And I shall encourage you all the more easily by showing that not only resolute men have despised that moment when the soul breathes its last, but that certain persons, who were craven in other respects, have equaled in this regard the courage of the bravest.
Take, for example, Scipio, the father-in-law of Gnaeus Pompeius: he was driven back upon the African coast by a headwind and saw his ship in the power of the enemy. He therefore pierced his body with a sword; and when they asked where the commander was, he replied: "All is well with the commander."
These words brought him up to the level of his ancestors and suffered not the glory which fate gave to the Scipios in Africa to lose its continuity. It was a great deed to conquer Carthage, but a greater deed to conquer death.
"All is well with the commander!" Ought a general to die otherwise, especially one of Cato's generals?
There is, however, a grave danger of twisting a respect for the man we observe doing right into a worship of the man we believe can do no wrong.
As creatures of reason and will, we are ruled by our own judgments, and so it is always within our power either to choose well or to choose poorly. There is good and bad in all of us, where even the sage is not without his vices, and even the scoundrel is not without his virtues.
I search in vain for the flawless hero, and I only diminish myself by condemning another as an irredeemable villain.
So when I am seeking a moral example, I must always appreciate the context, and come to accept how one thing will have diverse aspects, and one person will contain many qualities. For all his greatness, Cato was deficient; for all his weakness, Caesar was strong. Take the good, leave the rest.
The courage to despise death, or to endure any degree of hardship, is hardly a rare occurrence. Sometimes the best of us stumble, and sometimes the worst of us rise to the occasion, but human nature cannot thrive without fortitude. The least likely prospects will often amaze us by suddenly taking a stand, and the most unassuming fellows will prove how bravery has nothing to do with putting on the flashiest show.
Metellus Scipio came from a long line of noble Romans, and yet most accounts paint a very poor picture of him. It seems he was sadly a combination of a crooked politician, an incompetent general, and an intemperate bounder. Upon losing the Battle of Thapsus to Julius Caesar, however, he broke with all his previous habits by taking death before dishonor.
Now he could certainly have turned this into a dramatic effort, as would be fitting for a self-serving schemer, but he instead took a modest and light-hearted turn, suitable to the best of Stoics.
“All is well with the commander!” Indeed it was, perhaps for the first in the man’s life, because he was finally looking to Nature over Fortune! That makes it no less admirable, and perhaps even more so, for there is joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents.
Beyond any of his other failings, I can remember this triumph of Scipio Metellus, and so by his own progress he is now helping me with my own progress, many centuries later. His ancestor, Scipio Africanus, defeated Carthage, while Scipio Metellus eventually defeated himself.
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