Plutarch 01

7/31/2019 Plutarch 01

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/plutarch-01 1/6

On t he Eat ing of Flesh

PLUTARCH

Tract I

1. You ask of me then for what reason i t was that Pythagoras abstained from eating of f lesh. Ifo r my par t do much admire in what humor , wi th what sou l o r reason, the f i rs t man wi th h ismouth touched slaughter, and reached to his l ips the f lesh of a dead animal, and having setbefore people courses of ghastly corpses and ghosts, could give those parts the names of meatand victuals, that but a l i t t le before lowed, cr ied, moved, and saw; how his sight could enduret he blood of t he slaught ered, f layed, and mangled bodies; how his smel l could bear their scent;and how the very nastiness happened not to offend the taste, whi le i t chewed the sores ofothers, and part ic ipated of t he sap and ju ices of deadly wounds.

Crept t he raw hides, and wi t h a bel lowing soundRoared t he dead l imb s; t he burning entrai ls groaned.

This indeed is but a f ict ion and fancy; but t he fare i t sel f is tru ly monst rous and prodigious—t hata man should have a stomach to creatures whi le they yet bel low, and that he should be givingdirect ions which of th ings yet a l ive and speaking is f i t test to make food of, and order ing theseveral manners of the seasoning and dressing them and serving them up to tables. You oughtra ther , in my op in ion , to have enqu i red who f i rs t began th is pract ice , than who o f la te t imesl e f t i t o f f .

2- And tru ly, as for those people who f i rst ventured upon eating of flesh, i t is very probablethat the whole reason of their so doing was scarci ty and want of other food; for i t is not l ikelythat their l iv ing together in lawless and extravagant lusts, or their growing wanton andcapr icious through the excessive var iety of provisions then among them, brought them to suchunsociable pleasures as these, against Nature. Yea, had they at this instant but their sense andvoice rest ored t o t hem, I am persuaded t hey would express themselves t o t h is purpose:

"Oh! happy you, and highly favored of the Gods, who now l ive! Into what an age of the worldare you fa l len, who share and enjoy among you a plenti fu l port ion of good th ings! Whatabundance of t h ings spr ing up for your use! What f ru i t fu l vineyards you enjoy! What wealt h yougather from the f ie lds! What del icacies from trees and plants, which you may gather! You mayglut and f i l l yourselves without being pol luted. As for us, we fe l l upon the most d ismal andaf f r igh t ing par t o f t ime, in wh ich we were exposed by our f i rs t p roduct ion to mani fo ld andinextr icable wants and necessi t ies. As yet the th ickened air concealed the heaven from ourview, and the stars were as yet confused with a disorder ly huddle of f i re and moisture andviolent f l uxions of w inds. As yet t he sun was not f ixed t o an unwandering and cert a in course, soas to dist inguish mor ning and evening, nor d id he br ing back t he seasons in order crowned w it hwreaths from the fru i t fu l harvest. The land was also spoi led by the inundations of d isorder lyr ivers; and a great part of i t was deformed with sloughs, and utter ly wi ld by reason of deepquagmires, unfert i le forests, and woods. There was then no production of tame fru i ts, nor any

instruments of art or invention of wi t . And hunger gave no t ime, nor d id seed-t ime then stayfor the year ly season. What wonder is i t i f we made use of the f lesh of beasts contrary toNature, when mud was eaten and the bark of wood, and when i t was thought a happy th ing tof ind ei ther a sprouting grass or a root of any plant! But when they had by chance tasted of oreaten an acorn, t hey danced for very j oy about some oak or esculus, cal l ing i t by t he names ofl i fe-giver, mother, and nour isher. And th is was the only fest ival that those t imes wereacquainted with; upon al l other occasions, a l l th ings were fu l l of anguish and dismal sadness.But whence is i t that a certa in ravenousness and frenzy dr ives you in these happy days topollute yourselves with blood, since you have such an abundance of things necessary for your

