Conquering death. Seneca, Epistles 3.24.9-11

Seneca encourages Lucilius to face death bravely by noting that even cowards have done so. You don't need a history of bravery to make a brave end.


Non in hoc exempla nunc congero ut ingenium exerceam, sed ut te adversus id quod maxime terribile videtur exhorter; facilius autem exhortabor, si ostendero non fortes tantum viros hoc momentum efflandae animae contempsisse sed quosdam ad alia ignavos in hac re aequasse animum fortissimorum, sicut illum Cn. Pompei socerum Scipionem, qui contrario in Africam vento relatus cum teneri navem suam vidisset ab hostibus, ferro se transverberavit et quaerentibus ubi imperator esset, imperator inquit se bene habet. Vox haec illum parem maioribus fecit et fatalem Scipionibus in Africa gloriam non est interrumpi passa. Multum fuit Carthaginem vincere, sed amplius mortem. Imperator inquit se bene habet: an aliter debebat imperator, et quidem Catonis, mori? Non revoco te ad historias nec ex omnibus saeculis contemptores mortis, qui sunt plurimi, colligo; respice ad haec nostra tempora, de quorum languore ac delicis querimur: omnis ordinis homines suggerent, omnis fortunae, omnis aetatis, qui mala sua morte praeciderint.


I am not gathering examples here to instruct your mind; my purpose is rather to urge your spirit on against odds that appear most terrible. My exhortation will be more effective if I show that brave men are not alone in despising the last moment of life, when breath leaves the body—that even proven cowards have shown spirit here equal to the bravest, as Scipio, father-in-law of Cnaeus Pompey, did (†). When a contrary wind drove his ship to the African coast, handing it over to the arms of the enemy, he transfixed himself upon his own sword, and as folk came asking where the commander was, he told them, “The commander is doing very well.” These words made him equal to his ancestors, allowing the fatal glory of the Scipios to persist undimmed in Africa. The conquest of Carthage was a great feat, but conquering death is even greater. “The commander is just fine”—what better death could befall a commander, especially one in the party of Cato? But I don't aim to give you a history lesson, or summon you to a comprehensive review of those who defied death in every age, an innumerable company of heroes. Confine your gaze to our own times, about whose laziness and luxuries we complain. And yet they show us men of every order, fortune, and age who have already defeated the evil of their lives by dying.


---
(†) Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica (c. 95-46 BCE) killed himself after losing the battle of Thapsus, which ended all hopes of saving the republic in the wake of Pharsalus (48 BCE). Before these military disasters, Metellus Scipio (as he is sometimes known) married his daughter to Pompey, Julius Caesar's rival, and earned a reputation for feckless tyranny and debauchery (cf. Valerius Maximus 9.1.5, 8; Caesar, de Bello Civili 3.31-33; de Bello Africano 44-46). Seneca's reference to Scipios with glory in Africa naturally calls to mind Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (c. 236-183 BCE), the hero of the battle of Zama (where Hannibal was decisively defeated), and Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Aemilianus (185-129 BCE), the destroyer of Carthage.