The Last Words Of Distinguished Men And Women Part 9

CYPRIAN (Thascius Caecilius Cypria.n.u.s, "Saint," Bishop of Carthage, Latin Father and martyr. He is the author of numerous epistles and tracts), 200-258. "_Thanks be to G.o.d_," to the heathen judge, on hearing from him the sentence of death.

CYRUS (Cyrus the Elder, surnamed "the Great," founder of the Persian empire, and the greatest of Persian monarchs. He appears in Sacred History as the conqueror of Belshazzar. Herodotus represents him as killed in battle, but Xenophon records that he died a natural death),--B. C. 559.

Xenophon (Cyropaedia B. viii. 7) gives the speech which Cyrus is said to have made upon his death-bed. These are the closing sentences in that speech:

"_When I am dead, my children, do not enshrine my body in gold, or in silver, or in any other substance; but restore it to the earth as soon as possible; for what can be more desirable than to be mixed with the earth, which gives birth and nourishment to everything excellent and good? I have always. .h.i.therto borne an affection to men, and I feel that I should now gladly be incorporated with that which is beneficial to men. And now my soul seems to be leaving me, in the same manner as, it is probable, it begins to leave others. If, therefore, any one of you is desirous of touching my right hand, or is willing to see my face, while it has life, let him come near me; but when I shall have covered it, I request of you, my sons, let no man, not even yourselves, look upon my body. Summon, however, all the Persians, and the allies, to my tomb, to rejoice for me, as I shall then be safe from suffering any evil, whether I be with the divine nature, or be reduced to nothing. As many as come, do not dismiss until you have bestowed on them whatever favors are customary at the funeral of a rich man. And remember this, as my last admonition: by doing good to your friends, you will be able also to punish your enemies. Farewell, dear children, and say farewell to your mother as from me; farewell, all my friends, present and absent._"

Having said this, and taken every one by the right hand, he covered his face and expired.

DAMIENS (Robert Francois, known for his attempt to a.s.sa.s.sinate Louis XV., and called, because of his crimes, Robert le Diable), 1715-1757.

"_Oh death, why art thou so long in coming?_"

The punishment inflicted upon Damiens for his attack upon the king was horrible. The hand by which he attempted the murder was burned at a slow fire; the fleshy parts of his body were then torn off by pincers; and finally, he was dragged about for an hour by four strong horses, while into his numerous wounds were poured molten lead, resin, oil and boiling wax. Towards night, the poor wretch expired, having by an effort of will almost superhuman, kept his resolution of not confessing who were his accomplices if, indeed, he had any. His remains were immediately burned, his house was destroyed, his father, wife and daughter were banished from France forever, and his brothers and sisters compelled to change their names.--_Chambers._

From his arrest to his death--nearly three months--he was in torture; bound in chains, and frequently taken to the torture room, and there treated as the North American savages were wont to treat their victims, and with the aid of more skillful appliances for inflicting pain than Indians have. By a circuitous journey he was taken to the place of execution, guarded by a small army, all Paris ready to see the show. For half an hour he was kept waiting in view of the preparations for his murder, and in the presence of an immense a.s.semblage--many of them delicate ladies of high rank--he was bound naked upon a table placed on a high platform. The ladies and gentry looked on with joy; those who had succeeded, through influence in gaining good positions for seeing the spectacle, saw his right hand (the one with which he had struck the King) burned off; the pieces of flesh torn from him by red-hot pincers, and melted lead and resin poured into his wounds; a powerful horse was attached to each of his four limbs, but it was impossible to tear him to pieces, and a request was sent to cut the muscles; but not until the request was repeated was permission given, and he did not expire until both legs and one arm had been torn from the body. His execution lasted over an hour. His body was burned, his house purchased and destroyed; and the leaders in this murder were munificently rewarded. To the two judges who p.r.o.nounced sentence were given life pensions of six thousand francs a year; the lawyers, the clerks, the torturers and the executioners also had their reward.... Damiens was a monomaniac of the style of Guiteau, driven insane, or excited to this special development of insanity by the political excitement of the time. It is probable, also, that he was a religious monomaniac, for he was a pious fanatic--a Jacobinist--and in his pocket were found a copy of the New Testament, and thirty gold pieces. He had no accomplices, no plan, no motives that could appeal to a sane mind, any more than had Guiteau.

