"(6 Gods having ordered certain persons to βδοίῆοθ. ~ animals, and, when sacrificed, to eat them. For, in the return of the Heraclide, those who engaged'‘in war against Lacedemon, in conjunction with Eurysthenes and Proscles, through a want of necessaries, were com- pelled to eat serpents, which the land at that time _ afforded for the nutriment of the army. In Libya, also, ‘a cloud: of locusts fell for the relief of another army that was oppressed by hunger. The same thing likewise hap- pened at Gades. Bogus was a king of the Mauritanians, | who was slain by Agrippa in Mothone. He in that place attacked the temple of Hercules, which was most rich. But it was the custom of the priests daily to sprinkle the altar with blood. That this, however, was not effected by the decision of men, but by that of divinity, the occasion at that time demonstrated. For, the siege being continued for a long time, victims were wanting. But the priest being dubious how he should act, had the following vision in a dream. He seemed to himself to be standing in the middle of the pillars of the temple of Hercules, and afterwards to see a bird sitting opposite to the altar, and endeavouring to fly to it, but which at length flew into his hafids. He also saw that the altar was sprinkled with its blood. Seeing this, he rose as soon as it was day, and went to the altar, and standing on the turret, as he thought he did in his dream, he looked round, and saw the very bird which he had seen in his sleep. Hoping, therefore, that his dream would be fulfilled, he stood still, saw the bird fly to the altar and sit upon it, and deliver itself into the hands of the high priest. Thus the bird was sacrificed, and the altar sprinkled with blood, That, however, which happened at Cyzicus, is still more celebrated than this event. For Mithridates having besieged this city, the festival of Proserpine was then celebrated, in which it was requisite to sacrifice an ox. But the sacred herds, from which it was necessary the victim should be ὃ. (ῸΝ ABSTINENCE: FROM taken, fed opposite to the city, on the continent’: and one of them was already marked for this purpase. When, therefore, the hour demanded the sacrifice, the ox lowed; and swam over the sea, and the. guards of the city opened the gates to it. Then the ox directly ran into the city, and stood at the altar, and was sacrificed to the Goddess. Not unreasonably, therefore, was it thought to be most pious to sacrifice many animals, since it appeared that the sacrifice of them was pleasing to the Gods.
26. But what would be the condition of a city, if all the citizens were of this opinion, [viz. that they should abstain from destroying animals?] For how would they’ repel their enemies, when they were attacked by them; if they were careful in the extreme not-to kill any one of them? In this case, indeed, they must be immediately destroyed. And it would be tog prolix to narrate other difficulties and inconveniences, which would necessarily take place. That it is not, however, impious to slay and feed on animals, is evident from this, that Pythagoras himself, though those prior to him permitted the athlete to drink milk, and to eat cheese, irrigated with water; ᾿ but others, posterior to him, rejecting this diet, fed them with dry; figs; yet he, abrogating the anctent custom, allowed them to feed on flesh, and found that such a diet greatly increased their strength. Some also relate, that the Pythagoreans themselves did not spare animals when they sacrificed to the gods. Such, therefore, are the arguments of Clodius, Heraclides Ponticus, Her- machus the Epicurean, and the Stoics and Peripatettcs, [against abstinence from animal food]: among which also are comprehended the arguments which were sent to us by you, O Castricius. As, however, I intend to oppose these opinions, and those of the multitude, I may reasonably premise what follows.
- 27. In the first place, therefore, it must be known For Cyzicus was situated in an island.
that my discourse does not bring with it an exhortation, to every description of men. For it is not directed to those who. are occupied in sordid mechanical arts, nor to these who are engaged in athletic exercises; neither ta soldiers, nor sailors, nor: rhetoricians, nor to those who. lead: an active life. But I write.to the man who con- mders what he is, whence he came, and whither he ought to. tend, and’ who, in what pertains to nutriment, and other necessary concerns, is different from those who propose to themselves other kinds of life; for ta none but such as these do I direct my discourse. For, neither in this common life can there be gne and. the same exhortation to the sleeper, who endeavours to obtain sleep through the whole of life; and who, for this purpose, procures from all places things of a soporiferous nature, as there is to him who ig anxious to repel sleep, and ta - dispose every thing about him to a vigilant condition. But to the former it is necessary to recommend intoxi- cation, surfeiting, and satiety, end to exhort him to choose a dark house, and A bed laxuriant, broad, and soft,— as the poete say; and that he should procure for himself _ all such things as are of a soporiferous nature, and which are effective of sluggishness and oblivion, whether they are odours, or ointments, or are liquid or solid medicines, And to the latter it is requisite to advise the use of a drink sober and without wine, food of an attenuated nature, and almost approaching to fasting; a house lucid, and participating of a subtle air and wind, and to urge him to be strenuously excited by solicitude and thought, and to prepare for himself a small and hard hed. But, whether we are naturally adapted to this, I mean to a vigilant life, so as to grant as little as possible to sleep, since we do not dwell among those who are perpetually vigilant, or whether we are designed to be im a sopo- riferous state of existence, is the business of another dis- 20 ON ABSTINENCE FROM cussion, and is a subject which Tequires very extended demonstrations.
