a The Dahomees are said to take a peculiar species of pleasure in contemplating human skulls. The king of that country said to a traveller, "Some heads I place at my door; others I throw into the market-place. This gives a grandeur to my customs; this makes my enemies fear me; and this pleases my ancestors, to whom I send them." The king even sleeps in a room, paved with the skulls of those persons of distinction, whom he has taken prisoners. "Thus," he frequently exclaims, "I can trample on the skulls of my enemies, whenever I please." own sons. b d The Sardinians and Berbycians were murdered by their In several parts of America they bury the old c before they are dead: and the Bactrians and Hyrcanians even exposed their old men to be lacerated and destroyed by mastiffs. This was a practice, posterity would have been justified in not crediting, had we not indubitable authority, that Alexander caused it to be entirely superseded. The Massagetæ & pierced their dying friends with arrows. g Among the ancient Romans even suicide was respected and approved: Julian made a law to prevent it. In the present times, it is esteemed in Hindostan frequently justifiable, and never criminal; while in Japan and Macassar h men and women frequently commit this crime, in order the sooner to arrive at beatitude. Death is when the soul voluntarily quits the body;-suicide when the body, actuated on by volition, forcibly separates itself a Norris's Journey to the Court of Bossa Ahadee, p. 129. Also in South Africa. Thunberg, ii. 194. The Indians of Hudson's Bay strangle their fathers, at their own request †, and esteem such compliance an act of piety. d Montesquieu, b. x. ch. 6. e The Marquis de St. Aubin esteems this an impossibility. Vide Traité de f Strabo. l'Opinion, tom. v. p. 78. Herod. Clio, c. xvi. h Montesquieu, b. xxiv. p. 19. Forbin's Memoirs. *Ellis's Voy. to Hudson's Bay. + M'Keevor's Voyage, p. 63. from the soul. In respect to these we may venture, with some modifications, to agree with Julian that he, who would not die, when he must, and he, who dies before he ought, are both cowards a alike. The Stoics are accused of having held the doctrine, that a man might kill himself, when he could not live with dignity. This sentiment, however, is at variance with the whole tenor of their creed. In India the voluntary deaths of women, on the funeral piles of their husbands, have been celebrated for many ages. It had long prevailed, previous to the time of Herodotus: it continued in that of Cicero and Propertius: and is but now partially yielding before the benignity of the Christian code ". Chambers supposes, that, in his time, more than 10,000 widows burnt themselves, every year, in the northern provinces of Hindostan. The same custom obtained in Thrace®; and still prevails in Africa. When the kings of Almami, for instance, die, poison infused into the eggs of parrots is given to a few of his ministers and favourite wives, that they may accompany him into another state to serve him, as they did in this. The Gymnosophists esteemed it a virtue to die upon a funeral pile, on attaining a limited age. Calanus & sacrificed himself before the whole army of Alexander; and the example was followed by an Indian sage at Athens. On his tomb was inscribed; "Here rest the ashes of Zarmano Chagas, an Indian philosopher, who, after the manner of his country, devoted himself to a voluntary death." h The Hyperboreans committed suicide after a different a "Minima pars fortitudinis," says Grotius, from Lucan, "erat mortem oppetere."—"To die," says Euripides, "is not the worst of human ills; it is to wish for death and be refused the boon." b Tusc. Quæst. lib. v. c. 27. c Lib. iii. El. 13, v. 17, &c. d Something analogous to this was practised in Gaul (Pomp. Mela, lib. iii. c. ii.), and Britain (De Bell. Gall. vi. c. 19). e Herodot., lib. v. 8 Strabo, lib. xv. p. 1043. h Plin. Nat. Hist., lib. iv. c. 12. f Discoveries in Africa, p. 231. manner. They invited their friends to a banquet; and, after indulging in the feast, threw themselves from a precipice into the sea. Near Puchmarry, in India, there is a cave, sacred to Mahadeo, called Deo Pahar, over which rises a high mountain, whence devotees frequently precipitated themselves on a particular day of the year. A similar practice prevails among the tribes of Berar and Gondwanna". To the former of these mountains, mothers, who are childless, go and vow to offer up their first-born by throwing them down the precipice. And this is frequently done, when a child is born after the vow. In the kingdom of Kanâra", also, zealots and devotees subject themselves to voluntary deaths; while the Scandinavians thought no one went to the hall of Valhalla, but those, who died in battle, by suicide, or some other violent means. C Phædon and Cleombrotus of Ambracia thirsted so much for immortal life, that they threw themselves into the sea to obtain it. The example was followed by