Suicide

Epicurus saw very few cases in which suicide might be justified.

Unlike the Stoics, who famously advocated suicide in a great number of cases, where "the wise man could no longer live according to his principles", Epicurus and his followers took a more humanly acceptable view of the matter: recognizing that humans are normally inclined to want to go on living because of the pleasures of life, and correlating this with the axiomatic value of pleasure, Epicurus insisted that suicide is foolhardy, or at the very least: that it be considered as a measure of very last resort.

The fourth tenet of the Four-Part Cure alludes precisely to this: what is painful, is easy to endure. In illness, we hope to regain our health; even when the illness is chronic and painful, the pain grows dull with habituation, and we learn to cherish the pleasures left us, despite the pain; finally, when pain reaches an unbearable maximum, death cannot be far behind it -- and death means the cessation of the senses, and thus of both pleasure and pain.

Epicurus' view on suicide is both humane and practical: it does not entirely disallow suicide (as does Christianity, and other religious faiths), nor does it offer it too readily, either as escapism or as an article in some code of honor (as have done several militarist cultures).