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from Berosus. The number of Greek writers who may be quoted on this side is remarkable, Ælion says that the most ancient Athenians lived on figs, the Argives on pears and the Arcadians on acorns; and an oracle (according to Herodotus) alluded to the Arcadians in later times as "acorn-eaters." The celebrated Roman physician, Galen, avers that acorns afford as good nourishment as many sorts of grain, and that the Arcadians lived on them long after the rest of Greece used bread-corn. He also agrees with Pliny, the naturalist, in asserting that mankind in the first ages subsisted on acorns. Porphyry, a Platonic philosopher of the third century, a man of great talents and learning, says: "The ancient Greeks lived entirely on the fruits of the earth."
Hippocrates and Celsus (eminent physicians) confirm the statements concerning the primitive regimen of mankind; and, in fact, "all writers of antiquity, of every nation—historians, physicians, philosophers, and poets—assert that the first generations of men, who lived nearly a thousand years, were perfectly natural and simple in their diet."
When the Deluge had swept away the first race of men, permission of fleshmeat seems to have been granted. Indeed, man was both to replenish and to subdue the earth; but to subdue it in cold climates, which produce chiefly inferior herbage, before art and industry have reared fruits and cereal grasses, he would be under the necessity of becoming carnivorous at first. So Plutarch observes—"Those who first ate flesh probably ate it from scarcity and want of other food." But we must distinguish between divine permission and divine command. What may be convenient at one time may be highly improper at another. The Jewish law of divorce was conceded to the Jewish husband "for the hardness of men's hearts," although not in accordance with high and true morality. Retaliation also, and polygamy, were allowed; but the Mediator of a better covenant ordains otherwise for his followers. Things may be lawful that are not expedient; and man may be allowed the use of what might be to his advantage and happiness to reject.
Without disparagement of vegetable diet, we concede that animal food was permitted after the Deluge; nevertheless, long after that event, the patriarchs and their descendants rarely touched fleshmeat but on some festive occasion, and even to this day the Syrians and Mesopotamians, and natives of other countries, live after the same manner.
Asaad Yakoob Kayat, a native Syrian, in a speech at Exeter Hall, May 16th, 1838, stated that he had lately visited Mount Lebanon, where he found the people as large as giants, and very active. They lived almost entirely on dates, and drank only water, and many among them were 100 or 110 years old. Burckhardt says of the Bedouins: "The Arabs never indulge in
