diately follows. But the more excellent nature in the universe 1s entirely innoxious, and, through possessing a power which preserves and benefits all things, 15 itself not in want of any thing. We, however, through justice [when we exercise it], are innoxious towards all things, but, through being connected with mortality, are indigent of things of a necessary nature. But the assumption of what is necessary, does not injure even plants, when we take what they cast off; nor fruits, when we use such of them as are dead; nor sheep, when through shearing we rather benefit than injure them, and by partaking of their milk, we in return afford them every proper atten- \ 128 ON ABSTINENCE FROM tion. Hence, the just man appears to be one who de prives himself of things pertaining to the body; yet he does not [in reality] injure himself. For, by this manage- ment of his body, and continence, he increases his inward good, t.e. his similitude to God.
27. By making pleasure, therefore, the end of life, that which is truly justice cannot be preserved; since neither such things as_are primarily useful according to nature, nor all such as are easily attainable, give com- pletion to felicity. For in many instances, the motions of the irrational nature, and utility and indigence, have been, and still are the sources of injustice. For men be- came indigent [as they pretended] of animal food, in order that they might preserve, as they said, the corporeal frame free from molestation, and without being in want of those things after which the animal nature aspires. But if an assimilation to divinity is the end of life, an innoxious conduct towards all things will be in the most eminent degree preserved. As, therefore, he who is led by his passions is innoxious only towards his children and his wife, but despises and acts fraudulently towards other persons, since, in consequence of the irrational part predominating in him, he is excited to, and astonished about mortal concerns; but he who is led by reason, pre- serves an innoxious conduct towards his fellow-citizens, and still more so towards strangers, and towards all men, through having the irrational part in subjection, and is therefore more rational and divine than the former character; — thus also, he who does not confine harmless conduct to men alone, but extends it to other animals, is more similar to divinity; and if it was possible to extend it even to plants, he would preserve this image in a still greater degree. As, however, this is not possible, we may in this respect lament, with the ancients‘, the defect of our nature, that we consist of such adverse and dis- cordant principles, so,that we are unable to preserve our ' Porphyry here particularly alludes to Empedocles.
ANIMAL FOOD.—BOOK III. 129 divine part incorruptible, and in: all respects innoxious. For we are not unindigent in all things; the cause of which is generation, and our becoming needy through the _ abundant corporeal efflux which we sustain. But want procures safety and ornament from things of a foreign mature, which are necessary to the existence οὗ our mortal part. ‘ He, therefore, who is indigent of a greater number of externals, is in.a greater degree agglutinated to penury; and by how much his wants increase, by so much is he destitute of divinity, and an associate of penury. For that which is similar to deity, through this assimilation immediately possesses true wealth...But no ‘one who is [truly] rich and perfectly unindigent. injures any thing. For as long as any one injures another, though he should possess the greatest wealth, and all the acres of land which the earth contains, he is still poor, and has want for his intimate associate. On this account, also, he is unjust, without God, and impious, and en- | ‘slaved to every kind of depravity, which is produced by the lapse of the soul into matter, through the privation of good. Every thing, therefore, is nugatory to any one, as long as he wanders from the principle of the universe; and ‘he is indigent of all things, while he does not direct his attention to Porus for the source of true abundance]. He likewise yields to the mortal part of his nature, while he remains ignorant of his real self. But Injustice is power- .ful in persuading and corrupting those that belong to her empire, because she associates with her votaries in con- junction with Pleasure. As, however, in the choice of lives, he is the more accurate judge who has obtained an experience of both [the better and the worse kind of life], than he is who has only experienced one of them; thus also, in the choice and avoidance of what is proper, he is a safer judge who, from that which is more, judges of that which is less excellent, than he who from the less, judges of the more excellent. Hence, he who lives according to intel- lect, will more accurately define what is eligible and what is not, than he who lives under the dominion of irration- K “ 130 ON ABSTINENCE, &c..
ality. For the former has passed through the irrational life, as having from the first associated with it; but the latter, having had no experience of an intellectual life, persuades those that resemble himself, and acts with nugacity, like a child among children. If, however, say our opponents, all men were persuaded by these argu- ments, what would become of us? Is it not evident that we should be happy, injustice, indeed, being exterminated from men, and justice being conversant with us, in the same manner as it is in the heavens? But now this ques- tion is just the same as if men should be dubious what the life of the Danaids would be, if they were liberated from the employment of drawing water in a sieve, and attempting to fill a perforated vessel. For they are ον dubious what would be the consequence if we should cease to replenish our passions and desires, the whole of which replenishing continually flows away through the want of real good; since this fills up the ruinous clefts of the soul more than the greatest of external necessaries. Do you therefore ask, O man, what we should do? We should imitate those that lived in the golden age, we should imitate those of that period who were [truly] free. For with them modesty, Nemesis, and Justice associated, because they were satisfied with the fruits of the earth.
