I live, But live to die; and living, see nothing To make death hateful, save an _innate clinging_, A loathsome, and yet all _invincible_ _Instinct of life_, which I abhor, as I Despise myself, yet cannot overcome— And so I live. Later on in the same poem Byron makes Cain say of his father Adam:— Ere he plucked The knowledge, he was ignorant of death. Alas, I scarcely now know what it is; And yet I fear it, fear I know not what. It is then indubitable that among the instincts of man there is one which loves life and fears death. This instinct develops slowly and progressively with age. In that respect it is astonishingly different from other instincts. When hunger or thirst or sexual desire is gratified a sensation of satisfaction is experienced, and this readily passes into satiety or even indifference. The mood lasts for a certain time, and then the instinctive needs reawaken. The instinct of life, however, behaves very differently. In most human beings it develops slowly and becomes stronger and stronger as the years pass by. In childhood and early youth we are very anxious to “grow up,” but when we are adult we have no desire to grow old. We are greatly disturbed by the appearance of wrinkles and grey hair. Instead of being glad to have finished a great part of our mortal career, we feel sad at being nearer the inevitable end. Old age, as it usually presents itself, is marked by ugly features, and often by repugnant or even horrible characters. Little children are usually terrified by the appearance of very old persons, and it is a familiar nursery threat to send for an old man. The murder of the aged is a custom widespread amongst the lower races. The natives of Fiji bury their old men alive, on the pretext that they have become utterly useless. The custom is in existence throughout Melanesia, and occurs in New Caledonia and in most of the adjacent Polynesian islands. Old age is universally despised in that part of the world. The natives of Australia respect old people so long as they retain their activity, but once they become unable to take care of themselves they are abandoned. Often they are killed and eaten, and this custom is favoured by their religious beliefs.[155] The ancient inhabitants of Germany, according to the investigations of Grimm, “killed the old and the sick, and often buried them alive.”