28. To the man, however, who once suspects the enchantients attending our journey through the present life, and belonging to the place in which we dwell; who also perceives himself to be naturally vigilant, and con- siders the somniferous nature of the region which he inhabits;— to this man addressing ourselves, we pre- scribe food consentaneous to his suspicion and know- ledge of this terrene abode, and exhort him to suffer the somnolent to be stretched on their beds, dissolved in sleep. For it is requisite to be cautious, lest as those. who look on the blear-eyed contract an ophthalmy, and as we gape when present with those who are gaping, so we should be filled with drowsiness and sleep, when the region. which we inhabit is cold, and adapted to fill the eyes with rheum, as being of a marshy nature, and drawing down all those that dwell in it to a somniferous and oblivious condition. If, therefore, legislators had ordained. laws for cities, with a: view to a contemplative and intellectual life, it would certainly be requisite to be obedient to those laws, and to comply with what they instituted concerning food. But if they established their laws, looking to a life according to nature, and which is said to rank as a medium, [between the irrational and the intellectual life,] and to what the vulgar admit, who con- ceive externals, and things which pertain to the body to be good or evil, why should any one, adducing their laws, endeavour to subvert a life, which is more excellent than every law which is written and ordained for the mul- titude, and which is especially conformable to an unwritten and divine law? For such is the truth of the case.
29. The contemplation which procures for us felicity, does not consist, as some one may think it does, in a multitude of discussions and disciplines; nor does it receive any increase by a quantity of words. For if this were the case, nothing would prevent those from being happy by whom all disciplines are collected together [and comprehended]. Now, however, every discipline by no means gives completion to this contemplation, nor even the disciplines which pertain to truly existing beings, unless ‘there is a conformity to them of our nature™ and life. For since there are, as it is said, in every purpose three" ends, the end with us is to obtain the contempla- tion of real being, the attainment of it procuring, as much as it is possible for us, a conjunction of the contemplator with the object of contemplation. For the reascent of the soul is not to any thing else than true being itself, nor is its conjunction with any other thing. But intellect ‘is truly-existing being; so that the end is to live accord- ing to intellect. Hence such discussions and exoteric disciplines as impede our purification, do not give com- ‘pletion to our felicity. If, therefore, felicity consisted in literary attainments, this end might,be obtained by those who pay no attention to their food and their actions. But since for this purpose it is requisite to exchange the life which the multitude lead for another, ‘and to become purified both in words and deeds, let ‘us consider what reasonings and what works will enable us to obtain this end..
30. Shall we say, therefore, that they will be such as separate us from sensibles, and the passions which pertain to them, and which elevate us as much as possible to an intellectual, unimaginative, and impassive life; but that the contraries to these are foreign, and deserve to be rejected? And this by so much the more, as_ they separate us from a life according to intellect. But, I think, it must be admitted, that we. should follow the object to which intellect attracts us. For we resemble those who enter into, or depart from a foreign region, ™ In the original sav jan προσ natn κατ᾽ aura φυσιωσις καὶ ζαη; ‘bat i it is obviously necessary for φυσιωσις to read φυσις, Ὁ viz. As it appears to me, a pleasurable, a profitable, and a virtuous end, which last is a truly beautiful and good end.