The fertile earth for them spontaneous yields Abundantly her fruits ".
But those who are liberated from slavery, obtain for themselves what they before procured for their masters. In like manner, also, do you, when liberated from the servitude of the body, and a slavish attention to the passions produced through the body, as, prior to this, you nourished them in an all-various manner with externals; 80 now nourish yourself all-variously with internal good, justly assuming things which are [properly] your own, and no longer by violence taking away things which are foreign [to your true nature and real good].
ON ABSTINENCE FROM ANIMAL FOOD. BOOK THE FOURTH.
1. In the preceding books, O Castricius, we have nearly answered all the arguments which in reality defend the feeding on flésh, for the sake of incontinence and intem- -perance, and which adduce impudent apologies for so doing by ascribing a greater indigence to our nature than is fit. Two particular inquiries, however, still remain; in one of which the promise of advantage especially deceives those who are corrupted by pleasure. And, moreover, we shall confute the assertion of our opponents, that no wise man, nor any nation, has rejected animal food, as it leads those that hear it to great injustice, through the ignorance of true history; and we shall also endeavour to give the solutions of the question concern- igg advantage, and to reply to other inquiries.
2. But we shalt begin from the abstinence of certain nations, in the narration of which, what is asserted of the Greeks will first claim our attention, as being the most allied to us, and the most appropriate of all the witnesses that can be adduced. Among those, therefore, that have con- cisely, and at the same time accurately collected an account of the affairs of the Greeks, is the Peripatetic Dicearchus*, who, in narrating the pristine life of the Greeks, says, the * There were many celebrated men of this name among the ancients, concerning which vid. Fabric. Biblioth, Grec. L. If. ¢. 11.
132 ON ABSTINENCE FROM ancients, being generated with an alliance to the Gods, were naturally most excellent, and led the best life; so that, when compared to us of the present day, who con- sist of an adulterated and most vile matter, they were thought to be a golden race; and they slew no animal whatever. The truth of this, he also says, is testified by the poets, who denominate these ancients the golden race, and assert that every good was present with them, The fertile earth for them spontaneous bore Of fruits a copious and ahenvy’d store; In blissful quiet then, unknown to strife, The worthy with the worthy passed their life>.
Which assertions, indeed, Dicearchus explaining, says, that a life of this kind was under Saturn; if it is proper to consider it as a thing that once existed, and that it is a life which has not been celebrated in vain, and if, laying aside what. is extremely fabulous, we may refer it ta a physical narration. All things, therefore, are very pro- perly said to have been then spontaneously produced; fox _ © These lines are from Hesiod. Gper. 116. The different ages, how ‘ever, of mankind, which are celebrated by Hesiod in his Works and Days, signify the different lives which the individuals of the humana Species pass through; and as Proclus on Hesiod beautifully observes, they niay be comprehended in tliis triad, the golden, the silver, and the _ brdgenage. But by the golden age an intellectual Hf is iniplied. For such a life is pure, inspassive, and free from: sorrow; and ‘of this inpa sivity. and purity, gold is an image, through never being subject to rust or putrefaction, Such a life, too, ig very properly said to be under Saturn, because Saturn is an intelleciual God, or a God characterised by intel- lect: ᾿ By the silver age, a rustic and siatural life is implied, ia which the attention of the rational soul is entirely ditected to the care of the botly, wet without procbeding τὸ dxtreme depravity. And by the brazen ape, ἃ dire, tyrannic, gad cruel life is implied, which is entirely passive, and oceeds to the very extremity of vice. The order, also, of these metala, haumonizes, as Proclus observes, with that of the lives. “ F or,” says he, * gold ‘is ‘sclar-form, because the sun is solely immaterial light. But silver is lunar-form, because the moon partakes of shadow, just as silver partakes of rust..And brass is carthly, so far as not having ἃ nature similar to a lueid bedy; it is replete with abundaore. of corruption.” | ANIMAL FOOD.—BOOK IV. 133 men did not procure any thing by labour, because they were unacquainted with the agricultural art, and, in short, had no knowledge of any other art. This very thing, likewise, was the cause of their leading a life of leisure, free from labours and care; and if it is proper to assent to the decision of the most skilful and elegant of physi- cians, it was also the cause of their being liberated from disease. For there is not any precept of physicians which more contributes to health, than that which exhorts us not to make an abundance of excrement, from which those pristine Greeks always preserved their bodies pure. For they neither assumed such food as was stronger than the nature of the body could bear, but such as could be van- quished by the corporeal nature, nor more than was moderate, on account of the facility of procuring it, but for the most part less than was sufficient, on account | of its paucity. Moreover, there were neither any wars among them, nor seditions with each other. For no reward of contention worth mentioning was proposed as an incentive, for the sake of which some one might be induced to engage in such dissensions. So that the principal