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OF DEATH
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sed etiam fastidiosus potest.[1] A man would die, though he were neither valiant nor miserable, only upon a weariness to do the same thing so oft over and over. It is no less worthy to observe, how little alteration in good spirits the approaches of death make; for they appear to be the same men till the last instant. Augustus Cæsar[2] died in a compliment; Livia,[3] conjugii nostri memor, vive et vale:[4] Tiberius[5] in dissimulation; as Tacitus[6] saith of him, Jam Tiberium vires et corpus, non dissimulatio, deserebant:[7] Vespasian[8] in a jest; sitting upon the stool, Ut puto Deus fio:[9] Galba[10] with a sentence; Feri, si ex re sit populi Romani:[11] holding forth
- ↑ Think how often you do the same things. A man may wish to die, not so much because he is brave or miserable, as that he is tired of living. L. Annaei Senecae ad Lucilium Epistularum Moralium Liber X. Epistula I.
"It is a brave act of valour to contemn death; but where life is more terrible than death, it is then the truest valour to dare to live." Sir Thomas Browne. Religio Medici. Part I. Section 44. - ↑ Caius Octavius, called later, Caius Julius Caesar Octavlanus Augustus, great-nephew of Julius Caesar, and first Roman emperor, lived 63 B.C. to 14 A.D.
- ↑ Livia Drusilla was the mother of Tiberius and the third wife of Augustus. 'Caesar Augustus died in a compliment.—I hope 't was a sincere one!—quoth my Uncle Toby.—'T was to his wife, said my father.' Sterne. Tristram Shandy. V. 3.
- ↑ Livia, mindful of our union, live on, and farewell. C. Suetoni Tranquilli De XII Caesaribus Liber II. D. Octavius Caesar Augustus. 100.
- ↑ Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar, stepson of Augustus and Roman emperor, lived 42 B.C. to 37 A.D.
- ↑ Cornelius Tacitus, Roman historian, lived from about 55 to about 117 A.D. He wrote De vita et moribus Julii Agricolae; Germania; Historiae, accounts of the reigns of Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian; and Annales, a history of the Julian dynasty from the death of Augustus.
- ↑ His strength and vitality were now deserting Tiberius, but not his dissimulation. P. Cornelii Taciti Annalium Liber VI. Caput 50.
- ↑ Titus Flavius Sabinus Vespasianus, Roman emperor, 9–79 A.D.
- ↑ I suppose I am becoming a god. C. Suetoni Tranquilli De XII Caesaribus Liber VIII. T. Flavius Vespasianus Augustus. 23.
- ↑ Servius Sulpicius Galba, Roman emperor, lived 3 B.C. to 69 A.D.
- ↑ Strike, if it be for the good of the Roman people. Cornelii Taciti Historiarum Liber I. Caput 41.
