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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26335	An essay concerning self-murther wherein is endeavour'd to prove that it is unlawful according to natural principles : with some considerations upon what is pretended from the said principles, by the author of a treatise intituled, Biathanatos, and others / by J. Adams ...	Adams, John, 1662-1720.	1700 (1700)	Wing A483; ESTC R22152	139,541	336

a Gratuity seldom wanting when it is for the Heirs 't is no wonder that the Return is generally Non Compos But if these Papers shou'd ever fall into the Hands of any of these Gentlemen I intreat 'em to Consider seriously the trust that is repos'd in them they being Chosen by the Freeholders of their several Counties as Parliament Men are and what the Consequence will be even to after Ages of the breach of such Trust And to themselves especially if they believe any thing of another World For to omit the Suspicions of Corruption which I am very loath to improve whatever the Motive is through which the Design of any Law is Eluded the Consequence will be much the same If a Law be made to restrain a dreadsul Sin which is withal very pernicious to the State and such or such a Punishment is appointed to this End if this Law becomes of no force by that very Persons Preventing the Punishment who is intru●●●d by his Country to see the Law Executed Let this be done out of Compassion Generosity or what you please all the increase of the Sin forbidden so hainous in its own Nature and so pernicious to the Publick he will have a share in and if he be guilty of Perjury if he betray his Country not only in the Present Age but is false to Posteri●y also What will it signifie that this was done out of Charity or Generosity to one or two Persons who perhaps did not need it Or if they did never somuch how preposterous must that Charity be which to assist a sew as to Temporal Conveniences shall contribute to the Damnation of many Souls and make a Man venture through Treachery and Perjury to hazard his own If these Considerations and others of the like kind should not prevail with these Persons so much as immediate Punishment The Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench for the time being is as I am told the chief Coroner of England enquiries into Failures of this kind may be made in that Court and this Consideration ought to terrifie every one who shall be thus concern'd especially at this time since that Important Trust was never discharg'd with more profound Knowledge of our Laws and with greater Integrity than at Present CHAP. IX Transition to the remaining part of this Treatise with a short View of it The Authority of Examples Consider'd Several Instances of Laws and Customs of many Nations in this Case Examin'd particularly such as concern the Romans That nothing can be brought from hence to prove Self-murther to be Natural HAving laid down those Natural Principles upon which I suppose Self-murther to be Unlawful and answer'd such Objections as seem'd to be of greatest strength I once thought that my task was almost over but there are some Persons who do not much relish those Arguments which are drawn from the Nature of Things but are determin'd chiefly by Custom and Example though rarely understood And led away by mistaken Notions of Courage Honour Liberty or the like Such as these notwithstanding all that has been said will scarce yield that this Act is Unlawful for say they have not People of all Ages and Nations been inclin'd to it Has it not been requir'd by Positive Laws as well as allow'd by Ancient Custom Has not the greatest and bravest Nation in the World afforded us innumerable Examples of it Did not the most Wise and Virtuous Sect of all the Philosophers teach and practise it and were ever such Honours paid to any mortal Man as were to Cato upon this Account If Cowardice Disgrace and Slavery are to be hated and avoided if Courage or the love of Honour or Liberty are to be esteem'd and pursu'd Then certainly in many Cases Self-murther may be not only Lawful but highly Commendable This may serve for a short View of what remains to be done and first the business of this Chapter shall be to enquire concerning the Authority of Examples particularly those which are alledg'd to prove Self-murther to be Natural To return then to our Author he tells us that * Biath p. 50. Sect. 3. Another Reason which prevails much withme and delivers it from being against the Law of Nature is this That in all Ages in all Places upon all Occasions Men of all Conditions have affected it or inclined to do it † p. 51. All Histories afford not so many Examples either of cunning or subtile Devices or of forcible or violent Actions for the safeguard of Life as for destroying Again * Biath p. 72. 