22 ON ABSTINENCE FROM not only because we are banished from our intimate. associates, but in consequence of dwelling in a foreign land, we are filled with barbaric passions, and manners, and legal institutes, and to all these have a great propen- sity. Hence, he who wishes to return to his proper kindred and associates, should not only with alacrity begin the journey, but, in order that he may be properly received, should meditate how he may divest himself of every thing of a foreign nature which he has assumed, and should recall to: his memory such things as he has forgotten, and without which he cannot be admitted by his kindred and friends. After the same manner, also, it is necessary, if we intend to return to things whith are truly our own, that we should divest ourselves of every thing of a mortal nature which we have assumed, together with an adhering affection towards it, and which is the cause of our descent [into this terrestrial region;} and that we should excite our recollection of that blessed and eternal essence, and should hasten our return to ‘the nature which is without colour and without quality, earnestly endeavouring to accomplish two things; one, that we may cast aside every thing material and mortal; but the other, that we may properly return, and be again conversant with our true kindred, ascending to them in a way contrary to that'in which we descended hither. For we were intellectual natures, and we still are essences purified from all sense and irrationality; but we are com- plicated with sensibles, through our incapability of eter- nally associating with the intelligible, and through the power of being conversant with terrestrial concerns. For all the powers which energize in conjunction with sense and body, are injured, in consequence of the soul not abiding in the intelligible; (just as the earth, when in a bad condition, though it frequently receives the seed of wheat, yet produces nothing but tares), and this is through a.certain depravity of the -soul, which does not indeed destroy its essence from the generation of irrationality, ‘but through this is conjoined with a-mortal nature, and is: drawn down from its own proper to a foreign condition of being. ες 31, ‘So that, if we are desirous of returning to those natures with’ which we formerly associated, we must endeavour to the utmost of our power to withdraw our- selves from sense and imagination, and the irrationality with which they are attended, and also.from the passions which subsist about them, as far as the necessity of our condition -m this life will permit. But such things as pertain to intellect should be distinctly arranged, pro- curing for ‘it peace and quiet from the war with the irrational part; that we may not only be. auditors of intellect and intelligibles, but may as much as possible enjoy the contemplation of:them, and, being established in an incorporeal nature, may truly live through intellect; and not falsely in conjunction with things allied to ‘bodies. We must therefore divest ourselves of our manifold garments, both of this visible and fleshly vest- ment, and.of those with which we are internally clothed, and which are proximate to our cutaneous habiliments; and we must enter the stadium naked and unclothed, striving for [the most glorious of all prizes] the Olympia of the soul. The first thing, however, and without which ‘we cannat contend, is to divest ourselves of our gar- ments. But since of these some are external and others internal, thus also with respect to the denudation, one kind is through things which are apparent, but another through such as are more unapparent. Thus, for instance, not to eat, or not to receive what is offered.to us, belongs to things which are immediately obvious; but not to desire is.a thing more obscure; so that, together with deeds, we must also withdraw ourselves from an adhering affection and passion towards them. For what benefit shall we derive by abstaining from deeds, when at the same time ‘we tenaciously adhere to the causes from which the deeds proceed?..
32. But this departure [from sense, imagination, and 24 ON ABSTINENCE FROM irrationality,] may be effected by. violence, and also , by persuasion and by reason; through the wasting away, and, as it may be said, oblivion and death of the pas- sions; which, indeed, 15 the best kind of departure, since it is accomplished without oppressing that from. which we are divulsed; For, in sensibles, a divulsion by force is not effected without either a laceration of a part; of a vestige of avulsion. But this separation is. introduced by a continual negligence of the passions. ‘And this negli- ~ ‘gence is produced by an abstinence from those sensible perceptions which excite the passions, and by a perse- vering attention to intelligibles. And among these pas- sions or perturbations, those which arise from food ate to be enumerated: 33. We should therefore abstain, no less than from other things, from certain food, viz..such as is naturally _ adapted to excite the passive part of our soul, concerning which it will be requisite to consider as follows: There are two fountains whose streams irrigate the bond by which the soul is bound to the body; and from which the. soul being filled as with deadly potions, becomes oblivious of the proper objects of her. contemplation. These fountains.are pleasure and pain; of which sense indeed is preparative, and the perception which is accord- ing to sense, together with the imaginations, opinions, and recollections which accompany the senses. But from these, the passions being excited, and the whole of the irrational nature becoming fattened, the soul is drawn downward, and abandons its proper love of true being. As much as possible, therefore, we must separate our- selves from these: But the separation must be effected by an avoidance of the passions which subsist through the senses and the irrational part. But the senses are employed either on objects of the sight, or of the hearing, or of the taste, or the smell, or the touch; for sense is as ‘it were the metropolis of that foreign colony of passions which we contain. Let us, therefore, consider how much fuel of the passions enters into us through each of the senses. For this is effeeted partly by the view of the contests of horses and the athlete, or those whose bodies are contorted in dancing; and partly from the survey of beautiful women. For these, ensnaring the irrational nature, attack and subjugate it by. all-various deceptions.
