Consolatio ad Apollonium

Aeschylus also doth justly reprimand those who think death to be an evil, declaring after this manner:—

1. Some as a thing injurious death do fly;
2. But of all mischiefs ’tis the remedy.

And he who spoke thus very nicely imitated him:—

1. Come, with impatience I expect thee, Death;
2. And stop with thy obliging hand my breath:
3. To thee as a physician all resort,
4. And we through tempests sail into thy port.

And it is great to speak this sentence with courage:—

1. Where is the slave who never fears to die?From Euripides.

Or this:—

1. And shadows never scare me, thanks to hell.

But what is it at length in death, that is so grievous and troublesome? For I know not how it comes to pass that, when it is so familiar and as it were related to us, it should seem so terrible. How can it be rational to wonder, if that cleaves asunder which is divisible, if that melts whose nature is liquefaction, if that burns which is combustible, and so, by a parity of reason, if that perisheth which by nature is perishable? For when is it that death is not in us? For, as Heraclitus saith, it is the same thing to be dead and alive, asleep and awake, a young man and decrepit; for these alternately are changed one into another. For as a potter can form the shape of an animal out of his clay and then as easily deface it, and can repeat this backwards and forwards as often as he pleaseth, so Nature too out of the same materials fashioned first our grandfathers, next our fathers, then us, and in process of time will engender others, and again others upon these. For as the flood of our generation glides on without any intermission and will never stop, so in the other direction the stream of our corruption flows eternally on, whether it be called Acheron or Cocytus by the poets. So that the same cause which first showed us the light of the sun carries us down to infernal darkness. And in my mind, the air which encompasseth us seems to be a lively image of the thing; for it brings on the vicissitudes of night and day, life and death, sleeping and waking. For this cause it is that life is called a fatal debt, which our fathers contracted and we are bound to pay; which is to be done calmly and without any complaint, when the creditor demands it; and by this means we shall show ourselves men of sedate passions.

And I believe Nature, knowing the confusion and shortness of our life, hath industriously concealed the end of it from us, this making for our advantage. For if we were sensible of it beforehand, some would pine away with untimely sorrow, and would die before their death came. For she saw the woes of this life, and with what a torrent of cares it is overflowed,—which if thou didst undertake to number, thou wouldst grow angry with it, and confirm that opinion which hath a vogue amongst some, that death is more desirable than life. Simonides hath glossed upon it after this manner:—

1. Our time is of a short and tender length,
2. Cares we have many, and but little strength;
3. Labors in crowds push one another on,
4. And cruel destiny we cannot shun.

1. The casting of these lots is very just,
2. For good and bad lie in one common dust.

Pindar hath it so:—

1. The Gods unequal have us mortals vexed,
2. For to one good, two evils are annexed:
3. They pay a single joy with double care,
4. And fools such dispensations cannot bear.[*](Pindar, Pyth. III. 145.)

Sophocles so:—

1. Why at a mortal’s death dost thou complain?
2. Thou know’st not what may be his future gain.

And Euripides so:—

1. Dost thou not know the state of human things?
2. A faithful monitor thy instruction brings.
3. Inevitable death hangs o’er our head,
4. And threatens falling by a doubtful thread.
5. There’s no man can be certain over night,
6. If he shall live to see to-morrow’s light.
7. Life without any interruption flows,
8. And the results of fate there’s no man knows.[*](Eurip. Alcestis, 792.)

If then the condition of human life is such as they speak of, why do we not rather applaud their good fortunes who are feed from the drudgery of it, than pity and deplore them, as some men’s folly prompts them to do?

Socrates said that death was like either to a very deep sleep, or to a journey taken a great way and for a long time, or else to the utter extinction of soul and body; and if we examine each of these comparisons, he said, we shall find that death is not an evil upon any account. For if death is sleep, and no hurt happens to those who are in that innocent condition, it is manifest that neither are the dead ill dealt with. To what purpose should I talk of that which is so tritely known amongst all, that the most profound sleep is always the sweetest? Homer[*](See Odyss. XIII. 80; and Il. XIV. 231; XVI. 672; XI. 241) particularly attests it:—

1. His senses all becalmed, he drew his breath,
2. His sleep was sound, and quiet like to death.

And in many places he saith thus,—

1. She met Death’s brother, Sleep.—

And again,—

1. Twin brothers, Sleep and Death,—

thereby representing the similitude (as it were) to the sight, for twins especially indicate similarity. And in another place he saith, Death is brazen sleep, thereby intimating to us that it is insensible. Neither hath he spoken much amiss who calls sleep the lesser mysteries of death; for sleep is really the first initiation into the mysteries of death.

Diogenes the Cynic, when a little before his death he fell into a slumber, and his physician rousing him out of it asked him whether any thing ailed him, wisely answered, Nothing, sir, only one brother anticipates another,—Sleep before Death.