NOTABLE SUICIDES.
I.─MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE.
ABIMELECH, 1206 B.C., King of the Shechemites. Judges, cap. ix.
SAMSON, 1120 B.C., Judge of Israel. Judges, cap. xvi.
SAUL, 1050 B.C., the first King of Israel. I. Samuel, cap. xxxi.
SAUL’S Armour Bearer, an Amalekite, loc. cit.
AHITOPHEL, 1023 B.C., Counsellor of David. II. Samuel, cap. xvii.
ZIMRI, 929 B.C., King of Israel. II. Kings, cap. xvi.
ELEAZAR, 164 B.C., one of the Maccabees. I. Maccabees, cap. vi.
RAZIS, 162 B.C., a Jewish Elder. II. Maccabees, cap. xiv.
JUDAS ISCARIOT, A.D. 33, the Traitor. Acts, cap. i.
PONTIUS PILATE, A.D. 36, Procurator of Judaea. Josephus. Antiquities,
xviii., 4, 1, 2, and also Eusebius, History, cap. ii. 7.
II.─CLASSICAL.
SESOSTRIS, or RAMESES the Great, King of Egypt, killed himself in
despair at having lost his sight.
MENON, 2000 B.C., Governor of Nineveh, first husband of Semiramis,
afterwards Queen of Assyria; he hung himself when Ninus the King became
enamoured of his wife.
AJAX, 1184 B.C., in the Trojan War, slew himself in a frenzy of anger
against Ulysses, to whom instead of to himself the armour of the dead
Hector had been allotted.
CODRUS, 1070 B.C., the last King of Athens; he was at war with the
Heraclidæ, an oracle had foretold that the victory would fall to the
nation whose king died in battle. Codrus entered the enemy’s camp in
disguise, provoked a quarrel with two of the soldiers, and was killed
by them.
DIDO, 1000 B.C., Princess of Tyre, widow of Sichæus, having founded
Carthage, stabbed herself on her funeral pile, to avoid marriage with
Jarbos, she having vowed eternal fidelity to her husband’s memory.
LYCURGUS, 900 B.C., Lawgiver of Sparta, prepared a code of laws for the
people, bound them to observe these laws during his absence, then left
the State, and destroyed himself. These laws remained in force for 700
years.
SARDANAPALUS, 759 B.C., King of Assyria, burned himself in his palace
with his wives.
ARISTODEMUS, 730 B. C. having killed his daughter to propitiate the
oracle at Delphi, slew himself on her tomb, from remorse.
CHARONDAS, 560 B.C., the Lawgiver of Catana, a Greek colony in Sicily,
made it a law, with the penalty of death, that no man should enter the
assembly armed: returning one day from pursuing some robbers beyond the
city, he entered the assembly to report, without having laid aside his
weapons. Being taxed with breaking his own laws, he slew himself on the
spot.
LUCRETIA, 510 B.C., wife of Tarquinius Collatinus, stabbed herself
in the presence of her husband and father as a protest against her
attempted rape by Sextus, son of Tarquinius Superbus.
ARTEMIDORUS, 479 B.C., threw his life away in the battle of Platæa.
THEMISTOCLES, 449 B.C., an Athenian General, was banished, and
ultimately poisoned himself.
ISOCRATES, 436 B.C., an Athenian orator, starved himself to death, on
account of the defeat of his countrymen in the battle of Cheronæa.
EMPEDOCLES, 435 B.C., poet and philosopher, threw himself into the
crater of Mount Etna.
APPIUS, THE DECEMVIR, 400 B.C., killed himself in prison, where he
was cast by the Tribunes after the storm of popular indignation which
followed his attempted seduction of Virginia.
DECIUS MUS, 338 B.C., Roman Consul, threw away his life in battle
against the Latins, as did his son, B.C. 296, and his grandson, B. C.
280.
DEMOSTHENES, 325 B.C., the most celebrated orator of antiquity,
poisoned himself to escape from the pursuit of the soldiers of
Antipater.
NICOCLES, 310 B.C., King of Paphos, in Cyprus, intrigued against
Ptolemy, and destroyed himself, and his whole family did the same, to
avoid being disgraced.