7/31/2019 Plutarch 01


subsistence? Why do you belie the earth as unable to maintain you? Why do you profane thelawgiver Ceres, and shame t he mi l d and gentle Bacchus, as not furnishing y°" wit h suff ic iency?Are you not ashamed to mix tame fru i ts wi th blood and slaughter? You are indeed wont to cal lserpents, leopards, and l ions savage creatures; but yet yourselves are defi led with blood, andcome noth ing beh ind them in crue l ty . What they k i l l i s the i r o rd inary nour ishment , bu t whatyou k i l l i s your be t t e r fa re ."

3. For we eat not l ions and wolves by way of revenge; but we let t hose go, and catch t heharmless and t ame sort , and such as have nei ther st ings nor t eeth t o bi t e wit h, and slaythem; which, so may Jove help us, Nature seems to us to have produced for their beauty andcomel iness only.

4. But w e are nothing put out of countenance, e i t her by the beaut eous gayety of t he colors, orby the charmingness of the musical voices, or by the rare sagaci ty of the intel lects, or by thecleanl iness and neatness of d iet, or by the rare discret ion and prudence of these poorunfor tunate an imals; bu t f o r t he sake of some l i t t l e mouth f u l o f f lesh , w e depr ive a sou l o f t hesun and l igh t , and o f t ha t p ropor t ion o f l i fe and t ime i t had been born in to t he wor ld t o en joy.And then we f ancy that t he voices i t ut t ers and screams fort h t o us are nothing else but cert a ininart iculate sounds and noises, and not t he several deprecations, entr eaties, and pleadings ofeach of t hem, as i t were saying thus to us: " I deprecate not t hy necessi t y ( i f such there be), butthy wantonness. K i l l me for thy feed ing, bu t do not take me o f f fo r thy bet te r feed ing." Ohorr ib le cruel ty ! I t is tru ly an affect ing sight to see the very table of r ich people la id beforethem, who keep them cooks and caterers to furnish them with dead corpses for their dai lyfa re ; bu t i t i s ye t more a f fect ing to see i t taken away, fo r the mammocks le f t a re more thanthat which was eaten. These therefore were sla in to no purpose. Others there are, who are sospar ing o f what is se t be fore them that they wi l l no t su f fe r i t to be cu t o r s l iced; thusabstain ing from them when dead, whi le they would not spare them when al ive.

5. Wel l then, w e understand that t hat sort of m en are used to say, that i n eat ing of f l esh theyfo l low the conduct and d i rect ion o f Nature . But tha t i t i s no t na tura l to mankind to feed onfl esh, w e f i r st of a l l demonstrat e from t he very shape and f igure of t he body. For a human bodyno ways resembles those that were born for ravenousness; i t hath no hawk's bi l l , no sharptalon, no roughness of teeth, no such strength °f stomach or heat of d igestion, as can be

suff ic ient t o convert or al t er such heavy and f l eshy fare. But even fr om hence, t hat is, fr omthe smoothness of the tongue, and the slowness of the stomach to digest, Nature seems todiscla im al l pretence to f leshy victuals. But i f you wi l l contend that yoursel f was born to anincl inat ion to such food as you have now a mind to eat, do you then yoursel f ki l l what youwould eat. But do i t yoursel f , wi thout the help of a chopping-kni fe, mal let, or axe –as wolves,bears, and l ions do, who ki l l and eat at once. Rend an ox with thy teeth, worry a hog with thymout h, t ear a lamb or a hare in pieces, and fa l l on and eat i t a l ive as t hey do. But i f t hou hadstra ther stay unt i l what thou eatest is to become dead, and i f thou ar t loa th to a sou l ou t o f i tsbody, why then dost thou against Nature eat an th ing? Nay, there is nobody that is wi l l ing toeat even a l i fe less and a dead th ing as i t is; but they boi l i t , and roast i t , and al ter i t by f i reand medicines, as i t were, changing and quenching the slaughtered gore with thousands ofsweet sauces, that the palate being thereby deceived may admit of such uncouth fare. I t wasindeed a wi t ty expression of a Lacedaemonian, who, having purchased a smal l f i sh in a cert a in