, 34. For the soul, being agitated with Bacchic- fory through all these by the irrational part, is made to leap, ‘to exclaim and vociferate, the external tumult being inflamed by the internal, and whieh was first enkindled by sense. But the excitations through the ears, and which are of ἃ. passive nature, are produced by certain noises and sounds, by indecent language and defamation, so that many through these being exiled from reason, are furiously agitated, and some, becoming effeminate, exhibit all-various conyolutions of the body. And who 18 ignorant how much the use of fumigations, and ‘the exhalations of sweet odours, with which lovers supply the objects of their love, fatten the irrational part of the: soul? But what occasion 18 there to speak of the passions produced through the taste? For here, especially, there is a complication of a twofold bond; one which is fattened by the passions excited by the taste; and the other, which we render heavy and powerful, by the intro- duction of foreign bodies [#. e.. of bodies: different from our own]. For, as a certain physician said, those.are not the only poisons which are prepared by the medical art; but those hkewise which we daily assume for food, both in what we eat, and what we drink, and a thing of a much more deadly nature is imparted to. the soul through these, than from. the poisons which are com- pounded for the purpose of destroying the body. And as to the touch, it does all but transmute the soul into the body, and produces in it certain inarticulate sounds, such as frequently take place in inanimate bodies. And from all these, recollections, imaginations, and opinions being collected together, excite a swarm of passions, viz. of ο6 ON ABSTINENCE FKOM.
fear, desire, anger, love, voluptuousness*, pain, emula- tion, solicitude, and disease, and cause the soul.to be full of similar perturbations.
35. Hence, to be purified from all these; is most diffi cult, and requires a great.contest, and we must bestow much labour both by night and by day to be liberated from an attention to them, and this, because we are necessarily complicated with sense.. Whence, also, 85 much as possible, we should withdraw ourselves from those places in which we may, though unwillingly, meet. with this hostile crowd. From experience, also, we . should avoid a contest with it, and even a victory over it and the want of exercise from inexperience.
36. For we learn, that this conduct was. adopted ‘by some of the celebrated ancient Pythagoreans and wise men; some of whom dwelt in the most solitary places; but others in temples and sacred groves, from which, though they were in cities,.all tumult and the multitude “were expelled. But Plato chose to reside in the Academy, a place not only solitary and remote from the city,. but ᾿ which was also said to be insalubrious. Others have not spared even their eyes, through a desire of not being divulsed from the inward contemplation [of reality]. If some one, however, at the same time that he is -con- versant with men, and: while he is filling his senses. with the passions pertaining to them, should fancy that he can remain impassive, he.18 ignorant that he both deceives himself and those who are persuaded. by him, nor does he see that we are enslaved to many passions, through not -alienating ourselves from the multitude. For he did not speak vainly, and in such a way as to falsify the nature of [the Coryphzan] philosophers, who:said of them, “ These, therefore, from their youth, neither know the way to the forum, nor. where the court. of justice or senate-house is situated, or any common place of assembly belonging to the city. They likewise neither hear nor © For φιλυῥων here, I read psarndouey, see laws, or decrees, whether orally promulgated ot ᾿ written. And as to the ardent endeavours of ‘their com- panions to.obtain magistracies, the associations of these, their: banquets and.wanton feastings, ‘accompanied by pipers, these they do not even dream of accomplishing. But whether any thing in the city. has happened well or ill, or what ‘evil has befallen any one from his: pro- genitors,. whether male or female, these are more con- céaled from ‘such a one, than, as. it is said, how many measures called choes the sea contains.. And ‘besides this, he is even ignorant that he is ignorant? of all these particulars. For he does not abstain from them for the sake of renown, but, in reality, his body only dwells, ‘and is conversant in the city; but his reasoning power ‘considering all these as trifling and of no value, “ he is ‘borne away,” according to Pindar, ‘‘on. ail sides, and does not apply himself to any thing which is near.”
