Pelagia, of Antioch, A.D. 310, cast herself off the house top to avoid the persecutions of the Pagans, and was afterwards canonised as a Saint by the Roman Catholic Church; see St. Ambrose, De Virginibus.
Sophronia, A.D. 310, canonised as Saint Sophronia, destroyed herself to avoid the snares set for her modesty by the Emperor Maxentius.
Corellius Rufus, A.D. 110. Pliny the Younger speaks in terms of sincere regret that this friend should have taken his own life.
Servius, the Grammarian, A.D. 400, who wrote commentaries on Virgil, killed himself in the reign of Honorius, rather than suffer the pains of the gout, to which he was very subject.
III.─Middle Ages and Modern Times.
A very long interval occurs here, during which period I cannot discover any Notable Suicides: on passing to the next series a great change will be noticed as to causation, the days of suicide for honour are passed: Misery has become the mainspring.
Richard II., King of England, 1399. Some historians, as Walsingham, Otterbourne, and Peter of Blois, say that this king starved himself to death.
Charles VII., King of France, 1461, starved himself, because he feared the Dauphin would poison him.
Acosta, Uriel, 1647, a Jew who became a Christian, but becoming involved in the toils of the Inquisition, destroyed himself.
Burton, Robert, 1660, author of the “Anatomy of Melancholy,” committed suicide to verify the prophecy he had made as to the date of his death.