In faith he is vnmindful and vnworthie of increase
Of corne, that in his heart can finde his tilman to release
From plough, to cut his throte : that in his heart can find (I say)
Those neckes with hatchets off to strike, whose skin is worn away
With labouring ay for him : who turn’d so oft his land most tough,
Who brought so many haruests home.—Ibid. 116-126.
And let vs not Thyestes-like thus furnish vp our boords
With bloody bowels. Oh, how lewd example he affoords!
How wickedly prepareth he himselfe to murther man!
That with a cruell knife doth cut the throat of calfe, and can
Vnmoueably giue hearing to the lowing of the dam!
Or sticke the kid that waileth like the little babe! or eate
The foule that he himselfe before had often fed with meate!
What wants of vtter wickedness in working such a feate?
What may he after passe to do? Wel, either let your steers
Weare out themselues with worke, or else impute their death to yeers.
Against the wind and weather cold let wethers yeeld ye cotes,
And vdders full of batling milke receive ye of the gotes.
Away with springes, snarnes, and ginnes, away with rispe[1] and net,
Away with guileful feats: for foules no lime-twigs see yee set.
No feared feathers pitch ye vp to keepe the red deere in,
Musonius, the teacher of Epictetus, ranked by Origen with Socrates, taught ( D. R., 1881, p. 139 Ethics of Diet, 304):—
As we should prefer cheap fare to costly, and that which is easy to that which is hard to procure, so also that which is akin to man to that which is not so. Akin to us is that from plants, grains, and such other vegetable products as nourish man well; also what is derived from animals, not slaughtered, but otherwise serviceable. Of these foods the most suitable are such as we may use at once without fire, for such are readiest to hand. Such are fruits in season and some herbs, milk, cheese, and honeycombs. Moreover, such as need fire, and belong to the classes of grains and herbs, are also not unsuitable, but are all, without exception, akin to man.
III.—I will cite but one witness—the adviser of John Wesley—to prove that the distinction between animal products and flesh-meat is not new-fangled, but familiar to medical science. Dr. Beaumont, peeping into the stomach of Alexis St. Martin, found that beef inflamed the mucous membrane just as alcohol did. In fact, beef is "the brandy of diet." Eggs and milk are not inflammatory. In The English Malady; or, a Treatise of Nervous Diseases of all Kinds (2nd ed. Lond. 1734, pp. 361, 362), Dr. Cheyne describes the regimen by which he conquered gout and a complication of disorders which had made life intolerable:
- ↑ Twig.
