as are those of an hundred other philosophers who have written in favor of suicide. The subject has been exhausted. I do not here propose to defend an action which the law prohibits; but neither the old nor new testament forbid a man to shake off life, when it becomes insupportable. The Roman laws did not forbid self murder. On the contrary, a law of Marcus Antoninus, which was never repealed, provides: "If your father, or your brother, unconvicted of any crime, shall, from pain, through weariness of life, in despair, or from madness, put an end to his life, his will shall nevertheless be deemed valid; or if he dies intestate, his heirs inherit according to law." *

Notwithstanding that humane law of our ancient masters, we draw upon a hurdle, and pierce with a stake, the body of the man who dies a voluntary death; and, at the same time, we render his memory infamous. We dishonor his family as far as lies in our power. We punish the

son, because he has lost his father; and the widow, because she is deprived of her husband. We even confiscate the property of the deceased; which is, in fact, tearing from the living a patrimony which belongs to them. This custom, like many others, is derived from our canon law;

* Cod. 1. De bonis corum qui sibi mortem, &c. Leg. 3. §. cod.

⚫ which depives of the rites of burial, those who commit suicide: The conclusion drawn from this fact, is, that no one can inherit on earth the property of a man, who is deemed to have forfeited an inheritance in heaven. The canon law, under the head, de pænitentia, assures us, that Judas committed a greater sin in hanging himself, than when he betrayed our Saviour.

CHAP. XX.

Of a certain species of multilation.

WE find in the digest, a certain law of the em peror Adriant which decrees death as the punishment of physicians who should make eunuchs, either by castration, or by bruising the testicles. The possessions of those who procured themselves to be castrated, were also confiscated by this law. Origen might have been punished under this law, for having submitted to the operation, in consequence of a too literal interpretation of the passage of St. Mathew: "There be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of Heaven.

† Ad legem Corneliam de sicariis.

The face of things was changed under succeeding Emperors, who adopted the Asiatic luxury, particularly in the lower empire; at Constantinople eunuchs became Patriarchs, and even commanded the armies of the empire.

In our own times, it is the custom, at Rome, to castrate children in order to render them worthy of being musicians to the Pope; so that castrato and musico del papa, now are synonimous. Not long since, signs were to be seen at Naples, over the doors of certain barbers, on which were written in large letters Qui si castrano marivigliosamente i putti-Boys castrated here in the very best

manner.

CHAP XXI.

Of the confiscation consequent upon all the crimes which have been mentioned,

IT is a received maxim of the bar, that, he who forfeits life, forfeits his effects—a maxim in greatest rigor in countries where custom holds the place of principle. Thus, as we already have remarked, the children of those who voluntarily terminate their wretched days are doomed to perish with hunger, as if they were the children of a murderer. So that, in every case, an entire family is punished for the crime of an individual.

Thus the father of a family having been sentenced to the galleys for life, in an arbitrary manner, either for having illegally harbored a preach, er*, or having heard a sermon preached in a cavern or solitary place, the wife and children are reduced to beggary. That system of Jurisprudence which consists in taking the bread out of the mouths of orphans, and in giving to one man the property of another, was unknown during

* See the edict of may 14th. 1724, published at the sollicitation, and under the inspection of Cardinal Richelieu.

the whole period of the existence of the Roman republic. Sylla first introduced it with his proscriptions, and his example, one would think, ought scarcely to authorise the practice. And, indeed, this system which seems to have been dictated by avarice and inhumanity, was not enforced by Cæsar, by Trajan, nor by the Antonines whose names are still pronounced with respect by every civilized nation. Under Justinian, confis cation took place only in cases of high treason.

It would seem that during the times of feudal anarchy, princes, and feudal lords, not being very rich, endeavored to augment their possessions by the conviction of their subjects, and intended to furnish themselves with a revenue to arise out of crime. Law being, with them, entirely arbitrary, and the Roman Jurisprudence unknown, cruel and ridiculous customs prevailed. But, in modern times the power kings is founded upon immense and certain revenues, and their treasures do not require to be increased by the miserable remains of the fortune of an unfortunate family which are ceded, generally speaking, to the first one who requests them-Should one citizen be permitted to fatten on the blood of another?

In the provinces of France where the Roman.

Ff