thing in that life was leisure and rest from necessary occupations, together with health, peace, and. friendship. But to those in after times, who, through aspiring after things which greatly exceeded mediocrity, fell into many evils, this pristine life became, as it was reasonable to suppose it would, desirable. The slender and extemporaneous food, however, of these first men, is manifested by the saying which was afterwards prover- bially used, enough of the oak; this adage being probably introduced by him who first changed the ancient mode of living.. A pastoral life succeeded to this, in which men procured for themselves superfluous possessions, and meddled with animals. For, perceiving that some of them were innoxious, but others malefic and savage, they tamed the former, but attacked the latter. At the same time, together with this life, war was introduced. And these things, says Diczarchus, are not asserted by us, but 134 ON ABSTINENCE FROM by those who have historically discussed a multitude of particulars. For, as possessions were now of such a magnitude as to merit attention, some ambitiously endeavoured to obtain them, by collecting them [for their own use], and calling on others to do the same, but others directed their attention to the preservation of them when collected. Time, therefore, thus gradually proceeding, and men always directing their attention to what appeared to be useful, they at length became con- versant with the third, and agricultural form of life. And this is what is said by Dicearchus, in his narration of the manners of the ancient Greeks, and the blessed life which they then led, to which abstinence from animal food con- tributed, no less than other things. Hence, at that period there was no war, because injustice was extermi- nated. But afterwards, together with injustice towards animals, war was introduced among men, and the endea- vour to surpass each other in amplitude of possessions. On which account also, the audacity of those is wonder- ful, who say that abstinence from animals is the mother of injustice, since both history and experience testify, that together with the slaughter of animals, war and injustice were introduced.
3. Hence, this being afterwards ‘perceived by the Lacedemonian Lycurgus, though the eating of animals then prevailed, yet he so arranged his polity, as to render food of this kind requisite in the smallest degree. For the allotted property of each individual did not consist in herds of oxen, flocks of.sheep, or an abundance of goats, horses, and money, but in the possession of land, which might produce for a man seventy medimni¢ of barley, and for a woman twelve, and the quantity of liquid fruits i the same proportion. For he thought that this quantity of nutriment was sufficient to procure a good habit of body and health, nothing else to obtain these being requisite. Whence also it is said, that on returning to his country, ¢ The medimnus was a measure containing six bashels.
after he had been for some time absent: from it, and perceiving, as he passed through the fields, that the corn had just been reaped, and that the threshing-floors and the heaps were parallel and equable, he laughed, and said to those that were present, that all Laconia seemed to belong to many brothers, who had just divided the land among themselves. He added, that as he had therefore expelled luxury from Sparta, it would be requisite also to annul the use of money, both golden and silver, and to introduce iron alone, as its substitute, and this of a great bulk and weight, and of little value; so that as much of it as should be worth ten minz, should require a large receptacle to hold it, and a cart drawn by two oxen to carry it. But this being ordained, many species of in- justice were exterminated from Lacedemon. For who would attempt to thieve, or suffer himself to be corrupted by gifts, or defraud or plunder another, when it was not possible for him to conceal what he had taken, nor possess it so as to be envied by others, nor derive any advantage from coining it? Together with money also, the useless arts were expelled, the works of the Lacede- monians not being saleable. For iron money could: not be exported to the other Greeks, nor was. it esteemed by them, but ridiculed. Hence, neither was it lawful to buy any thing foreign, and which was intrinsically of no worth, nor did ships laden with merchandise sail into their ports, nor was any verbal sophist, or futile diviner, or bawd, or artificer of golden and silver ornaments, per- mitted to come to Laconia, because there money was of no use. And thus luxury, being gradually deprived of its incitements and nourishment, wasted away of itself. Those likewise who possessed much derived no greater advantage from it, than those who did not, as no egress was afforded to abundance, since it was so obstructed by | impediments, that it was forced to remain in indolent rest. Hence such household furniture as was in constant use, and was necessary, such as beds, chairs, and tables, these were made by them in the best manner;.and the 136 ON ABSTINENCE FROM Laconic cup, which was called cothon, was, as Critias says, especially celebrated in military expeditions. For in these expeditions, the water which they drank, and which was unpleasant to the sight, was concealed by the colour of the cup; and the turbid part of the water falling against the lips, through their prominency, that part of it which was drank, was received in a purer condition by the mouth. As we are informed, however, by Plutarch, the legislator was the cause of these things. For the. artificers being liberated from useless works, exhibited the beauty of art in things of a necessary nature.
