Well, when Socrates said this he was really old and, despite his brave act before the judges, totally worn-out. Perhaps that's a point of view of people who have come to a dreadful stage to even seek for death.
Ironically, early Buddhist schools believe that their 'sins' force them to live again and again. Believing that 'life is pain, to live is to suffer', their ultimate goal is to seize being born and reach absolute Oblivion.
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Gather around me, Oh! ye death-defiant, and the earth itself shall be thine, to have and to hold!