§5καίτοι τῆς λεγομένης ταῖς ψυχαῖς εἰς σώματα παλιμμεταβολῆς εἰ μὴ πίστεως ἄξιον τὸ ἀποδεικνύμενον, ἀλλʼ εὐλαβείας γε μεγάλης καὶ δέους τὸ ἀμφίβολον.
And yet, even if that which is demonstrated concerning the so-called rebirth of souls into bodies is not worthy of belief, at least the uncertainty of it is worthy of great caution and fear.
οἷον εἴ τις ἐν νυκτομαχίαις στρατοπέδων ἀνδρὶ πεπτωκότι καὶ τὸ σῶμα κρυπτομένῳ τοῖς ὅπλοις ἐπιφέρων ξίφος ἀκούσειέ τινος λέγοντος οὐ πάνυ μὲν εἰδέναι βεβαίως, οἴεσθαι δὲ καὶ δοκεῖν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν κείμενον ἢ ἀδελφὸν ἢ πατέρα ἢ σύσκηνον εἶναι τί βέλτιον, ὑπονοίᾳ προσθέμενον οὐκ ἀληθεῖ προέσθαι τὸν ἐχθρὸν ὡς φίλον, ἢ καταφρονήσαντα τοῦ μὴ βεβαίου πρὸς πίστιν ἀνελεῖν τὸν οἰκεῖον ὡς πολέμιον;
For example, if in a night-battle of armies someone, bringing down his sword upon a fallen man whose body is hidden by his armor, should hear someone say that, though he does not know for certain, he thinks and believes the one lying there to be his son or brother or father or tent-mate: which is better, to yield to a suspicion that might not be true and let the enemy go as a friend, or, despising the lack of certainty for belief, to kill one's kinsman as an enemy?
ἐκεῖνο δεινὸν φήσετε πάντες. σκόπει δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐν τῇ τραγῳδίᾳ Μερόπην ἐπὶ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτὸν ὡς φονέα τοῦ υἱοῦ πέλεκυν ἀραμένην καὶ λέγουσαν
"
ὠνητέραν δὴ τήνδʼ ἐγὼ δίδωμί σοι
πληγήν·
You will all say: "The latter is terrible." And consider Merope in the tragedy, raising her axe against her own son as the murderer of her son, and saying: "Indeed, a more dearly bought blow I deal to you.
"
ὅσον ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ κίνημα ποιεῖ, συνεξορθιάζουσα φόβῳ, καὶ δέος μὴ φθάσῃ τὸν ἐπιλαμβανόμενον γέροντα καὶ τρώσῃ τὸ μειράκιον.
"How great a stir she makes in the theater, raising them up with fear, and what a terror lest she anticipate the old man who is grabbing her and wound the youth!
εἰ δʼ ἕτερος γέρων παρεστήκοι λέγων
παῖσον, πολέμιός ἐστιν· ἕτερος δὲ
μὴ παίσῃς, υἱός ἐστι· πότερον ἀδίκημα μεῖζον, ἐχθροῦ κόλασιν ἐκλιπεῖν διὰ τὸν υἱὸν ἢ τεκνοκτονίᾳ περιπεσεῖν ὑπὸ τῆς πρὸς τὸν ἐχθρὸν ὀργῆς;
And if another old man stood by saying, "Strike, he is an enemy!" and another, "Do not strike, he is your son!" which is the greater wrongdoing: to abandon the punishment of an enemy for the sake of the son, or to fall into child-murder through anger toward the enemy?
ὁπότε τοίνυν οὐ μῖσός ἐστιν οὐδὲ θυμὸς ὁ πρὸς τὸν φόνον ἐξάγων ἡμᾶς οὐδʼ ἄμυνά τις οὐδὲ φόβος ὑπὲρ αὑτῶν, ἀλλʼ εἰς ἡδονῆς μέρος ἕστηκεν ἱερεῖον ἀνακεκλασμένῳ τραχήλῳ ὑποκείμενον, εἶτα λέγει τῶν φιλοσόφων ὁ μὲν
κατάκοψον, ἄλογόν ἐστι τὸ ζῷον. ὁ δὲ
ἀνάσχου·
When, therefore, it is neither hatred nor anger that leads us to slaughter, nor any self-defense, nor fear for ourselves, but the victim lying with its neck bent back stands as a part of pleasure, and then one of the philosophers says, "Cut it down, the animal is irrational!" and the other says, "Hold back!