4. That he might also in a still greater degree oppose. luxury, and take away the ardent endeavour to obtain. wealth, he introduced a third, and most beautiful political institution, viz. that of the citizens eating and drinking. together publicly; so that they might partake of the. same prescribed food in common, and might not be fed at home, reclining on sumptuous couches, and placed before elegant tables, through the hands of artificers and - cooks, being fattened in darkness, like voracious animals, - and corrupting their bodies, together with their morals, by falling into every kind of luxury and repletion; as.. such a mode of living would require.much sleep, hot baths, and abundant quiet, and such attentions as are paid to the Giseased. This indeed was a. great thing; but still greater than this, that, as: Theophrastus says, he caused wealth to be neglected, and to be of no value, through the citizens eating at common tables, and the frugality of their food. For there was no use, nor enjoy- ment of riches; nor, in short, was there any thing to gratify the sight, or any ostentatious display in the whole apparatus, because both the-poor and the rich sat at the same table. Hence it was universally said, that in Sparta alone,.Plutus was seen to be blind, and lying like an inanimate and immoveable picture. For it was not possible for the citizens, having previously feasted at home, to -go to the common tables with appetites already. satiated with food. For the rest care-_ Ι ’ ANIMAL FOOD,-—BOOK IY. 137’ fully observed him who did not eat and drink with them,. and reviled him, as an intemperate person, and as one who. conducted himself effeminately with respect to the common food. Hence these common tables were called phiditia; either as being the causes of friendship and. benevolence, as if they were philitia, assuming ¢ for a; or as accustoming men [προς εντελειαν καὶ φειδὼ] to frugality, and a slender diet. But the number of those that as- sembled at the common table was fifteen, more or less. And each person brought every month, for the purpose of furnishing the table, a medimnus of flour, eight choas4 of wine, five pounds of cheese, two. pounds and a half of figs, and, besides all these, a very little quantity of money.
5. Hence the children of those who ate thus sparingly. and..temperately, came to these common. tables, as to schools of temperance, where they also heard | political discourses, and were spectators of liberal sports. Here, likewise, they learnt to jest acrimoniously,.without scur- rility, and to receive, without being indignant, the biting jests of others.. For this appeared to be extremely. Laconic, to be able to endure acrimonious jests; though he who could not endure was permitted to refuse hearing them, and the scoffer was immediately silent. Such, therefore, was the frugality of the Lacedemonians, with respect to diet, though it was legally instituted for the sake of the multitude. _Hence those who came from this polity are said to have been more brave and temperate, and paid more attention to rectitude, than those who came from other communities, which are corrupted both m souls and bodies. And it is evident that perfect abstinence is adapted to such a polity as this, but to corrupt communities luxurious food*. If, likewise, we ἃ An Attic measure, containing six Attic pints.
ὁ In the original, καὶ δηλον ὡς τοιαυτὴ πολιτείᾳ οἰκειον, τὸ τὴς MMOYNE THE παντελοῦς, ταῖς δὲ διεφθαρμέναις, τὸ τὴς βρωσεως.. But the latter part of this sentence is evidently defective, though the defect is not noticed either by Valentinus, or Reiske, or Rhoer. It appears therefore to me, that .- 438 ὍΣ ABSTIMENCE FROM direct our attention to such other nations as regarded equity, mildness, and piety to the Gods, it will be evi- dent that abstinence was ordained by them, with a view to. the safety and advantage, if not of all, yet at least of some of the citizens, who, sacrificing to, and worshipping the Gods, on account of the city, might expiate the sins of the multitude. For, in the mysteries, what the ‘boy who. attends the altar accomplishes, by performing accu- rately what he is commanded to do, in order to render the Gods propitious to all those who have been initiated, as far as to muesis’ [aves πάντων τῶν μυουμενων), that, in nations and cities, priests are able to effect, by sacrificing - for all the people, and through piety inducing the Gods to be attentive to the welfare of those that belong to them. With respect to priests, therefore, the eating of all animals is prohibited to some, but of certain animals to others, whether. you consider the customs of the Greeks or of the barbarians, which are different in different nations. So that all of them, collectively considered, or existing as one, being assumed, it will be found that they abstain from all animals. If, therefore, those who preside over the safety of cities, and to whose care piety to the Gods is committed, abstain from animals, how can any one dare to accuse this abstinence as disadvantageous to erties?: 6. Cheremon the Stoie, therefore, in his narration of the Egyptian priests, who, he says, were considered by the Egyptians as philosophers, informs. us, that they chose temples, as the places in which they might philosoane τρύφης is wanting; so that for τὸ τὴσ βρωσεως, we should read so τῆς ξνφης πὰς βρωσεως. And my conjecture is justified by the version of Felicianus, which is, “ΚΞ Huic autem abstinentiam, ceteris luxuriam victus fuisse peculiarem perspicuum est.”.