_Dr. George M. Beard._

DANTON (George Jacques), 1759-1794. "_You will show my head to the people--it will be worth the display!_" Said to the executioner.

When the judges asked him his name, residence, etc., he answered, "My name is Danton; my dwelling will soon be in annihilation; but my name will live in the Pantheon of history!"--_Lamartine._

DARWIN (Charles, one of the most eminent of English naturalists), 1809-1882. "_I am not in the least afraid to die._"

DARWIN (Erasmus, English poet and physician. Author of "The Botanic Garden"), 1731-1802. "_There is no time to be lost._"

It is reported at Lichfield, that, perceiving himself growing rapidly worse, he said to Mrs. Darwin, "My dear, you must bleed me instantly."

"Alas!" said she, "I dare not, lest--" "Emma, will you? There is no time to be lost." "Yes, my dear father, if you will direct me." At this moment he sank into his chair and expired.--_The Book of Death._

DE LAGNY (Thomas Fantet, French mathematician), 1660-1734. "_144_," in response to a friend who asked for the square of 12.

DELGADO (Gen. E., the Honduras Revolutionist),--1886. "_We are ready--soldiers, fire!_"

He was shot with three other revolutionists (Lieut.-Col. Indalecio Garcia, Commander Meguel Cortez, and Lieut. Gabriel Loyant), at Comayagua, October 18, 1886.

It was the desire of President Bogran to spare Gen. Delgado's life if possible, and any pretext would have been readily seized upon to give him an opportunity of saving himself and at the same time vindicate the tribunal which had condemned him. The President sent a messenger to him to say that if he would promise to never again take up arms against Honduras he should receive a pardon. The soldier was too brave to accept even his life on these terms, and he sent back word that he would see Honduras in an even more tropical climate than she now enjoys before he would accept his pardon on such a pledge. When his answer was received there was nothing left but to prepare for the execution.

On the morning of their execution the men were taken to a point near the Church of Comayagua; four coffins were placed near the wall and the four condemned men were led to them. They accepted their positions as easily and gracefully as if they were in boxes at the opera, and not a face was blanched, not a nerve quivered. Gen. Delgado asked and received permission to order the guard to fire, which he did, first requesting them not to shoot him in the face, but in the breast. There was no rattle, no scattering reports, but one sharp, stunning report. The four men for half a second remained in an upright position, as if still unhurt, and then rolled over, limp and b.l.o.o.d.y, dead. The soldiers had complied with Gen. Delgado's request, for three b.a.l.l.s had penetrated his breast.

DEMORAX (Greek philosopher), second century, B. C. "_You may go home, the show is over._"

_Lucian._

DE QUINCEY (Thomas, "The English opium-eater"), 1785-1859. "_Sister!

sister! sister!_" During his last illness he was subject to fits of delirium, and in one of these he died. His last words indicate that he was living over in his mind the scenes of early days.

Mr. Mackay gives this account of the condition of De Quincey's grave as it was in 1889:

"The mural tablet is not weather-stained, and his grave is not utterly neglected, but well cared for by some loving hand or other. When in Edinburgh I almost always visit his grave, and only on Thursday, May 23 last, I was there, and as the birds sang about in the grounds, the trees rustled, and the sun shone, I could hardly think of him sleeping in a more lovely spot, save it might be along with Wordsworth and Hartley Coleridge in the churchyard at Grasmere."

A bright, ready and melodious talker, but in the end inconclusive and long-winded. One of the smallest man-figures I ever saw; shaped like a pair of tongs, and hardly above five feet in all. When he sat, you would have taken him, by candle-light, for the beautifulest little child, blue-eyed, sparkling face, had there not been a something too which said, "Eccovi--this child has been in h.e.l.l."--_Carlyle._

DESMOULINS (Benedict Camille, prominent French democrat and pamphleteer, called the "Attorney-general of the Lamp-post," because of his part in the death of those who were hung by the mob in the street), 1762-1794.

"_Behold, then, the recompense reserved for the first apostle of liberty._" Said while standing before the guillotine, and looking at the axe. When at the bar of Tinville he was asked his age, name, and residence, he said: "My age is that of the sansculotte Jesu--I am thirty-three; an age fatal to revolutionists."