inn, del ivered i t to h is landlord to be dressed; and as he demanded cheese, and vinegar, andoi l to make sauce, he repl ied, i f I had had those, I would not have bought the f ish. But we aregrown so wanton in our b loody luxury, that we have bestowed upon f lesh the name of meat[Greek omitted], and then require another seasoning [Greek omitted], to th is same f lesh,mixing oi l , wine, honey, p ickle, and vinegar, wi th Syr ian and Arabian spices, as though wereal ly meant to embalm i t after i ts d isease. Indeed when th ings are dissolved and made thustender and soft, and are as i t were turned into a sort of a carr ionly corruption, i t must needsbe a great d i f f i cu l ty fo r concoct ion to master them, and when i t ha th mastered them, theymust needs cause grievous oppr essions and qualm y ind igest ions.

7/31/2019 Plutarch 01


Diogenes ventured once to eat a raw pourcontrel , that he might d isuse himself from meatdressed by f i re; and as several pr iests and ot her people stood round him , he wr apped his headin his cassock, and so putt ing the f ish t o his mouth, he t hus said unto t hem: I t i s for your sake,sirs, that I undergo th is danger, and run th is r isk. A noble and gal lant r isk, by Jupi ter! For farotherw ise t han as Pelopidas ventured his l i fe f or t he l ibert y of t he Thebans, and Harmodius andAristogi ton for that of the Athenians, d id th is phi losopher encounter with a raw pourcontrel , tothe end he might make human l i fe more brut ish. Moreover, these same f lesh-eatings not onlyare pret ernatural t o men's bodies, but a lso by clogging and cloying t hem, t hey render t heir veryminds and intel lects gross. For i t is wel l known to most, that wine and much f lesh-eating makethe body indeed strong and lusty, but the mind weak and feeble. And that I may not offend thewrestlers, I wi l l make use of examples out of my own country. The Athenians are wont to cal lus Boeotians gross, senseless, and stupid fellows, for no other reason but our over-much eating;by Pindar we are cal led hogs, for the same reason. Menander the comedian cal ls us "fe l lowswit h long jaw s." I t is observed also t hat, according t o t he saying of Heracl i tus, " the w isest soulis l i ke a dry l igh t . " Ear then ja rs , i f you s t r ike them, wi l l sound; bu t i f they be fu l l , theyperceive not the strokes that are given them. Copper vessels also that are th in communicatet he sound round about t hem, unless some one stop and dul l t he ambient st roke wi t h his f ingers.Moreover, the eye, when seized with an over-great p leni tude of humors, grows dim and feeblefor i ts ordinary work. When we behold the sun through a humid air and a great quanti ty ofgross and indigested vapors, we see i t not clear and br ight, but obscure and cloudy, and withgl immer ing beams. Just so in a m uddy and clogged body, t hat is swagged down wit h heavy andunnatural nour ishments; i t must needs happen that the gayety and splendor of the mind beconfused and dul led, and that i t ramble and rol l after l i t t le and scarce discernible objects,since it wants clearness and vigor for higher things.

But to pass by these considerations, is not accustoming one's self to mildness and a humantemper of mind an admirable th ing? For who would wrong or in jure a man that is so sweetlyand humanly disposed with respect to the i l ls of strangers that are not of h is kind? I rememberthat three days ago, as I was discoursing, I made mention of a saying of Xenocrates, and howthe Athenians gave judgment upon a certa in person who had f layed a l iv ing ram. For my part Icannot th ink him a worse cr iminal that torments a poor creature whi le l iv ing, than a man thatshal l take away i ts l i fe and murder i t . But (as i t seems) we are more sensible of what is done