τί γὰρ εἰ συγγενοῦς ἢ θεοῦ τινος ἐνταῦθα ψυχὴ κεχώρηκεν; ἴσος γε, ὦ θεοί, καὶ ὅμοιος ὁ κίνδυνος ἕχει, ἂν ἀπειθῶ φαγεῖν κρέας, ἂν ἀπιστῶ φονεῦσαι τέκνον ἢ ἕτερον οἰκεῖον;
For what if the soul of a kinsman or of some god has entered here?" By the gods, is the danger equal and similar if I disobey the command and do not eat meat, and if I disbelieve the warning and kill a child or another kinsman?
§6οὐκ ἴσος δʼ ἔτι καὶ οὗτος ὁ ἀγὼν τοῖς Στωικοῖς ὑπὲρ τῆς σαρκοφαγίας.
Furthermore, this struggle of the Stoics in defense of meat-eating is not on equal terms.
τίς γὰρ ὁ πολὺς τόνος· εἰς τὴν γαστέρα καὶ τὰ ὀπτανεῖα;
For what is this great intensity toward the belly and the kitchens?
τί τὴν ἡδονὴν θηλύνοντες καὶ διαβάλλοντες ὡς οὔτʼ ἀγαθὸν οὔτε προηγούμενον οὔτʼ οἰκεῖον οὕτω περὶ τὰ τῶν ἡδονῶν ἐσπουδάκασι;
Why, while they emasculate pleasure and slander it as neither a good, nor a preferred thing, nor akin to nature, have they become so zealous about the matters of pleasures?
καὶ μὴν ἀκόλουθον ἦν αὐτοῖς, εἰ μύρον ἐξελαύνουσι καὶ πέμμα τῶν συμποσίων, μᾶλλον αἷμα καὶ σάρκα δυσχεραίνειν.
And indeed, it would be consistent for them, if they banish perfume and pastry from banquets, to be even more disgusted by blood and flesh.
νῦν δʼ ὥσπερ εἰς τὰς ἐφημερίδας φιλοσοφοῦντες δαπάνην ἀφαιροῦσι τῶν δείπνων ἐν τοῖς ἀχρήστοις καὶ περιττοῖς, τὸ δʼ ἀνήμερον τῆς πολυτελείας καὶ φονικὸν οὐ παραιτοῦνται.
But as it is, as if philosophizing for the account books, they remove the expense of dinners in useless and superfluous things, but they do not shun the savage and murderous element of luxury.
ναί, φησίν, οὐδὲν γὰρ ἡμῖν πρὸς τὰ ἄλογα δίκαιον ἔστιν. οὐδὲ γὰρ πρὸς τὸ μύρον, φαίη τις ἄν, οὐδὲ πρὸς τὰ ξενικὰ τῶν ἡδυσμάτων ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτων ἀποτρέπεσθε, τὸ μὴ χρήσιμον μηδʼ ἀναγκαῖον ἐν ἡδονῇ πανταχόθεν ἐξελαύνοντες. §7οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτʼ ἤδη σκεψώμεθα, τὸ μηδὲν εἶναι πρὸς τὰ ζῷα δίκαιον ἡμῖν, μηδὲ τεχνικῶς μηδὲ σοφιστικῶς, ἀλλὰ τοῖς πάθεσιν ἐμβλέψαντες τοῖς ἑαυτῶν καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς ἀνθρωπικῶς λαλήσαντες καὶ ἀνακρίναντες.
"Yes," he says, "for we have no relation of justice toward irrational animals." "Nor indeed toward perfume," someone might say, "nor toward foreign seasonings; yet you turn away from these also, banishing from everywhere what is neither useful nor necessary in pleasure." Nevertheless, let us now examine this very claim: that there is no justice between us and animals, not in a technical or sophistical way, but by looking into our own feelings and speaking and examining ourselves in a human way.