimri, the usurping 

 king of Israel, to avert capture, kills himself by setting the royal 

 palace on fire (I Kings, ch. xvi, 18). In the New Testament 

 Judas Iscariot is described as hanging himself as a refuge from 

 self-reproach and shame. There is no special stigma attached 

 to the act in the New Testament. It was left to a later age to 

 propound the fantastic view that Judas committed a greater sin 

 in hanging himself than in betraying his master. 



The early Christian fathers took up a very severe attitude 

 towards suicide. But the arguments that they used show the 

 want of Scriptural authority on the point. St. Augustine and 

 St. Chrysostom treated it as a form of murder. It was argued 

 that the Commandment, " Thou shalt not kill," included killing 

 oneself. I di) not think anyone with a knowledge of primitive 

 law would contend for such an interpretation. Besides, why 

 .stop there? Why not extend the Commandment to animals and 

 even to plants? St. Thomas Aquinas, the theological philosopher 

 of the Middle Ages, denounced suicide as the worst forin of 

 murder, a killing not only of the body, but of the soul — a peculiar 

 view of an act which after all may proceed from altruistic 

 motives. 



A very ordinary view of suicide is that expressed by Shake- 



