David Hume, mortality, and fear of death

SELF, LIFE, AND DEATH: How the economist and philosopher David Hume came to accept his own mortality. Tony Pitson, of The Philosopher's Magazine, writes:

Did he accept his own mortality? And, if so, did he not then fear death? We have evidence on these matters both from Johnson’s biographer, James Boswell, and also Hume’s friend and fellow philosopher, Adam Smith. Boswell relates that he visited Hume shortly before his death and raised the question of whether he still rejected the idea of an after-life. Hume made it clear that he continued to think that it was quite unreasonable to believe that we should exist forever. Nor did the thought of his death cause him any uneasiness. Here Hume cited the reference by the poet Lucretius to what Epicurus said about the fear of death. According to Epicurus there is a symmetrical relation between our non-existence before we were born and our non-existence after death. We don’t consider our not having existed for an eternity before birth as a terrible thing. So why should our not existing for an eternity after death be considered an evil? This is reflected in Hume’s own attitude towards death. Hume told Boswell that he had no wish to live forever and that he did not find the idea of an after-life a pleasing one.

An interesting view, and one with which I'm inclined to agree. Read on.