§1ἀλλὰ σὺ μὲν ἐρωτᾷς; τίνι λόγῳ Πυθαγόρας ἀπείχετο σαρκοφαγίας, ἐγὼ δὲ θαυμάζω καὶ τίνι πάθει καὶ ποίᾳ ψυχῇ ἢ λόγῳ ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος ἥψατο φόνου στόματι καὶ τεθνηκότος ζῴου χείλεσι προσήψατο σαρκός· καὶ νεκρῶν σωμάτων καὶ ἑώλων προθέμενος τραπέζας ὄψα καὶ τρυφὰς καὶ προσέτι εἰπεῖν τὰ μικρὸν ἔμπροσθεν βρυχώμενα μέρη καὶ φθεγγόμενα καὶ κινούμενα καὶ βλέποντα· πῶς ἡ ὄψις ὑπέμεινε τὸν φόνον σφαζομένων δερομένων διαμελιζομένων, πῶς ἡ ὄσφρησις ἤνεγκε τὴν ἀποφοράν πῶς τὴν γεῦσιν οὐκ ἀπέτρεψεν ὁ μολυσμὸς ἑλκῶν ψαύουσαν ἀλλοτρίων καὶ τραυμάτων θανασίμων χυμοὺς· καὶ ἰχῶρας ἀπολαμβάνουσαν.
But you ask for what reason Pythagoras abstained from eating meat, whereas I wonder by what feeling, what soul, or what reason the first human touched slaughter with his mouth and set his lips to the flesh of a dead creature; and set tables of dead bodies and stale food, calling them delicacies and luxuries, and moreover to speak of parts that just a moment before were bellowing, making sounds, moving, and seeing; how his sight endured the slaughter of beasts being slain, flayed, and dismembered; how his sense of smell bore the stench; how the pollution did not turn away his taste as it touched the sores of others and received the juices and ichor of fatal wounds.
"
εἷρπον μὲν ῥινοί, κρέα δʼ ἀμφʼ ὀβελοῖς ἐμεμύκει
ὀπταλέα τε καὶ ὠμά, βοῶν δʼ ὣς γίγνετο φωνὴ
"
τοῦτο πλάσμα καὶ μῦθός ἐστι, τὸ δέ γε δεῖπνον ἀληθῶς τερατῶδες, πεινῆν τινα τῶν μυκωμένων ἔτι, καὶ διδάσκοντα ἀφʼ ὧν δεῖ τρέφεσθαι ζώντων ἔτι καὶ λαλούντων, καὶ διαταττόμενον ἀρτύσεις τινὰς καὶ ὀπτήσεις καὶ παραθέσεις·
"The hides crept, and the meat bellowed on the spits, both roasted and raw, and there was a voice like that of cattle" This is a fiction and a myth, but the dinner was truly monstrous—that someone should hunger for what was still bellowing, and instruct people to feed on things still living and speaking, and direct certain seasonings, roastings, and servings.
τούτων ἔδει ζητεῖν τὸν πρῶτον ἀρξάμενον οὐ τὸν ὀψὲ παυσάμενον
One should seek the one who first began these things, not the one who late in time ceased.
§2ἢ τοῖς μὲν πρώτοις ἐκείνοις ἐπιχειρήσασι σαρκοφαγεῖν τὴν αἰτίαν ἂν εἴποι τις πᾶσαν εἶναι τὴν ἀπορίαν·
Or indeed, one might say that for those very first people who attempted to eat meat, the entire cause was lack of resources.
οὐ γὰρ ἐπιθυμίαις ἀνόμοις συνδιάγοντες οὐδʼ ἐν περιουσίᾳ τινὶ ἀναγκαίων ὑβρίσαντες εἰς ἡδονὰς παρὰ φύσιν ἀσυμφύλους ἐπὶ ταῦτʼ ἦλθον·
For they did not come to this because they lived with abnormal desires or because they abused a surplus of necessities for unnatural, incompatible pleasures.
ἀλλʼ εἴποιεν ἂν αἴσθησιν ἐν τῷ παρόντι καὶ φωνὴν λαβόντες· ὦ μακάριοι. καὶ θεοφιλεῖς οἱ νῦν ὄντες ὑμεῖς οἷον βίου λαχόντες αἰῶνα καρποῦσθε καὶ νέμεσθε κλῆρον ἀγαθῶν ἄφθονον, ὅσα φύεται ὑμῖν;
But if they should receive sense and voice at this present moment, they would say: "O blessed and beloved of the gods, you who live now, what an age of life you have been allotted to enjoy, and what an abundant portion of good things you inherit!
ὅσα τρυγᾶται;
How much grows for you! How much is harvested!
ὅσον πλοῦτον ἐκ πεδίων, ὅσας ἀπὸ φυτῶν ἡδονὰς δρέπεσθαι πάρεστιν;
What wealth from the plains, how many pleasures from plants is it yours to gather!
ἔξεστιν ὑμῖν καὶ τρυφᾶν μὴ μιαινομένοις.
It is permitted to you to live luxuriously without being defiled.