against custom than against Nature. There, however, I d iscussed these matters in a morepopular style. But as for that grand and myster ious pr incip le which (as Plato speaks) isincredible to base minds and to such as affect only mortal th ings, I as l i t t le care to move i t inthis discourse as a pilot doth a ship in a storm, or a comedian his machine while the scenes aremoving; but perhaps i t would not be amiss, by way of introduction and preface, to repeatcerta in verses of Empedocles. . . . For in these, by way of a l legory, he hints at men's souls, asthat they are t ied to mortal bodies, to be punished for murders, eating of f lesh and of oneanother, a l though th is doctr ine seems much, ancienter than his t ime. For the fables that arestor ied and related about the discerpt ion of Bacchus, and the attempts of the Ti tans upon him,and of their tast ing of h is sla in body, and of their several punishments and fu lminationsafterwards, are but a representat ion of the regeneration. For what in us is unreasonable,disorder ly, and boisterous, being not d ivine but demoniac, the ancients termed Ti tans, that is,TORMENTED and PUNISHED (fr om [Greek omi t t ed] ). .. .

Tract I I

1. Reason persuades us now t o ret urn wit h fr esh cogi t at ions and disposi t ions t o what we lef tcold yesterday of our d iscourse about f lesh-eating. I t is indeed a hard and a di f f icul t task toundert ake (as Cato once said ) t o d isput e w it h men's bel l ies, t hat have no ears; since most havealready drunk that dr aught of cust om, w hich is l ike t hat of Circe.

7/31/2019 Plutarch 01


Of groans and frauds and sorcery replete.

And i t i s no easy t ask t o pul l out t he hook of f lesh-eating fr om t he j aws of such as have gorgedthemselves with luxury and are (as i t were) nai led down with i t . I t would indeed be a goodaction, i f as the Egyptians draw out the stomach of a dead body, and cut i t open and expose i tt o the sun, as t he only cause of a l l i t s evi l act i ons, so we could, by cut t ing out our g lutt ony andblood-shedding, pur i fy and cleanse the remainder of our l ives. For the stomach i tsel f is notgui l ty of b loodshed, but is involuntar i ly pol luted by our intemperance. But i f th is may not be,and we are ashamed by reason of cust om t o l ive unblamably, let us at l east sin wi t h discret ion.Let us eat f lesh; but let i t be for hunger and not for wantonness. Let us ki l l an animal; but letus do i t wi t h sorrow and pi t y, and not abusing and t orment ing i t , as many nowadays are used t odo, whi le some run red-hot spi ts through the bodies of swine, that by the t incture of thequenched i ron t he b lood may be t o tha t degree mor t i f ied , t ha t i t may sweeten and so f t en theflesh in i ts ci rculat ion; others jump and stamp upon the udders of sows that are ready to pig/ that so they may trample into one mass (O Piacular Jupi ter!) in the very pangs of del ivery,blood, mi lk, and the corruption of the crushed and mangled young ones, and so eat the mostinf l amed part of t he animal; ot hers sew up t he eyes of cranes and swans, and so shut t hem upin darkness to be fattened, and then souse up their f lesh with certa in monstrous mixtures andpickles.

2. By al l which i t is most m anifest , t hat i t i s not for nour ishment , or want , or any necessi t y,but for mere gluttony, wantonness, and expensiveness, that they make a pleasure of vi l lany.Just as i t happens in persons who cannot satiate their intemperance upon women, and havingmade tr ia l of every th ing else and fa l l ing into vagar ies, at last attempt th ings not to bementioned; even so inordinateness in feeding, when i t hath once passed the bounds of natureand necessi ty, studies at last to d iversi fy the lusts of i ts intemperate appeti te by cruel ty andvi l lany. For the senses, when they once qui t their natural measures, sympathize with eachother in their d istempers, and are enticed by each other to the same consent andintemperance. Thus a distempered ear f i rst debauched music, the soft and effeminate notes ofwhich provoke immodest touches and lascivious t ickl ing. These th ings f i rst taught the eye nott o del ight in Pyrrhic dances, gest iculat ions of hands, or e legant pant omim es, nor in stat ues andfine paint ings; but to reckon the slaughter ing and death of mankind and wounds and duels themost sumptuous of shows and spectacles. Thus unlawful tables are accompanied with

