Suicide is reason that weighs death over life upon the scales.

Cicero writes: “When a man’s circumstances contain a preponderance of things in accordance with nature, it is appropriate for him to remain alive; when he possesses or sees in prospect a majority of the contrary things, it is appropriate for him to depart from life.”[1]

In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius counsels to himself: “As you intend to live when you are gone, so it is in your power to live here. But if men do not permit you, then get away and out of life, as if you were suffering no harm. The house is smoky, and I quit it. Why do you think that this is any trouble.”[2]

Suicide is reason that begins to fail the reasonable. It is the last endeavor of reason, extinguishing itself according to its very powers.

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[1] Cicero, De Finibus III, 60-1.
[2] Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.29