The Role Of Suicide In Ancient Rome

Aristotle once said, “To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill. “ Although suicide has a negative view towards it in the modern day, suicide was viewed as a way to uphold one’s honor in ancient Rome. Due to the implementation of Christianity, the views of suicide today differ from those in ancient Rome In ancient Rome, there was very little treatment for suicide because it was accepted when done for the appropriate reasons. The School of Stoics defined suicide as appropriate when the act suicide served others, poverty, chronic illness, or mental disease made death more attractive, or if it was done to uphold one’s honor.
Although Plato viewed suicide as wrong and disgraceful he made exceptions for when the mind is morally corrupted and the character cannot be salvaged, it is done by judicial order, when it is compelled by extreme and unavoidable personal misfortune, and when it results from shame at having participated in grossly, unjust actions. These suicides were acceptable because mental illnesses in Rome were believed to not be caused by biological factors but by external factors. Late Greek and Roman societies felt that interpersonal relationships were the cause of human distress and that illnesses were the product of actual conduct and emotions related to interpersonal relations. Roman treatments often were ineffective and the mental illnesses were not treated. Since families were burdened with care, the person would be locked up when the family did not want to care for him or her.. Many people were often put to death to avoid shame.