‘ Those who, in being initiated, elosed the eyes, which muesis signifes, no longer (says Hermias in Phadrum) received. by sense those divine ‘mysteries, but with the pure soul itself. See my. Dis- sertation on the Eleusinian apd Bacchic Mysteries, phize. For to dwell with the statues of the Gods:is a thing‘ allied to the whole desire, by which the soul tends to the contemplation of their divinities. And from the divine veneration indeed, which was paid to them through dwelling in temples, they obtained security, all men honouring these philosophers, as if they were certam sacred animals. They also led a solitary life,.as they only mingled with other men in solemm sacrifices and festivals. But at other times the priests were almost in- accessible to any one who wished to converse with them. For it. was requisite that he who approached to them should be first purified, and abstain from many things; and this is as it were a common sacred law respecting the Egyptian priests. But these [philosophic priests], having relinquished every other employment, and human labours®, gave up the whole of their life to the contempla- tion and worship of divine natures and to divine inspira- tion; through the latter, indeed, procuring for themselves honour, security, and piety; but through contemplation science; and through both, a certain occult exercise of man- ners, worthy of antiquity". For to be always conversant with divine knowledge and inspiration, removes those who are so from all-avarice, suppresses the passions, and excites to an intellectual life. But they were. studious of frugality in their diet and apparel, and also of continence. and endurance, and in all things were attentive to justice and equity. They likewise were rendered venerable, through rarely mingling with other men. For during the time of what are called purifications, they scarcely mingled:with their nearest kindred, and those of their own order; nor were they to be seen by any one, unless it was requisite © In the original, xas πόρους ἀνθρωπίνους; but for πόρους I read wens, and Felicianus appears to have found the same reading in his MS-.; for his version is, “ laboribusque humanis.” Neither Reisk, however, nor Rhoer, have at all noticed the word πόρους as improper in this place.
* Much is related about the Egyptian priests by Herodotus, tib. ii. $7. With res to Charemon, the decisions of the ancients -con- cerning him are very discosdant..
140 _ ON. ΑΒΒΤΙΝΕΝΟΣ FROM...
for the necessary. purposes of purification. For the sanc- | tuary was inaccessible to those who were not purified, and they. dwelt in holy places for the purpose of per- forming divine works; but at all other times they asso- ciated more freely with those who lived like themselves. They did not, however, associate with any one who was not a religious character. But they were always seen near to the Gods, or to the statues of the Gods, the latter of which they were beheld either carrying, or pre- ceding in a sacred procession, or disposing in an orderly manner, with modesty and gravity; each of which opera- tions was not the effect of pride, but an indication of some physical reason. Their venerable gravity also was apparent from their manners. For their walking was orderly, and their aspect sedate; and they were so studious of preserving this gravity of countenance, that they did not even wink, when at any time they were unwilling to do so; and they seldom laughed, and when they did, their laughter proceeded no farther than to a smile.. But they always kept their hands within their garments. Each likewise bore about him a symbol, in- dicative of the order which he was allotted in sacred concerns; for there were many orders of priests. Their diet also was slender and simple. For, ‘with respect to wine, some of them did not at all drink it, but others drank very little of it, on account of its being injurious to the nerves, oppressive to the head, an impediment to invention, and an incentive to venereal desires. In many other things also they conducted themselves with cau- tion; neither using bread at all in purifications, and at those times in which they were not employed in purifying themselves, they were accustomed to eat bread with hyssop, cut into small pieces. For it 18 said, that hyssop very much purifies the power of bread. But they, for the most part, abstained from oil, the greater number of them entirely; and if at any time they used it with pot-herbs, they took very little of it, and only as much as was sufficient to mitigate the taste of the herbs. |