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 hereinbefore 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, livéing creatures, that had the fame 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 themselves 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 acutenefs of the mind: for which reafon he [forbad,
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 thofe altars onely where no blood was fhed 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, likewise, fay'd to have been the first who was of opinion, that the foul exchange'd habitations from one liveing creature to another, conftrain'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 opinions, is giveën by Ovid, in the 15th book of his Metamorphofis:
"Vir fuit bic ortu Samius; &c.
"Here dwel'd the man divine, whom Samos bore,
But now felf-banish'd from his native shore,
* 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 animateëd beings, but would never com near either cooks or hunters.
B. 1, C. I.; and fee B. 6, C. 6.
At Crotona in Italy.
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' abyfs above;
And penetrate, with his interior light,
Thofe uper depths, which Nature hid from fight:
And what he had obferve'd and learn'd from thence,
Love'd in familiar language to difpenfe.
He firft the taste of flesh from tables drove,
And argue'd wel, if arguments could move.
O mortals, from your fellows blood abstain,
Nor taint your bodys with a food profane :
While corn and pulse by nature are bestow'd,
And planted orchards bend their wiling load ;
While labour'd gardens wholefome herbs produce,
And teeming vines afford their generous juice;
Nor tardyer fruits of crudeër kind are lost,
But tame'd with fire, or mellow'd by the froft;
While kine to pails distended udders bring,
And bees their honey redolent of spring.
While Earth not onely can your needs fupply,
But lavish of her ftore, provides for luxury;
A guiltless feaft, administers with cafe,
And without blood is prodigal to please.
Wild beafts their maws with their flain bretheren fil;
And yet not all, for fome refufe to kil;
Sheep, goats, and oxen, and the noble steed,
On browie, and corn, and flow'ry meadows feed.
Bears, tigers, wolves, the lions angery brood,
Whom heaven endue'd with principles of blood,
He wifely funder'd from the reft, to yel
In forefts, and in lonely caves to dwel;
Where ftronger beafts opprefs the weak by might,
And all in prey, and purple feafts delight.
O impious ufe! to natures laws oppose'd,
Where bowels are in other bowels clofe'd;
Where fatten'd by their fellows fat, they thrive;
Maintain❜d by murder, and by death they live.
'Tis then for nought, that mother Earth provides
The ftores of all she shows, and all she hides,
If men with fleshy morfels must be fed,
And chaw with bloody teeth the breatheing bread :
What else is this, but to devour our guests,
And barb'rously renew Cyclopean feafts!
We, by deftroying life, our life fustain ;
And gorge th' ungodly maw with meats obscene.
Not fo the Golden Age, who fed on fruit,
Nor durft with bloody meals their mouths pollute.
Then birds in airy space might safely move,
And tim'rous hares on heaths fecurely rove.
Nor needed fish the guileful hooks to fear,
For all was peaceful, and that peace fincere.
Whoever was the wretch (and curse'd be he)
That envy'd firft our foods fimplicity,
Th' esfay of bloody feafts on brutes began,
And after forge'd the sword to murder man.
Had he the fharpen'd steel alone employ'd
On beasts of prey, that other beasts destroy'd,
Or man invadeëd with their fangs and paws,
This had been justify'd by natures laws,
And self-defence: But who did feafts begin
Of flesh, he stretch'd necesfity to fin.
To kil man-kilers man has lawful pow'r,
But not th' extended licence to devour.
Il habits gather by unseen degrees,
As brooks make rivers, rivers run to feas.
The fow, with her broad fnout, for rooting up
Th' intrufted feed, was judge'd to spoil the crop,
And intercept the fweating farmers hope:
The covetous churl of unforgiveing kind,
Th' offender to the bloody priest refign'd:
Her hunger was no plea; for that the dye'd.
The goat came next in order to be try'd:
The goat had crop'd the tendrils of the vine:
In vengeance laity and clergy join,
Where one had loft his profit, one his wine.
Here was, at least, some shadow of offence.
The fheep was facrifice'd on no pretence,
But meek and unrefifting innocence.
A patient, useful, creature, born to bear
The warm,
and wooly fleece that clothe'd her murderer,
And dayly to give down the milk the bred,
A tribute for the grafs on which' fhe fed.
Liveing, both food and raiment she supplies,
And is of leaft advantage when the dyes.
How did the toiling ox his death deserve,
A downright fimple drudge, and born to ferve?
O tyrant! with what justice can'ft thou hope
The promise of the year, a plenteous crop,
When thou destroy'ft the lab'ring fteer, who til'd,
And plough'd with pains, thy elfe ungrateful field?
From his yet reeking neck, to draw the yoke,
That neck, with which the furly clods he broke;
And to the hatchet yield thy husbandman,
Who finish'd autumn, and the spring began!
Nor this alone! but heaven itself to bribe,
We to the gods our impious acts afcribe;
First recompenfe with death their creatures toil;
Then call the blefs'd above to fhare the spoil:
|