and rice, and would have thought themselves guilty of the greatest impiety, if they had touch'd any thing that had had life.* The Ægyptians, a moft ancient nation, feem to have abftain'd entirely from animal food; which was, probablely, one reason why they abominateëd the Jews, who had continually their fingers in the flesh-pots; the onely fubject of their lamentation when banish'd out of the country. Talk to an Ægyptian, fays Origen, til your heart ake, heart ake, and your breath fail you, yet he wil be fo far from renounceing his religion, that he wil perfift in it, if it be posfible, with greater obftinacy than before, and rather dye than be guilty of fo horrid a profanation, as he accounts it, as to eat and pollute the facred flesh of animals. Diodorus fays it was reported that the Ægyptians, in ancient times, fed upon nothing but roots and herbs, and colewort leaves, which grew in the fens and bogs; but above all, and most commonly, upon the herb *Of abftinence. "The children of Ifrael allfo wept again, and fay'd, Who fhall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick." (Num. XI, 5.) The vegetables they ate freely, the flesh by fealth, Against Celfus, B. 1, C. 42. called agrostis, because it was fweeter than any other, and very nourishing to mens bodys; and it is very certain, he ads, that the cattle much covet it, and grow very fat with it.* "The Hylophages (wood-eaters), together with their wives and children," as is relateëd by the fame ancient historian, " go into the fields and climb the trees, and feed upon the buds and tender branches; and, by constant usage and practice, are fo nimble in geting up to the top of the highest branch that it seems allmost incredible. They skip from tree to tree, like fo many birds, and mount up upon the slenderest branches without the leaft hazard: for, being very flender and light-body'd people, if their feet fail, they catch hold with their hands; nay, if they fall down from the very top of the tree, they are fo light, they get no harm. They easeyly chew every juicey twig of the tree, and as easeyly concoct them. They allways go naked, and make use of their wives promiscuously, and, therefor, all their children they look upon to be common amongst them. They fometimes quarrel one with another for placeës of habitations. Their arms are clubs, with which they both * B. 1, C. 4 defend themselves, and pound in pieceës their conquer'd enemy."* This feems to have been a race of men in a state of nature; they very much refemble the ourang-outangs herein before defcribe'd. Pythagoras, the Samian philofopher, a man of univerfal knowlege, who flourish'd about 500 years before Chrift, forbad to kil, much more to eat, liveing creatures, that had the same prerogative of fouls with ourfelves:† and ate nothing himself that had had life. The truth is, he enjoin'd men not to eat of things that had life, but to accustom themfelves to meats that were eafeyly prepare'd, quickly at hand, and foon got ready without the help of fire; and that they fhould drink fair water; for that from thence proceeded the health of the body, and the acuteness of the mind: for which reafon he [forbad, * B. 3, C. 2. It is fuppofe'd by fome that he had learn'd this in the remains of Orpheus. Aristophanes, in his Frogs, where he would give the fum of his ferviceës, fays, "Orpheus our pray'rs prefcribe'd, and holy rites, And abstinence from murder." "The whole of human virtue," he held, "may be reduce'd to fpeaking the truth allways, and doing good to others." (Ælian, XII, 59.) Lucian, Auction of philofophers. allfo, the offering of bloody facrificeës to the gods, faying that those altars onely where no blood was shed were to be approach'd with pious adoration; and] never worship'd before any other altar than that of Apollo genitor, behind Creratinum; because there they offer'd onely wheat and barley, and large cakes that had never been bake'd by the fire. He is, likewife, fay'd to have been the first who was of opinion, that the foul exchange'd habitations from one liveing creature to another, constrain'd thereto by a certain wheel of necesfity. For thefe tenets we have the refpectable authority of Diogenes Laertius:* They are, allfo, confirm'd by Philoftratus: and the following beautiful account of this celebrateëd philofopher, his doctrines, and his opi nions, is given by Ovid, in the his Metamorphofis: "Vir fuit bic ortu Samius; &c. 15th book of "Here dwel'd the man divine, whom Samos bore, * B. 8. Eudoxus, allfo, an ancient writeër, citeëd by Porphyry, fays that Pythagoras ufe'd fuch purity, and therefor abhor'd all murder and murderers, fo as not onely to abstain from animated beings, but would never come near either cooks or hunters. B. 1, C. I.; and fee B. 6, C. 6. At Crotona in Italy. 9 Because he hateëd tyrants, nor cou'd bear The chains, which none but fervile fouls wil wear. He, though from heaven remote, to heaven could move, With ftrength of mind, and tread th' abyss above; And penetrate, with his interior light, Thofe uper depths, which Nature hid from fight: He firft the tafte of flesh from tables drove, And without blood is prodigal to please. Wild beafts their maws with their flain bretheren fil; Sheep, goats, and oxen, and the noble fteed, On browse, and corn, and flow'ry meadows feed. Where ftronger beafts opprefs the weak by might, |