But this
is no part of the case supposed. And the only new element in the man's
act is not any element of special immorality, but simply of special
misfortune.
The other remark has reference to the meaning of the word _sudden_.
Very possibly Caesar and the Christian Church do not differ in the way
supposed,--that is, do not differ by any difference of doctrine as
between Pagan and Christian views of the moral temper appropriate to
death; but perhaps they are contemplating different cases. Both
contemplate a violent death, a _Biathanatos_--death that is
_biaios_, or, in other words, death that is brought about, not by
internal and spontaneous change, but by active force having its origin
from without. In this meaning the two authorities agree. Thus far they
are in harmony. But the difference is that the Roman by the word
"sudden" means _unlingering_, whereas the Christian Litany by
"sudden death" means a death _without warning_, consequently
without any available summons to religious preparation. The poor
mutineer who kneels down to gather into his heart the bullets from
twelve firelocks of his pitying comrades dies by a most sudden death in
Caesar's sense; one shock, one mighty spasm, one (possibly _not_
one) groan, and all is over. But, in the sense of the Litany, the
mutineer's death is far from sudden: his offence originally, his
imprisonment, his trial, the interval between his sentence and its
execution, having all furnished him with separate warnings of his fate
--having all summoned him to meet it with solemn preparation.
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