intemperate copulat ions, wi th unmusicianl ike bal ls, and theatres become monstrous throughshamef ul songs and rehear sals; and barbar ous and brut ish shows are again accompanied w it h anunrelenting temper and savage cruel ty towards mankind. Hence i t was that the divine Lycurgusin his Three Books of Laws gave orders that the doors and ridges of men's houses should bemade wit h a saw and an axe, and t hat no ot her instr ument should so much as be brought t o anyhouse. Not that he did hereby intend to declare war against augers and planes and otherinstruments of f iner work; but because he very wel l knew that wi th such tools as these you wi l lnever br ing into your house a gi lded couch, and that you wi l l never attempt to br ing into aslender cottage ei ther si lver tables, purple carpets, or costly stones; but that a pla in supperand a homely dinner must accompany such a house, couch table, and cup. The beginning of avicious diet is presentl y f o l lowed by al l sort s of luxury and expensiveness,

Ev'n as a mare is by her thirsty colt.

3. And what meal is not expensive? That f or which no animal is put t o death. Shal l we reckon asoul to be a smal l expense. I wi l l not say perhaps of a mot her, or a fat her, or of some f r iend, orchi ld, as Empedocles did; but one part ic ipating of feel ing, of seeing, of hear ing, ofimag inat ion , and o f in te l lect ion ; wh ich each an imal ha th rece ived f rom Nature fo r theacquir ing of what is agreeable t o i t , and t he avoiding what is disagreeable. Do but consider th iswith yoursel f now, which sort of phi losophers render us most tame and civi l , they who bidpeople to feed on their chi ldren, fr iends, fathers, and wives, when they are dead; orPyt hagoras and Empedocles, t hat accust om m en t o be j ust tow ards even the ot her mem bers of

7/31/2019 Plutarch 01


t he creation. You laugh at a m an that wi l l not eat a sheep: but we ( t hey wi l l say again)—whenwe see you cutt ing off the parts of your dead father or mother, and sending i t to your absentfr iends, and cal l ing upon and invi t ing your present fr iends to eat the rest freely and heart i ly—shal l we not smi l e?

4. Who t hen were the f i rst authors of t h is opinion, t hat we owe no just ice to dumb animals?

Who f i rst beat out accursed st eel ,And made the lab'r ing ox a kni fe t o feel .

In the very same manner oppressors and tyrants begin f i rst to shed blood. For example, thefi rst man that the Athenians ever put to death was one of the basest of a l l knaves, whom al lthought deserv ing o f death ; a f te r h im t hey put t o death a second and a th i rd . A f t e r t h is, be ingnow accustomed to blood, they patiently saw Niceratus the son of Nicias, and their owngeneral Theramenes, and Polemarchus the philosopher suffer death. Even so, in the beginning,some wi ld and mischie- vous beast was ki l led and eaten, and then some l i t t le b ird or f ish wasentrapped. And the love of slaughter, being f i rst exper imented and exercised in these, at lastpassed even to the labor ing ox, and the sheep that clothes us, and to the poor cock that keepsthe house; unti l by l i t t le and l i t t le, unsatiableness being strengthened by use, men came to theslaughter of men, to bloodshed and wars. Now even i f one cannot demonstrate and make out,that souls in their regenerations make a promiscuous use of a l l bodies, and that that which isnow ra t iona l wi l l a t another t ime be i r ra t iona l , and tha t aga in tame which is now w i ld—for t ha tNature changes and transmutes every thing,

With di f ferent f leshy coats new clothing al l—

this th ing should be suff ic ient to change and recla im men, that i t is a savage and intemperatehabit, that i t br ings sickness and heaviness upon the body, and that i t incl ines the mind themore br ut ishly t o bloodshed and dest ruct ion, w hen we have once accust omed ourselves nei t hert o entert a in a guest nor keep a wedding nor to t reat our f r iends wit hout b lood and slaughter .