ἡμᾶς δὲ σκυθρωπότατον καὶ φοβερώτατον ἐδέξατο βίου καὶ χρόνου μέρος, εἰς πολλὴν καὶ ἀμήχανον ἐκπεσόντας ὑπὸ τῆς πρώτης γενέσεως ἀπορίαν ἔτι μὲν οὐρανὸν ἔκρυπτεν ἀήρ, καὶ ἄστρα θολερῷ καὶ δυσδιαστατοῦντι πεφυρμένα ὑγρῷ καὶ πυρὶ καὶ ζάλαις ἀνέμων οὔπω δʼ ἥλιος ἵδρυτο ἀπλανῆ καὶ βέβαιον
"
ἔχων δρόμον ἠὼ
καὶ δύσιν ἔκρινεν, περὶ δʼ ἢγαγεν αὖθις ὀπίσσω
καρποφόροισιν ἐπιστέψας κάλυκος στεφάνοισιν
ὥρας· γῆ δʼ ὕβριστο
"
ποταμῶν ἐκβολαῖς ἀτάκτοις, καὶ πολλὰ
λίμναισιν ἄμορφα
καὶ πηλοῖς βαθέσι καὶ λόχμαις ἀφόροις καὶ ὕλαις ἐξηγρίωτο·
But us, a most gloomy and terrifying portion of life and time received, falling into great and helpless poverty because of the first creation. An air still hid the heaven, and stars were mingled with turbid and hard-to-distinguish moisture, fire, and storms of winds. Not yet was the sun established, holding an unswerving and steady course, "distinguishing dawn and sunset, and leading the seasons back again, crowning them with the flowery wreaths of the bud" The earth was outraged by disorderly floods of rivers, and much of it was defiled by shapeless swamps and deep muds, barren thickets and forests.
φορᾶς δʼ ἡμέρων καρπῶν καὶ τέχνης ὄργανον οὐδὲν οὐδὲ μηχανὴ σοφίας·
There was no instrument for producing cultivated fruits, nor any device of wisdom.
ὁ δὲ λιμὸς οὐκ ἐδίδου χρόνον οὐδʼ ὥρας ἐτησίους σπόρος οὐκ ὢν τότʼ ἀνέμενε. .
And hunger gave no time, nor did annual sowing, since it did not exist then, wait.
τί θαυμαστόν, εἰ ζῴων ἐχρησάμεθα σαρξὶ παρὰ φύσιν, ὅτʼ ἰλὺς ἠσθίετο καὶ φλοιὸς ἐβρώθη ξύλου, καὶ ἄγρωστιν εὑρεῖν βλαστάνουσαν ἢ φλεώ τινα ῥίζαν εὐτυχὲς ἦν;
What wonder if we made use of the flesh of animals against nature, when mud was eaten and the bark of wood was devoured, and to find a sprouting wild grass or some rush root was good fortune?
βαλάνου δὲ γευσάμενοι καὶ φαγόντες ἐχόρευσαν ὑφʼ ἡδονῆς περὶ δρῦν τινα καὶ φηγόν, ζείδωρον καὶ μητέρα καὶ τροφὸν ἀποκαλοῦντες·
And tasting and eating an acorn, they danced for pleasure around some oak or beech, calling it 'giver of life' and 'mother' and 'nourisher'!
ἐκείνην ὁ τότε βίος ἑορτὴν ἔγνω, τὰ δʼ ἄλλα φλεγμονῆς ἦν ἅπαντα μεστὰ καὶ στυγνότητος.
That was the only feast that the life of that time knew; all else was full of inflammation and gloom.
ὑμᾶς δὲ τοὺς νῦν τίς λύσσα καὶ τίς οἶστρος ἄγει πρὸς μιαιφονίαν, οἷς τοσαῦτα περίεστι τῶν ἀναγκαίων;
But you who live now, what madness, what sting drives you to bloodshed, you who have such an abundance of necessities?
τί καταψεύδεσθε τῆς γῆς ὡς· τρέφειν μὴ δυναμένης;
Why do you lie against the earth, as if it were unable to nourish you?
τί τὴν θεσμοφόρον ἀσεβεῖτε Δήμητρα καὶ τὸν ἡμερίδην καὶ μειλίχιον δε εσυ ξαρνιυμ αἰσχύνετε Διόνυσον, ὡς οὐχ ἱκανὰ παρὰ τούτων λαμβάνοντες;
Why do you act impiously toward Demeter the Lawgiver, and disgrace Dionysus, the protector of the cultivated vine and the gentle, as if you did not receive enough from them?
οὐκ αἰδεῖσθε τοὺς ἡμέρους καρποὺς αἵματι καὶ φόνῳ μιγνύοντες;
Are you not ashamed to mix cultivated fruits with blood and slaughter?
ἀλλὰ δράκοντας ἀγρίους καλεῖτε καὶ παρδάλεις καὶ λέοντας, αὐτοὶ δὲ μιαιφονεῖτε εἰς ὠμότητα καταλιπόντες ἐκείνοις οὐδέν· ἐκείνοις μὲν γὰρ ὁ φόνος τροφή, ὑμῖν δʼ ὄψον ἐστίν.
But you call wild beasts panthers, lions, and serpents, while you yourselves commit murder, leaving nothing to them in cruelty; for to them, slaughter is food, but to you it is a delicacy."