73. Self-homicide seems to me to escape the breach of any Law of Nature because both express Litteral Law and Mute Law Custom hath Authorized it not only by suffering and connivency but by appointing it There is no way of Arguing so fallacious as that which depends upon Example though there is none that is more Popular They who resist Reason out of Vanity or are not capable of it through Ignorance are quickly taken with Examples because they are govern'd by Inclination only and 't is but throwing open some History before them and then whatever their prevailing Passion is they may very easily sit it with an Example But every Man of sense will quickly see how unreasonable this is for since humane Actions must be try'd by some Rule whereby their Goodness or Badness may be discover'd the Example ought to be brought to this Test The thing in Question shou'd first be prov'd to be Just and Lawful and then Examples may be of use to illustrate it to bring what was in Idea into Mait●…r of Fact and by making Reason as it were Visible awake and stir up the Will by the Natural Beauty of the thing the possibility of performing it and the Applause which has follow'd to act accordingly and when this is done a well dispos'd Soul strikes in readily and imitates and improves with Vigour and Alacrity Wherefore if what has been said be really true if Self-murther has been try'd by the Law of Nature and been shewn to be unlawful upon so many Accounts whether Man be consider'd in the Individual or as a Member of Civil Society we ought not to be concern'd what Appearance soever there seems to be of Examples to the contrary yet since whatever is apt to deceive ought to be laid open and it has been thought sitting to insist upon this kind of Authority I will shew more particularly that supposing Examples were in themselves good Arguments yet those which are alledg'd upon this occasion wou'd not prove Self-murther to be Natural As for what this Learned Gentleman says that all Histories do not afford such Instances of Cunning or Force for the Preserving of Life as for the Destroying of it I must take leave to say that this may be found otherwise by the Reading of any one History in the World all the Remarkable Effects either of Force or Fraud implying a desire of Life The Examples which he brings are of

destroyed they revol●…ed from Virtue and run over to Vice not by degrees but as down a Precipice And that Judicious Author Salas●… * Bell. Catil While the Commonwealth increased by Labour and Justice Great Kings and Barbarous Nations were subdued But when Carthage the Rival of the Roman Empire was once demolished Fortune began to rage and confound all things c. Now the Macedonian War was about 550 Years ab V. C. and the other about 60 Years after During these 600 Years Self-Murther was rarely practised among the Romans and when it was but by Women only or Persons of no Note or those who were infamous The Unhappy Lucretia Feronia a Vestal found with Child Appius Claudius in the Case of Virginia and by some Numbers together upon occasion of the † Plin. lib. 36. Slavery of building the Common Shore under one of the Tarquins and upon the Detection of the horrid Practices in the Baccanalia ‖ Liv. lib. 39. Yet in this Period of Time lived the most Vertuous Men Men of the clearest Courage and most unspotted Honour that ever Rome had Men whose Virtues were to great that that Empire was not only founded but raised upon them for tho' it was afterwards that it over-run so great a Part of the World yet this was very little due to the Publick Virtue of those Times but was rather the Effect of that Motion which the Active and Noble Genius of this Age gave it and which was so vigorous that neither the Softness of Luxury the Timorous●…ss of Ease and Interest nor the Blood of the best and bravest Citizens of Rome could 〈◊〉 or deaden it for many Years And yet it will not I suppose be pretended but that some particular Persons were liable to the same Misfortunes in those Days which others were afterwards tho' the Nation it felt in general was not so 〈◊〉 Capitolinus Regulus and others were exposed to barbarous and disgraceful De●…ths Age Poverty Loss of Senses and of Friends extreme Pain or whatever Pre●…ences are made use of for this Act were certainly as common then as ever they were afterwards yet none of these were looked upon in those Days as the reasonable Ca●…ses of Self-Murther or as the God's 