然而在公元452年的阿尔勒会议(英语:Council of Arles (452))中出现了“若奴隶自杀不能降罪于主子”的声明。[5]在古希腊也有着一些引领了天主教徒对于自杀的仇视的思想家,如毕达哥拉斯及亚里士多德。毕达哥拉斯认为世上能供人使用的灵魂是有限的,如果有人突然的死亡将会导致灵魂的分配失衡。而亚里士多德则谴责自杀对于社会是有损的,社会将会损失该自杀者所能带来的劳动力等资源。
罗马人非常欣赏“爱国”的自杀行为;若只是单纯的战死反而会被视作一种不荣誉的行为。而对于斯多葛主义者(一个源自希腊的哲学流派)来说,死亡就象征着死者脱离了令人痛苦的现实世界,回归自由一样。例如小加图的自杀:在输掉塔普苏斯战役(英语:Battle of Thapsus)且格奈乌斯·庞培也死了之后,坚决不投降于尤利乌斯·凯撒而毅然决然地自杀,在罗马人眼中便是一个十分“光荣的死亡”,即一个具有充分理由又不违背良心,不为一己之利的死亡。而塞内卡的死亡也被视作是一个“光荣的死亡”,尽管他是因为卷入了批索阴谋(英语:pisonian conspiracy)而被尼禄皇帝逼迫自杀的。然而马克·安东尼的自杀却不被认为是一场“光荣的死亡”,因为人们认为他是为了爱人而自杀的,意即是为了一己之利的。可见在罗马人眼里光荣的自杀和自私自利的自杀之间有着非常明显的界线。
紧接着在中世纪,天主教会开始绝罚那些自杀未遂者,而自杀死亡者的遗体则会被丢在“受净化后的”坟场外面。[6]在此期间教会里对于那些殉教者的行为算不算是自杀也展开了漫长的讨论,例如那些在哥德华殉教(英语:Martyrs of Córdoba)中的死者算不算是罪人。1670年,路易十四对于自杀死亡者的处置方法发布了更严重的处罚条例:将死者遗体面部向着地面拖行着游街示众,最后把遗体挂在垃圾场上或著直接丢到垃圾堆里,并且还要将死者的财产全数充公。[7][8]
John D. Papadimitriou, et al. "Euthanasia and suicide in antiquity: viewpoint of the dramatists and philosophers." Journal of the Royal Society of medicine 100.1 (2007): 25-28. online (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆)
Bähr, Andreas. "Between “Self-Murder” and “Suicide”: The Modern Etymology of Self-Killing." Journal of Social History 46.3 (2013): 620-632. Argues Suicide” is a modern concept--emerging in English in 1650s and in French and Spanish in late 18th century.
Crocker, Lester G. "The discussion of suicide in the eighteenth century." Journal of the History of Ideas (1952): 13#1 pp 47–72. online
Gambotto, Antonella. The Eclipse: A Memoir of Suicide. Australia: Broken Ankle Books. 2004. ISBN 978-0-9751075-1-5.
Healy, Róisín. "Suicide in early modern and modern Europe." Historical Journal 49.3 (2006): 903–919. online (the link is legit)
Kästner, Alexander. "Saving Self-Murderers: Lifesaving Programs and the Treatment of Suicides in Late Eighteenth-Century Europe." Journal of Social History 46.3 (2013): 633–650.
Laragy, Georgina. "'A Peculiar Species of Felony': Suicide, Medicine, and the Law in Victorian Britain and Ireland." Journal of Social History 46.3 (2013): 732–743.
Merrick, Jeffrey. "Rescued from the river: attempted suicide in late eighteenth-century Paris." Histoire sociale/Social history 49.98 (2016): 27–47. online
Rosen, George. "History in the study of suicide." Psychological Medicine 1.4 (1971): 267–285.
Vandekerckhove, Lieven. "The Decriminalization of Suicide in 18th Century Europe." European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice vol. 6, no. 3, 1998, pp. 252–266. HeinOnline, online.
Watt, Jeffrey Rodgers. From Sin to Insanity: Suicide in Early Modern Europe (2004)
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