BRENNUS, 278 B.C., a Gallic general, invaded Greece, but his army being
defeated, he killed himself in a fit of intoxication.
ZENO, 264 B.C., founder of the Stoic sect of philosophers, in walking
in his school one day, he fell and broke a finger; this so disgusted
him with life in this world, that he went straight home and strangled
himself.
REGULUS, 251 B.C., a Roman consul during the First Punic War,
was defeated and taken prisoner to Carthage. Some years after he
was allowed to go to Rome to negotiate an exchange of prisoners,
having first been compelled to bind himself by an oath to return if
unsuccessful. On arriving in Rome he dissuaded his countrymen from the
proposed terms and then promptly returned to certain death at Carthage.
THEOXENA AND HER HUSBAND threw themselves into the sea to escape
capture by the soldiers of Philip of Macedon.
CLEANTHES, 240 B.C., a Stoic philosopher, starved himself because he
was seized with an illness, preferring death to lingering disease.
HASDRUBAL, THE WIFE OF, 216 B.C., set fire to a temple and threw
herself and her two children into the flames rather than fall into
the hands of Scipio the Roman general. Her husband was a Carthaginian
general who fought in the Second Punic war.
SOPHONISBA, 203 B.C., was the daughter of Hasdrubal the Carthaginian
general, married to Syphax, Prince of Numidia; but she fell a captive
into the hands of Masinissa, who then took her to wife, but Scipio the
Roman general having seen her, also fancied her as a wife, so she drank
poison to avoid this second change.
ERATOSTHENES, 194 B.C., mathematician, starved himself to death because
he found his sight failing him.
HANNIBAL, 183 B.C., a celebrated Carthaginian general, being defeated
by Scipio at Zama, fled to Bithynia, but being pursued even there,
killed himself by means of poison, which he always carried about him
concealed in rings.
CLEOMBROTUS, a young Greek philosopher, who after reading the Phædon of
Plato, threw himself off a wall into the sea. (Ovid.)
ARISTARCHUS, 157 B.C., grammarian and critic, starved himself to death,
at Cyprus, after being banished from Alexandria.
CAIUS GRACCHUS, 121 B.C., Tribune of Rome, was killed by a slave at his
own request, after defeat by the consul Opimius.
ANTIOCHUS OF CYZICUS, 95 B.C., King of Syria, killed himself when
dethroned by Seleucus.
MITHRIDATES, KING OF PONTUS, 63 B.C., killed himself to avoid falling
into the hands of the Romans, after being defeated by Pompey.
LUCRETIUS, 54 B.C., Roman poet and philosopher, destroyed himself in
his forty-fourth year.
PTOLEMY, 50 B.C., King of Cyprus, killed himself by poison.
CATO, MARCUS, 46 B.C., having opposed Cæsar, unsuccessfully, retired to
Utica, and feeling too proud to humiliate himself before a conqueror,
stabbed himself, and died the same night, after spending his last hours
in reading Plato’s Phædon, a dialogue on the Immortality of the Soul.
BRUTUS, 42 B.C., Roman statesman, slew himself with his sword after
defeat at the battle of Philippi.
PORTIA, his wife, killed herself by swallowing red-hot coals on hearing
of her husband’s death.
CASSIUS, 42 B.C., Roman general, being defeated at the battle of
Philippi by Antony and Octavian, threw himself on his sword.
POMPONIUS ATTICUS, 33 B.C., man of letters, starved himself, because he
became afflicted with some intestinal disease.
MARK ANTONY, 30 B.C., Roman Consul, general, and statesman, being
defeated at the battle of Actium, and deserted as he thought by
Cleopatra, cut open his bowels and died in terrible agony.
CLEOPATRA, 30 B.C., Queen of Egypt, the beloved of Antony, on hearing
of his death, killed herself. The only mark of injury on her body was
a small puncture on the arm; it is doubtful whether this was caused by
the bite of an asp, or by a poisoned bodkin.
COCCEIUS NERVA, A.D. 20, an eminent lawyer and favourite of the Emperor
Tiberius, starved himself as a protest against the extravagance of the
Court.