〈◊〉 or calling Men out of Life as some of them began to talk afterwards 2. I am to shew when and for what Reasons this came into Request At the very same time that Corruption of all other Kinds did For with the Vices of Greece and Asia came in the Philosophy of the Stoicks as shall be shown more at large immediately which striking in with the Temper of the Romans and being very convenient for the Misery and Cruelty of succeeding Times was eagerly received by them and in the Proscriptions of Marius Sylla Cinna how violently did it begin to work and how many made away themselves I do not doubt but that Hannibal's's killing himself gave some Credit to this manner of dying as Cato's did more afterwards But what is particularly observable is that the more vicious and luxurious the Romans grew the more were they inclined upon any Calamity to Self-Murther And this Seneca himself confesses even in the midst of his Recommendations of it * Epist. 24. I send you not to History meaning for Examples of it Consider these Times we live in of whose Softness and Effeminacy we complain even now you may meet with Men of all Degrees in all Circumstances of all Ages that have cut off their Evils by voluntary Death 3. As for what the most considerable Writers among the Romans thought of this Ma●…ter many of them living in such a treacherous and bloody Age as that of 〈◊〉 Caligala Claudius Nero and suffering under the Tyranny of these Monsters embraced the Stoick Philosophy as the 〈◊〉 support of their Misfortunes and withal looking back with Sighs and Wishes upon the Time of the Republick honour'd the Memory of those who they suppos'd died for it in this manner and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them This was the Reason why no Man had ever more Applau●…rs or more 〈◊〉 than Cato and this made most of the Writers of those 〈◊〉 to commend this way of dying as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucan and 〈◊〉 Maximus But they who liv'd sooner in a more learned and ●…udicious Age and who were wholly disengag'd from these Principles or chose out of them what was really good without thinking themselves obliged to embrace and defend every thing they taught never recommended Self-Murther to the World but rather condemned it or else are silent concerning it Cicero the best Philosopher as well as the best Orator is positively against it upon a very Solemn Occasion as I have shewn at large * Sup. Cap 2. before And Macrobius has a very Learned Discourse upon that Place according to the Principles of Plotinus But Virgil pursues it to the next World and appoints a particular Place of Punishment for it there † Proxima deinde tenent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui sibi 〈◊〉 Insontes peperere manu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Projicere Animas Aen. lib. 6. And indeed his whole Inimitable Poem is against it for if the Destruction of ones Country if the loss of the best Friends Banishment Shipwreck or any other Adversity were a reasonable Cause of Self-murther Aeneas might have made use of it as justly as ever any one did but his Piety and his Courage supported him against so great an Act of Weakness and Injustice and in the worst Extremities the Poet furnishes him with ‖ O passi g●…aviora dabit Deus his quoque sinem Omnia percepi atque animo mecum ante p●…regi Ouidquid erit superanda omnis fortuna ferendo est admirable 〈◊〉 which Preserve the Hero as carefully from himself as from his Enemies No body in all that Incomparable Poem is brought in killing themselves but only Dido and Amata two Unfortunate and Despairing Women And when he picks out several of the most Famous Romans to do Honour to his Country and to make good that great and noble Character of it which he begins at those excellent Lines † Aen. lib. 6. Excudant alij c. When I say to this purpose he mentions the Decij Drusi Scipio's Brutus Camillus Torquatus Fabritius Curius Cato Cossus c. it is observable that there is not one of all these who kill'd himself The Decij indeed dy'd voluntarily but upon a Superstitious Perswasion they devoted themselves as a Sacrifice for their Countries Safety and therefore come not within the present Argument the Cato mention'd here was the Elder as Servius Judiciously remarks ‖ Aen. 6. to whom also as is observ'd by the same Critic * Aen. l. 8. Ut supra diximus Censorium signisicat non Uticensem Servius ad locum Though Montaign misapplies it to the other lib. 1. chap. 35. that Excellent Line belongs worth all pliny's Panegyric Secretosque Pios his dantem jura Catonem Wherefore if Virgil was a proper Judge who were