Plutarch's Morals, Vol. 5: Translated From the Greek by Several Hands

by Plutarch

Excerpt from Plutarch's Morals

The very idea of eating the carcasses of slain animals is repulsive, 3. Who could have begun the practice, but from the direst necessity 21 4. Men must have been driven to the deed Of slaying animals for food, because the supply of food' from the vegetable world had utterly failed, 4, 5. We have no such necessity, 5. Man is not by nature a carnivorous animal, 7. Our conduct in slaying animals and then preparing them for food is wholly against nature, 8. Animal food is it clogs and confuses the mind and renders it stupid, 9. It Operates unfavorably on character, 9, 10. If we must eat ?esh, let it be with sorrow and pity; not tormenting and abusing the poor animal before taking its life, 11. Pass ing the bounds of nature in our feeding, intemperate appetites and shameful lusts are gratified, 12. Cruelty to mankind is induced, 12. Animals have senses they have faculties for seeing, hearing, understanding is it right to extinguish these faculties? 13. Who knows but the bodies of animals may contain the souls of deceased men of a father, brother, son, or other friend? 14.

Genres: Philosophy

550 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2015

About the author

Plutarch (later named, upon becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus; AD 46–AD 120) was a Greek historian, biographer, and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He is classified as a Middle Platonist. Plutarch's surviving works were written in Greek, but intended for both Greek and Roman readers.