GALLUS, A.D. 26, Roman poet, killed himself when exiled for treason: he
was a friend of Virgil.
ARRIA and her husband PÆTUS, A.D. 45. Pætus had revolted against
the Emperor Claudius, without success. Finding his condemnation
unavoidable, Arria stabbed herself, calling on her husband to imitate
her, which he did.
BOADICEA, A.D. 60. Queen of the Iceni in Britain, in the time of Nero,
being defeated by the Roman General Suetonius, she poisoned herself.
APICIUS, A.D. 64., the greatest glutton known to history, hanged
himself.
SENECA, A.D. 65, Rhetorician, and tutor to Nero, opened his veins and
bled himself to death, when under condemnation for conspiracy. Paulina,
his wife, opened her veins at the same time.
LUCAN, A.D. 66, a Roman poet, being concerned in the same conspiracy as
Seneca, killed himself in the same manner.
NERO, A.D. 68, Emperor of Rome, was condemned for his villanies to be
whipped to death; to avoid this execution he destroyed himself.
OTHO, A.D. 69, Roman Emperor, after a reign of three months, was
defeated by Vitellius, and then slew himself in disgust.
JEWS, the, at the Siege of Jerusalem by Titus, A.D. 70. Josephus
narrates that the Jewish soldiers destroyed themselves in large
numbers, and endeavoured to prevail on him to do the same.
SILIUS ITALICUS, A.D. 90, a Roman Consul and poet, being afflicted with
an incurable disease at 75 years old, starved himself to death.
PELAGIA, of Antioch, A.D. 310, cast herself off the house top to avoid
the persecutions of the Pagans, and was afterwards canonised as a Saint
by the Roman Catholic Church; see St. Ambrose, De Virginibus.
SOPHRONIA, A.D. 310, canonised as Saint Sophronia, destroyed herself to
avoid the snares set for her modesty by the Emperor Maxentius.
CORELLIUS RUFUS, A.D. 110. Pliny the Younger speaks in terms of sincere
regret that this friend should have taken his own life.
SERVIUS, the Grammarian, A.D. 400, who wrote commentaries on Virgil,
killed himself in the reign of Honorius, rather than suffer the pains
of the gout, to which he was very subject.
III.─MIDDLE AGES AND MODERN TIMES.
A very long interval occurs here, during which period I cannot discover
any Notable Suicides: on passing to the next series a great change will
be noticed as to causation, the days of suicide for honour are passed:
Misery has become the mainspring.
RICHARD II., King of England, 1399. Some historians, as Walsingham,
Otterbourne, and Peter of Blois, say that this king starved himself to
death.
CHARLES VII., King of France, 1461, starved himself, because he feared
the Dauphin would poison him.
ACOSTA, URIEL, 1647, a Jew who became a Christian, but becoming
involved in the toils of the Inquisition, destroyed himself.
BURTON, ROBERT, 1660, author of the “Anatomy of Melancholy,” committed
suicide to verify the prophecy he had made as to the date of his death.
TEMPLE, JOHN, 1689, Secretary of State for War.
CREECH, THOMAS, 1700, the learned translator of “Lucretius,” killed
himself in imitation of the author whose works he translated.
BUDGELL, EUSTACE, 1714, author, threw himself from a boat into the
Thames.
SCARBOROUGH, LORD, 1727, killed himself in the dilemma which of two
ladies to associate with.
GREEN, W., 1750, a weaver, jumped off the Monument, London.
CHATTERTON, THOMAS, 1770, Poet, by poison, from poverty.
CLIVE, LORD, 1774, shot himself; he had been ungratefully treated; he
had, however, made two attempts on his life in his youth.
CARDAN, JEROME, 1575, Physician and Astrologer, having foretold his
death for a certain date, and finding himself still well, killed
himself to verify his prophecy.
ROUSSEAU, J. J., 1778. Some authorities say he poisoned himself by
arsenic.
CRADDOCK, T., 1780, a baker, jumped off the top of the Monument,
London.
CLAVIERE, E., 1793, the Girondin, stabbed himself; and his wife killed
herself after him.