many of the earlier Platonists. The disciples of Hegesias, also, frequently committed suicide, in the hope of acquiring a life, more delightful than the present; in consequence of which Ptolemy forbad Hegesias to lecture. One of the princes of Lithuania even enacted suicide, as a law of humanity. All persons, therefore, whom the judges condemned to die, were compelled to be their own executioners; since the prince thought it criminal in the laws to permit any one to punish a crime, by which he himself had not been a sufferer ". a Asiat. Researches, vol. vii. b Hamilton's Account of the East Indies, vol. i. p. 280. e Mallett, North. Antiq., vol. ii. p. 314. d Cic. Tusc. Quest., lib. i. c. 34. f Witholde. Montaigne, book iii. p. 14. e Ibid. Suicide is, in some measure, countenanced by the code of Justinian. The manner, in which the subject is treated, is extremely guarded and remarkable. "Si quis impatientiâ doloris, aut tædio vitæ, aut morbo, aut furore, aut pudore, mori maluit, non animadvertatur in eum."-Ss. 49. 16. 6. a In Marseilles, suicide was regularly permitted by the laws. Poison was kept at the public expense; and every one was allowed to drink of it, who could shew a sufficient cause before the magistrates. Valerius Maximus relates a curious instance of this custom, in another quarter. A lady having arrived at an advanced age, in the enjoyment of all earthly conveniences, feared it probable, that if she consented to live longer, fortune would, in some way or other, overwhelm her with misfortunes: she therefore poisoned herself in the presence of all her family. This occurred in the island of Negropont. Sextus Pompey was present at the curious scene; and learned, with surprise, that suicide was not only allowed by the laws, but that it was held in no little esteem. The crime was regarded with complacency in other cities, connected with Greece. In the capital of Ceos, one of the Cyclades, and the birth-place of Prodicus, Simonides, Bacchylides, and other clebrated characters, every one was permitted to die voluntarily by law, who had attained the age of sixty: a custom, allowed upon the principle, that every man usurped a station in life, which another ought to fill, when he became incapable of military service! In ancient times, whole cities b devoted themselves to voluntary deaths, in order to prevent themselves from falling into the power of their enemies and this, too, not unfrequently after quarter had been offered them by the conqueror. Several instances are recorded by Livy and Plutarch. The Xanthians considered voluntary death so glorious, that multitudes committed that crime, during the period in which they were besieged by Brutus: and the men of Saguntum burnt their wives, children, and themselves, in one common pile, rather than fall into the hands of the Romans. Numantia had neither walls, bastions, nor towers; and yet a Lib. ii. c. 6. De Externis Institut., sect. vii. b Diod. Sic., lib. xvii. c. 18. c Plut. in Vit. Brut. it resisted the power and skill of the Romans upwards of fourteen years. At length, one of the Scipios was charged with the conduct of the siege. His army consisted of 60,000 men: a body more than fifteen times larger than that of the Numantines, who made a gallant, and indeed almost miraculous resistance. But supplies being at length cut off, they were reduced to the necessity of living on the flesh of horses; then on that of their companions, slain in the siege; and lastly, to draw lots among themselves. In this extremity, they were summoned to surrender. They refused with indignation; set fire to their houses, and threw themselves, their wives, and their children, into the flames. A few, and those only, who had previously deserted to the enemy, disgraced the triumph of the conqueror. When the inhabitants of Phocia were routed by the Thessalians, in the midst of their distress, they raised a pile of combustible materials; and resolved, by the advice of Deiphantus, to burn their wives and children, rather than see them led into captivity. This desperate proposition was unanimously approved of by the women, who decreed a crown to Deiphantus, for having suggested it. The pile was prepared, and the women stood ready to devote themselves; when the Phocians, animated by such an heroic sacrifice, rushed upon their enemies; entirely routed them; and saved the state. A curious instance is related in Chamich's History of Armenia. When the Persians expatriated the Armenians, many women, seeing nothing before their eyes but violation by the soldiers, threw themselves from precipices on the rocks below, and were dashed to pieces. But some, fearing their courage would not be equal, blindfolded themselves with their handkerchiefs, and in this state plunged off the precipice. "Some of these heroic women," says the historian ", met not the sudden death they sought; for, in the descent, 66 a Chamich's Hist. of Armenia, by Ardall, v. ii. 352, Calcutta. |