The Essays of Montaigne Ch. 60: Death as the Ultimate

Michel de Montaigne

Death as the Ultimate Freedom

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Summary

Montaigne writes as a doubter, not a chairman, on whether we may quit life; divine will moderates human contestation, yet examples pile up on every side. He opens on Ceos and the freedom to die: nature left us the keys of life, with one door in and a hundred thousand ways out. Needs no more to die but to will it; Damidas tells Philip that men who do not fear death have little left to suffer, and Agis says freedom lives in despising death.

He weighs suicide against duty to God, country, and laws, praising Regulus's constancy over Cato's precipitous fame and warning that fear of death can throw us into worse ends. Indiscretion and impatience push men to precipices; true virtue, he says, does not turn her back on evils but is nourished by pains she can still bear with honour. Stoics and Christians dispute whether we hold our lives as loan or gift; Montaigne refuses a single verdict, citing Seneca, Plato, and church fathers on both sides. He asks whether leaving life early is fleeing pain or fulfilling a larger obligation to kin, city, and faith.

Cleomenes refused early suicide while hope remained, calling it a remedy never to use while an inch of hope lasts; premature exits often look like impatience, not virtue. Razis stabs himself rather than fall butchered; Astapa's people heap riches, ring women and children with fire, and choose collective death before Roman capture. A condemned man fasts eight days on a priest's vow to escape ignominy, showing how fear of shame can steer the exit as much as pain.

On Ceos a woman past ninety invites Pompey to her death and drinks poison calmly, counting the cold's advance through her limbs. Physicians, philosophers, and magistrates disagree on when exit is courage, crime, or compassion. Montaigne distinguishes martyrdom, desperate disease, and theatrical despair, then praises customs that let the aged depart without prolonged torture. On Cea the old feast well and leap from an appointed rock into the sea; voluntary death, he says, is the finest because life depends on others' pleasure while death depends on our own. Living is slavery when liberty of dying is wanting, and prolonged cures often torment the body at life's expense before they finally succeed. Reputation, he adds, should not frighten a voluntary exit; folly is to let public opinion govern a choice that concerns only the self. Pain and fear of worse, he ends, are the most excusable prompts, while vanity, boredom, and borrowed philosophy are the least.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Separating Escape From Choice

Not every wish to die is courage; some exits are impatience dressed as philosophy. Cleomenes told Therykion that suicide is a remedy never wanting, but a man should not use it while an inch of hope remains.

When you fantasize about escape, ask whether you are refusing a hard duty or truly out of honourable options.

Coming Up in Chapter 61

After chosen death on Ceos, Montaigne plays with timing and letters. Rusticus will keep an emperor's packet sealed through Plutarch's whole declamation, though Montaigne doubts that was prudence Montaigne praises Jacques Amyot's Plutarch as France's breviary, then turns to curiosity about news and letters. Rusticus waited through a whole declamation before opening the emperor's packet; the room applauded his gravity, yet Montaigne doubts his prudence..

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Original text

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Chapter 60

Death as the Ultimate Freedom

A CUSTOM OF THE ISLE OF CEA [Cos. Cea is the form of the name given by Pliny] If to philosophise be, as ‘tis defined, to doubt, much more to write at random and play the fool, as I do, ought to be reputed doubting, for it is for novices and freshmen to inquire and to dispute, and for the chairman to moderate and determine. My moderator is the authority of the divine will, that governs us without contradiction, and that is seated above these human and vain contestations. Philip having forcibly entered into Peloponnesus, and some one saying to…

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Critical Thinking Exercise

10 minutes

Map Your Exit Doors

Think of a current situation where you feel trapped or stuck. Write down every possible way out - including options that seem impossible, embarrassing, or extreme. Don't judge them yet, just list them. Then examine each option: What would it actually cost? What would it actually gain? Often we stare at one exit door while missing others that are actually open.

Consider:

•Include options you've dismissed as 'too hard' or 'too embarrassing'
•Consider partial exits - changing part of the situation rather than all of it
•Ask what advice you'd give a friend in the same spot

Journaling Prompt

Write about a time when you felt completely trapped but later discovered you had more options than you realised. What helped you see those other doors?

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Death as the Ultimate Freedom

Summary