Morbid Fact Du Jour for January 15, 2018

Today’s Honorable Yet Truly Morbid Fact!

Perhaps the most celebrated “vanquished honor” suicide was Marcus Procius Cato (95-46 BC). He was a man who inspired respect rather than affection from his fellow Romans. A brave soldier, he fled to Greece and then to Libya when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 BC. Refusing to compromise his high principles by living under the rule of a tyrant, Cato decided upon suicide. After having ensured the safety of his men, he ate supper with his son, after which he retired to bed to read Phaedo, Plato’s treatise on the soul. At dawn, after a short sleep, he drew his sword and plunged the blade into his chest. Cato’s alleged last words, ‘And now I am master of myself,” epitomize the sentiment of men who hold that to choose the moment and mode of one’s own death is an inviolable human right.

Even had Cato been captured by Caesar, it is likely that the victor would have given to the vanquished the opportunity to commit suicide. It represented honor in defeat. (Indeed, Caesar might have spared Cato altogether, since he is reputed to have said, “Cato, I grudge you your death as you have grudged me the preservation of your life.”)

Culled from: Death: A History of Man’s Obsessions and Fears

Here’s an additional tidbit from Wikipedia on Cato’s death:

According to Plutarch, Cato attempted to kill himself by stabbing himself with his own sword, but failed to do so due to an injured hand. Plutarch wrote:

Cato did not immediately die of the wound; but struggling, fell off the bed, and throwing down a little mathematical table that stood by, made such a noise that the servants, hearing it, cried out. And immediately his son and all his friends came into the chamber, where, seeing him lie weltering in his own blood, great part of his bowels out of his body, but himself still alive and able to look at them, they all stood in horror. The physician went to him, and would have put in his bowels, which were not pierced, and sewed up the wound; but Cato, recovering himself, and understanding the intention, thrust away the physician, plucked out his own bowels, and tearing open the wound, immediately expired.

Now, that takes guts!

The Death of Cato: Artistic Interpretations

It’s always fun to see how those Renaissance artists depicted famous scenes in Roman/Greek history.  My favorite is the last one: Cato as seductive suicide in the gay bath house.