Cato's Suicide, by Jean-Paul Laurens. Source: Wikimedia Commons/Jean-Paul Laurens/Public Domain

It should be clearly stated from the outset that, while the Stoics may have recognized the potential glory of death before subjugation, they argued strongly against suicide on the grounds of despair or dissatisfaction with life. So, when it comes to suicide, what exactly did the Stoics believe?

On a trip to Tenerife, a local reminded me that it was on Tenerife that Admiral Lord Nelson lost his arm, before exclaiming, “Poor Nelson!” “Well, not so poor,” I quipped, “If he hadn’t lost his arm, we wouldn’t know who he was.”

It was by killing themselves that the likes of Cato and Socrates gave birth to their legends. When Cato is depicted in art, it is always in the act of stabbing himself. Ha

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