5. And i f what is argued about the return of souls into bodies is not of force enough to begetfa i th, yet methinks the very uncertainty of the th ing should f i l l us with apprehension and fear.

Suppose, for inst ance, one should i n some night-engagement run on w it h his drawn sword uponone that had fa l len down and covered his body wit h his arms, and should in t he mean t i me hearone say, that he was not very sure, but that he fancied and bel ieved, that the party ly ing therewas his own son, brot her, f ather, or t ent-companion; w hich were more advisable, t h ink you—t ohearken to a fa lse suggestion, and so to let go an enemy under the notion of a fr iend, or tosl ight an author i ty not suff ic ient to beget fa i th, and to slay a fr iend instead of a foe? This youwi l l say would be insupport able. Do but consider t he famous Merope in t he tr agedy, w ho takingup a hatchet, and l i f t ing i t at her son's head, whom she took for her son's murderer, speakst hus as she was ready to give t he fat al b low ,

Vi l la in, t h is p ious blow shal l c leave t hy head;

what a bustle she raises in the whole theatre whi le she raises hersel f to g ive the blow, and

what a fear they are al l in, lest she should prevent the old man that comes to stop her hand,and should wound the youth. Now i f another o ld man should stand by her and say, "Str ike, i t isthy enemy," and th is, "Hold, i t is thy son"; which, th ink you, would be the greater in just ice, toomit the punishing of an enemy for the sake of one's chi ld, or to suffer one's sel f to be sotransported with anger at an enemy as to ki l l one's chi ld? Since then nei ther hatred nor wrathnor any revenge nor fear for ourselves carr ies us to the slaughter of a beast, but the poorsacr i f ice stands with an incl ined neck, only to satisfy thy lust and pleasure, and then onephi losopher stands by and te l ls thee, "Cut h im down, i t is but an unreasonable animal," andanother cr ies, "Hold, what i f there should be the soul of some kinsman or God inclosed in

7/31/2019 Plutarch 01


him"?—good Gods! is there the l ike danger i f I refuse to eat f lesh, as i f I for want of fa i thmurder my chi ld or some other fr iend?

6. The St oics' way of r easoning upon thi s subj ect of f lesh-eati ng is no way equal nor consonantwith themselves. Who is th is that hath so many mouths for h is bel ly and the ki tchen? Whencecomes i t t o pass, t hat t hey so very much w omanize and reproach pleasure, as a th ing that t heywi l l not a l low t o be ei ther good or pref erable, or so much as agreeable, and yet a l l on a suddenbecome so zealous advocates for pleasures? It were indeed but a reasonable consequence oftheir doctr ine, that, since they banish perfumes and cakes from their banquets, they should bemuch more averse to blood and f lesh. But now, just as i f they would reduce their phi losophy totheir day-books, they lessen the expenses of their suppers in certain unnecessary and needlessmatters, but the untamed and murderous part of their expense they nothing boggle at. "Wel l !What then?" say they. "We have nothing to do with brute beasts." Nor have you any withperfumes, nor with foreign sauces, may some one answer; therefore expel these from yourbanquets, i f you are dr iving out every t h ing t hat is both useless and needless.

7 . Let us there fore in t he next p lace consider , whether we owe any j ust ice t o the bru tebeasts. Neither shal l we handle th is point art i f ic ia l ly or l ike subtle sophisters, but by castingour eye int o our own breast s, and conversing wi t h ourselves as men, we wi l l w eigh and examinethe who le mat t er . . . . [The remainder of the manuscr ip t , i f i t was ever comple ted, ismissing.]

Documents

Plutarch 01