To all which I could only say that the thing had been actually known to
happen, and that there were several well-authenticated instances of
people having died and come to life again--instances which no man in his
senses could doubt.
"If this be so," said my opponent, "we must bear it as best we may."
I then translated for him, as well as I could, the noble speech of Hamlet
in which he says that it is the fear lest worse evils may befall us after
death which alone prevents us from rushing into death's arms.
"Nonsense," he answered, "no man was ever yet stopped from cutting his
throat by any such fears as your poet ascribes to him--and your poet
probably knew this perfectly well. If a man cuts his throat he is at
bay, and thinks of nothing but escape, no matter whither, provided he can
shuffle off his present. No. Men are kept at their posts, not by the
fear that if they quit them they may quit a frying-pan for a fire, but by
the hope that if they hold on, the fire may burn less fiercely. 'The
respect,' to quote your poet, 'that makes calamity of so long a life,' is
the consideration that though calamity may live long, the sufferer may
live longer still."
On this, seeing that there was little probability of our coming to an
agreement, I let the argument drop, and my opponent presently left me
with as much disapprobation as he could show without being overtly rude.
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