37. In what is here said, Plato asserts, that the -Corypheean philosopher, by not at all mingling himself with the above-mentioned particulars, remains impassive ‘tothem. Hence, he neither knows the way to the court -of justice nor the senate-house, nor any thing else which thas been before. enumerated.. He does not say, indeed, ‘that he knows and is conversant with these particulars, -and that, being conversant, and filling his senses with them, ‘yet does not know any thing about them; but,on the con- | ‘trary, he says, that abstaining from them, he is ignorant that “he is ignorant of them. He also adds, that this philo- ‘sopher does not even dream of betaking himself to banquets. “Much less, therefore, would he be indignant, if deprived of broth, or pieces of flesh; nor, in short, will he admit P The multitude are ignorant that they are ignorant with respect to “objects of’ all others the most splendid and real; but the Coryphxan philosopher is ignorant that he is ignorant with respect to objects most "unsubstantial and obscure. The former ignorance is the consequence of a defect, but the latter of a transcendency of gnostic energy. What Porphyry here says of the Coryphezan philosopher, is derived from the Theztetus of Plato.
Λ 28 ON ABSTINENCE FROM things of this kind. And will he not rather consider the abstinence from all these as trifling, and a thing of no consequence, but the assumption of them to be.a thing of great importance and noxious? For since there are two paradigms in the order of things, one of a divine nature, which is most happy, the other of that which is destitute of divinity, and which is most miserable4; the Corypheen philosopher will assimilate himself to the one, but will render himself dissimilar to the other, and will lead a life conformable to the paradigm to which. he is assimilated, viz. a life satisfied with slender food, and sufficient to itself, and in the smallest degree replete with mortal natures...38. Hence, as long as any one 18 discordant about food, and contends that this or that thing should be -eaten, but does not conceive that, if it were ‘possible, we should abstain from all food, assenting by this contention to his passions, such a one forms a vain opinion, as if the subjects of his dissension were things of no consequence.
᾿ He, therefore, who philosophizes, will not separate himself.[from his terrestrial bonds]: by violence; for he who is compelled to do this, nevertheless remains there from whence he -was forced to depart. Nor must it be thought, that he who strengthens these bonds, effects ἃ thing of small importance. So that only granting to | nature what is necessary, and this of a light quality, and through more slender food, he will reject whatever -exceeds this, as only contributing to pleasure. For he will be persuaded of the truth of what Plato says, that sense is a nail by which the soul is fastened to bodies’, through the agglutination of the passions, and the enjoy- ment of corporeal delight. For if sensible perceptions were no impediment to the pure energy of the soul, why would it be a thing of a dire nature to be in body, while 4 See p. 52 of my translation-of the Theatetus of Plato, from which Dialogue, what Porphyry here says as well as what he a little before said, is derived.
τ See the Phado of Plato, where this is asserted.
2 - at the same time the soul Temained impassive to the motions of. the body?: - 39. How is it, also, that you have decided and said, that you are not passive to things: which you suffer, and that you are not present with things by which you are passively affected? For intellect, indeed, is present with itself, though we are not. present with it. But he who departs from intellect, is ‘in that place to which he departs; and when,:by discursive energies, he applies himself upwards and downwards by his apprehension of things, he is there where his apprehension is. But it is one thing not to attend to sensibles, in consequence of being present with other things,.and another for a man to think, that though he: attends to sensibles yet he is not present with them. Nor can any one. show that Plato admits this, without at the same time demon- — strating himself to be deceived. He, therefore, who sub- mits to the assumption of [every. kind. of] food, and voluntarily betakes himself to [alluring] spectacles, to conversation with. the multitude, and laughter; such ‘a.one, by thus acting, is there. where the passion is which he sustains. But he who abstains from these in conse- quence of being present with other things, he it is ‘who, through his unskilfulness, not only excites laughter in Thracian maid-servants, but in the rest of the vulgar, and when he sits at a banquet, falls into the greatest per- plexity, not from any defect of sensation, or froma superior accuracy of sensible perception,.and energizing with the irrational part of the soul alone; for Plato does. not. -venture to assert this; but because, in slanderous con- versation, he has nothing reproachful to say of any: one, as not knowing any evil of any one, because he has not made individuals the subject of his meditation. Being in such perplexity, therefore, he appears, says Plato, to be ridiculous; and in the praises and boastings of others, as he is manifestly seen to laugh, not dissem- blingly, but, in reality, he appears to be.delirious.. _. 40. So that, through ignorance of, and abstaining 7 80 ON ABSTINENCE FROM from sensible concerns, he is unacquainted with them. _ But it is by no means to be admitted, that though he should be familiar with sensibles, and should energize through the irrational part, yet it is possible for him fat the same time] genumely to survey the objects of intellect. For neither do they who aseert that we have two souls, admit that we can attend at one and the same time to two different thiags. For thus they would make & conjunction of two animals, which being employed in different energies, the one would not be able to per- δεῖνα the operations of the other.