Some people read this and, finding written there that Razias, inflicting death on himself with his own hand, chose to die nobly rather than be subject to sinners and to be treated with unworthy wrongs contrary to his native dignity, I have judged it useful to insert into this work of ours certain passages from the words of the venerable Father Augustine, so that readers of sound mind might understand what they ought to do in such matters, and not perhaps, being of a simpler disposition, believe that when necessity presses, it is in some way better to inflict death upon oneself by one's own act than to fall alive into the hands of sinners. Now the aforementioned Father reports, in his first book On the City of God, where he discussed at length whether it is ever permitted for someone to kill himself, speaking as follows: "Many have killed themselves lest they fall into the hands of their enemies. We do not merely ask whether this has been done, but whether it ought to have been done. Sound reason must indeed be preferred to examples; and the examples that agree with sound reason are to be followed, especially those which are all the more worthy of imitation the more they excel in reverence. The patriarchs did not do this, nor the prophets, nor the apostles, because the Lord Christ himself, when he warned them that if they suffered persecution they should flee from city to city, could have warned them to lay hands upon themselves, so as not to fall into the hands of their persecutors. But since he did not command or counsel this way of departing from this life to those whose departure he promised to prepare eternal dwellings, whatever examples the nations that do not know God may set in opposition, it is clear that this is not permitted to those who worship the one true God. It remains that we understand, concerning the human being, what was said: 'You shall not kill.' Therefore neither another person nor yourself; for whoever kills himself kills nothing other than a human being. Certain exceptions indeed have been made by that same divine authority regarding when it is not permitted to kill a human being. But, apart from those whom God commands to be killed, whether by a law given in general or by a specific command addressed to a particular person for a particular time, it is not the person who kills who is himself the author of the killing, but the one who owes the ministry of obedience to the One who commands, just as the sword is an instrument in the hand of the one who uses it. And therefore those who have waged wars under God's authority, or who, bearing the person of public power in accordance with his laws, that is, under the rule of the most just reason, have punished evildoers with death, have by no means acted against the commandment, 'You shall not kill.' Abraham not only is not accused of the crime of cruelty, but is even praised for his devotion, because he was willing to kill his son, not wickedly, but obediently. And it is rightly asked whether what Jephthah did in killing his daughter, who came out to meet her father, is to be regarded as done by God's command, since he had said that he had vowed to offer in sacrifice to God whatever should first come out to meet him when he returned victorious from battle (Judges 11). Nor is Samson excused in any other way, who destroyed himself together with his enemies by the collapse of the house, except that the Spirit, who worked miracles through him, had secretly commanded this. Therefore, with these exceptions, that is, those whom either a generally just law or God himself, the very fountain of justice, commands to be put to death, whoever kills a human being, whether himself or any other person, is bound by the guilt of murder; and whoever has perpetrated this upon himself may perhaps be admired for greatness of spirit, but is not to be praised for soundness of wisdom. Indeed, if you examine the matter more carefully by reason, even that so-called greatness of spirit is not rightly named, when someone, being unable to endure either certain hardships or the sins of others, kills himself. Rather, a weak mind is revealed, which cannot bear either the harsh bondage of its own body or the foolish opinion of the crowd; and the greater spirit should be said to belong to the one who can endure a life full of troubles rather than flee from it, and who can despise human judgment, especially popular judgment, which is often wrapped in the darkness of error, in comparison with the light and purity of conscience."
Source: Commentary on 2 Maccabees