DE SOTO (Hernando, Spanish explorer, discoverer of the Mississippi River), about 1496-1542. "_Luis de Moscoso_"--the name of his successor.

He must have spoken later, for he lived twenty-four hours after appointing his successor, but what he said the compiler has been unable to discover.

Believing his death near at hand, on the twentieth of May he held a last interview with his followers and, yielding to the wishes of his companions, who obeyed him to the end, he named a successor. On the next day he died. Thus perished Ferdinand de Soto, the governor of Cuba, the successful a.s.sociate of Pizarro. His miserable end was the more observed from the greatness of his former prosperity. His soldiers p.r.o.nounced his eulogy by grieving for their loss; the priests chanted over his body the first requiems that were ever heard on the waters of the Mississippi. To conceal his death, his body was wrapped in a mantle, and in the stillness of midnight was sunk in the middle of the stream.--_Bancroft._

DE WITT (Cornelius, Dutch naval officer and statesman), 1625-1672.

One Tichelaer, a barber, a man noted for infamy, accused Cornelius de Witt of endeavoring by bribes to engage him in the design of poisoning the Prince of Orange. The accusation, though attended with the most improbable, and even absurd circ.u.mstances, was greedily received by the credulous mult.i.tude; and Cornelius was cited before a court of judicature. The judges, either blinded by the same prejudices, or not daring to oppose the popular torrent, condemned him to suffer the question. This man, who had bravely served his country in war, and who had been invested with the highest dignities, was delivered into the hands of the executioner, and torn in pieces by the most inhuman torments. Amidst the severe agonies which he endured, he still made protestations of his innocence, and frequently repeated an ode of Horace, which contained sentiments suited to his deplorable condition: "_Justum et tenacem propositi virum_," _etc._[16]

The judges, however, condemned him to lose his offices, and to be banished the commonwealth. The pensionary, who had not been terrified from performing the part of a kind brother and faithful friend during this prosecution, resolved not to desert him on account of the unmerited infamy which was endeavored to be thrown upon him. He came to his brother's prison, determined to accompany him to the place of exile.

The signal was given to the populace. They rose in arms; they broke open the doors of the prison; they pulled out the two brothers, and a thousand hands vied who should first be imbrued in their blood. Even their death did not satiate the brutal rage of the mult.i.tude. They exercised on the dead bodies of those virtuous citizens indignities too shocking to be recited; and till tired with their own fury, they permitted not the friends of the deceased to approach or to bestow on them the honors of a funeral, silent and unattended.

_Hume's History of England._

[16] The man whose mind, on virtue bent, Pursues some greatly good intent, With undiverted aim, Serene beholds the angry crowd; Nor can their clamors, fierce and loud, His stubborn honor tame.

Not the proud tyrant's fiercest threat, Nor storms, that from their dark retreat The lawless surges wake; Not Jove's dread bolt, that shakes the pole, The firmer purpose of his soul With all its power can shake.

Should nature's frame in ruins fall, And chaos o'er the sinking ball Resume the primeval sway, His courage chance and fate defies, Nor feels the wreck of earth and skies Obstruct its destined way.

_Translated by Blacklocke._

d.i.c.kENS (Charles), 1812-1870. "_On the ground._" He was losing his balance and feared that he would fall to the floor.

DIDEROT (Denis, French philosopher, atheist and chief among the Encyclopedists), 1712-1784. On the evening of the 30th of July, 1784, he sat down to the table, and at the end of the meal took an apricot. His wife, with kindly solicitude, remonstrated. "_Mais quel diable de mal veux-te que cela me fosse?_" he said, and ate the apricot. Then he rested his elbow on the table, trifling with some sweetmeats. His wife asked him a question; on receiving no answer, she looked up and saw that he was dead. He had died as the Greek poet says that men died in the golden age, "They pa.s.sed away as if mastered by sleep."--_John Morley._

DILLON (Wentworth, Earl of Roscommon, English poet and translator), about 1633-1684. His last words were from his own translation of the "Dies Irae:"

"_My G.o.d, my Father, and my Friend, Do not forsake me in the end._"