CONDORCET, M. J. A., 1794, French Mathematician, killed himself in
prison.
ROLAND, 1795, French Minister, by a sword thrust.
ROMME, 1795, French Statesman, by stabbing.
PICHEGRU, C., 1804, French General, strangled himself with his scarf
when in prison, accused of plotting against the government.
VILLENEUVE, P., French Admiral, 1806, stabbed himself when suffering
from melancholia.
LEVY, LYON, 1810, a Jewish diamond merchant, jumped off the Monument,
London.
WILLIAMS, 1811, the murderer of the Marr family.
KLEIST, H. VON., 1811, German author, shot himself after killing a lady
to whom he was much attached, at her request.
BERTHIER, L. A., 1815, French General.
ROMILLY, SIR S., 1818, Jurist and M.P., killed himself three days after
the death of his wife.
CHRISTOPHE, 1820, King of Hayti.
ENGLISHMAN, an, 1820, threw himself into the crater of Vesuvius.
CAMPBELL, SIR G., 1821, English Admiral.
CASTLEREAGH, LORD, 1822, cut his throat.
SAINT SIMON, C. H., 1822, a Frenchman, founder of a religious sect.
BRACHMANN, LUISE, 1822, German poetess.
MONTGOMERY, 1828, took prussic acid, when a prisoner for forgery, in
Newgate.
CONDÉ, PRINCE DE, 1830, hanged himself.
ROBERT LEOPOLD, 1835, painter, cut his throat, from jealousy.
GROS, BARON, 1835, painter, drowned himself from disappointment.
COLTON, C. C., 1832, an eccentric clergyman, author of “Lacon.”
MOYES, MISS E., 1839, jumped off the Monument, London, because her
father, being reduced in circumstances, it was decided that she should
earn her own living.
BERESFORD, LORD JAMES, 1841.
MUNSTER, EARL OF, 1842, son of William IV.
BLANCHARD, LAMAN, 1845, journalist.
HAYDON, B. R., 1846, painter, on account of money troubles, shot
himself.
PRASLIN, DUC DE, 1847, his wife was found murdered; he was arrested on
suspicion, and was found self-slain in prison.
WATTS, WALTER, 1850, Lessee of the Olympic Theatre.
BOURG, ST. EDME, 1851, author; found strangled by his scarf.
LAYARD, LIEUT.-COL., 1853, of “Nineveh” fame.
ROBINSON, REV. T., 1854, threw himself off the cliffs at Dover.
FRANKS, DR., 1855, editor of the _Allgemeine Zeitung_, after killing
his son.
SADLEIR, JOHN, M.P., 1856, by prussic acid, when found guilty of Bank
frauds.
SMART, A., 1856, a watchmaker, threw himself down from the Whispering
Gallery in St. Paul’s.
MILLER, HUGH, 1856, geologist, from overwork.
RUSSELL, CHAS., 1856, Chairman of the Great Western Railway.
MOSER, ISAAC, 1861, a millionaire Jew.
FITZROY, ADMIRAL, 1865, meteorologist.
GREEN, G. W., 1867, a merchant, jumped off Suspension Bridge at Clifton.
WARDER, DR. A. W., 1867, at Brighton, after murdering his wife.
THEODORE, Emperor of Abyssinia, 1868.
LEE, THOMAS, 1868, threw himself from the North Tower of the Crystal
Palace.
PREVOST-PARADOL, 1870, French Minister.
BOWLEY, R. K., 1870, Manager of the Crystal Palace.
MATTHIESSEN, DR., 1870, eminent chemist.
WILLES, SIR JAMES S., 1872, eminent judge, from overwork.
DELAWARR, EARL, 1873, when insane.
ABDUL AZIZ, 1876, Sultan of Turkey, veins of the bend of the arm opened
by scissors.
LYTTLETON, LORD GEORGE, 1876, eminent scholar, when insane.
BUTCHER, DR. SAM., 1876, Bishop of Meath, when insane.
BRANDON, RAPHAEL, 1877, architect.
MAHOMED, ISMAIL KHAN, 1883, an Afghan surgeon, by prussic acid.