Select Works of Porphyry (On Abstinence from Animal Food, etc.)
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Selection or partial work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~130,000 words · 606 passages
Cite this work
- APAPorphyry. (n.d.). Select Works of Porphyry (On Abstinence from Animal Food, etc.). Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/porphyry/select-works-of-porphyry-on-abstinence-from-animal-food-etc
- MLAPorphyry. Select Works of Porphyry (On Abstinence from Animal Food, etc.). Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/porphyry/select-works-of-porphyry-on-abstinence-from-animal-food-etc.
- ChicagoPorphyry. Select Works of Porphyry (On Abstinence from Animal Food, etc.). Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/porphyry/select-works-of-porphyry-on-abstinence-from-animal-food-etc.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The third-century treatise in which Porphyry defends abstaining from animal food, and which is the fullest vegetarian argument to reach us from antiquity.
Context and history
He wrote it to persuade a friend, Firmus Castricius, who had given up the diet. The argument has four parts and is not sentimental: it holds that animals have perception, memory and a kind of reason; that justice is not confined to those who make bargains with us; that blood sacrifice is a degradation of worship; and that eating flesh defiles anyone who wishes to live the contemplative life. Porphyry was Plotinus's pupil and edited him; from him come also the 'Isagoge', which taught logic to medieval Europe, and a treatise against the Christians which is lost because it was ordered burnt. It is one of the texts that shows the question of how we treat animals is no modern invention.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
2: Tlaons πραξεως καὶ WITS ἐργοῦυ καὶ λογου θεος ἐποπτης “-ἀρεστὼ καὶ εῷορος, (p. 24): ἢ, ε. “ Of every action, and of every deed and word, God is present as the scrutator and inspector.” This is evidently derived from the following sentence of Demophilus, . (Opusc. Mythol. p. 621): Ἐὰν aes μνημονευης, ors ὁποῦ ἂν ἢ ἡ Ψψυχη σου, καὶ TO THe epyor ἀπόοτελει, θεος ἐφεστηκχεν εῴορος, ay πάσαις σου dass εὐχαῖς καὶ πράξεσιν, αιδεσθησὴ μὲν τοῦ θεωρου τὸ ἀληστον, εξεις δὲ τὸν θεὸν σύναικον, ὃ. 6. “ If you always remember, that wherever your soul, or your body, performs any deed, God is present as an inspector, in all your prayers and actions, you will reverence the nature of an inspector, from whom nothing can be concealed, and will have God for a cohabitant.” What immediately follows in this paragraph is from Sextus, viz. xa: πάντων ὧν πράττομεν ἀγαθὼν tov θεὸν aitiov ἡγωμεθα : 2.e. ““ OF all the ‘good that we do, we should consider God as the cause.” And Sextus says, p. 648. “ Deus in bonis actibus hominibus dux est.” Porphyry adds: Twy δὲ χακὼν curios ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν οι EAOMEVOS, bcos δὲ ἀναίτιος. And the latter part is evidently from Sextus, who says, Ὁ. 648, ‘‘ Mali nullius autor est Deus.” Porphyry further adds: Odev καὶ εὐκταῖον ta ἀξια θεου" και αἰτωμεθα ἃ μη λαθδοιμεν ἂν παρ᾽ ετερου" καὶ WY ἡγεμόνες οἱ μετ᾽ ἄρετὴς TOVOL, ταυτὰ εὐχόμεθα γενεσθαι μετα τοὺς πονοὺς : ὃ. 6. “ Hence we should ask of God things which are worthy of him, and which we cannot ΧΥ INTRODUCTION. ΧΥ INTRODUCTION. fnus. And for an account of the other entire works and fragments that are extant, and also