A Letter of Condolence to Apollonius (15-19)

If, however, death is really a complete destruction and dissolution of both body and soul (for this was the third of Socrates’ conjectures), even so it is not an evil. For, according to him, there ensues a sort of insensibility and a liberation from all pain and anxiety. For just as no good can attach to us in such a state, so also can no evil; for just as the good, from its nature, can exist only in the case of that which is and has substantiality, so it is also with the evil. But in the case of that which is not, but has been removed from the sphere of being, neither of them can have any real existence. Now those who have died return to the same state in which they were before birth; therefore, as nothing was either good or evil for us before birth, even so will it be with us after death. And just as all events before our lifetime were nothing to us, even so will all events subsequent to our lifetime be nothing to us. For in reality

No suffering affects the dead,[*]

Not to be born I count the same as death.[*]

To be and not to be hath been his fate;

Gone is he whence he came, earth back to earth, The soul on high. What here is evil ? Naught.

For if he dwells beneath the depths of earth ’Mid lifeless shades, his vigour would be naught.

For if he dwells beneath the depths of earth ’Mid lifeless shades, his dolour would be naught.

Here now are we; before us others throve, and others still straightway, But we shall never live to see their day;

Those who have died and who counted no honour the living or dying, Only to consummate both nobly were honour for them.[*]

I hate the men who would prolong their lives By foods and drinks and charms of magic art, Perverting nature’s course to keep off death; They ought, when they no longer serve the land, To quit this life, and clear the way for youth.

Not mine the only children who have died, Nor I the only woman robbed of spouse; Others as well as I have drunk life’s dregs.

Where now are all those things magnificentGreat Croesus, lord of Lydia ? Xerxes, too, Who yoked the sullen neck of Hellespont ? Gone all to Hades and Oblivion’s house,[*]

True, it may be said, but an untimely death moves most people to mourning and lamentation. Yet, even for this, words of consolation are so readily found that they have been perceived by even uninspired poets, and comfort has been had from them. Observe what one of the comic poets [*] says on this subject to a man who is grieving for an untimely death:

Then if you knew that, had he lived this life, Which he did not live, Fate had favoured him, His death was not well timed; but if again This life had brought some ill incurable, Then Death perhaps were kindlier than you.

There is no man that does not suffer ill; Man buries children, and begets yet more,

And dies himself. Men are distressed at this, Committing earth to earth. But Fate decrees That life be garnered like the ripened grain, That one shall live and one shall pass from life. What need to grieve at this, which Nature says Must be the constant cycle of all life ? In what must be there’s naught that man need dread.[*]

In general everyone ought to hold the conviction, if he seriously reviews the facts both by himself and in the company of another, that not the longest life is the best, but the most efficient. For it is not the man who has played the lyre the most, or made the most speeches, or piloted the most ships, who is commended, but he who has done these things excellently. Excellence is not to be ascribed to length of time, but to worth and timely fitness. For these have come to be regarded as tokens of good fortune and of divine favour. It is for this reason, at any rate, that the poets have traditionally represented those of the heroes who were preeminent and sprung from the gods as quitting this life before old age, like him Who to the heart of great Zeus and Apollo was held to be dearest, Loved with exceeding great love; but of eld he reached not the threshold.[*] For we everywhere observe that it is a happy use of opportunity, rather than a happy old age, that wins the highest place.[*] For of trees and plants the best are those that in a brief time produce the most crops of fruit, and the best of animals are those from which in no long time we have the greatest service toward our livelihood. The terms long and short obviously appear to lose their difference if we fix

We must regard as vain and foolish such exclamations as these: But he ought not to have been snatched away while young ! For who may say what ought to be ? Many other things, of which one may say they ought not to have been done, have been done, and are done, and will be done over and over again. For we have come into this world, not to make laws for its governance, but to obey the commandments of the gods who preside over the universe, and the decrees of Fate or Providence.

But do those who mourn for the untimely dead, mourn on their own account or on account of the departed ? If on their own account, because they have been cut off from some gratification or profit or comfort in old age, which they might have expected from the dead, then is their excuse for grieving wholly

That this is easy is plainly to be seen from the following sort of consolation. They say that one of the ancient philosophers visited Arsinoë, the queen, who was mourning for her son, and made use of this story,[*] saying that at the time Zeus was distributing to the deities their honours. Mourning did not happen to be present, but arrived after the distribution had been made. But when she said it was only right that some honour be given to her also, Zeus, being perplexed, since all the honours had been used up, finally gave her that honour which is paid in the case of those who have died—tears and griefs. Just as the other deities, therefore, are fond of those by whom they are honoured, so also is Mourning. Therefore, Madame, if you treat her with disrespect, she will not come near you; but if she is strictly honoured by you with the honours which were conceded to her, namely griefs and lamentations, she will love you and affectionately will be ever with you, provided only she be constantly honoured by you. Admirably, it appears, he succeeded, by this story, in convincing the woman and in alleviating her mourning and lamentations.