Caring For Beasts And Men

Ὁ μὲν ἐλεήμων ἀνὴρ μακροθυμεῖ, ἐν παντί τε μεριμνῶντι ἔνεστι σοφία· ἐμπεσεῖται γὰρ μέριμνα ἀνδρὶ νοήμονι, φροντιστής τε ὢν ζωὴν ζητήσει· καὶ ὁ ζητῶν τὸν θεὸν εὑρήσει γνῶσιν μετὰ δικαιοσύνης, οἱ δὲ ὀρθῶς ζητήσαντες αὐτὸν εἰρήνην εὗρον. Ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖ καὶ Πυθαγόρας τὸ ἥμερον τὸ περὶ τὰ ἄλογα ζῷα παρὰ τοῦ νόμου εἰληφέναι. Αὐτίκα τῶν γεννωμένων κατά τε τὰς ποίμνας κατά τε τὰ αἰπόλια καὶ βουκόλια τῆς παραχρῆμα ἀπολαύσεως, μηδὲ ἐπὶ προφάσει θυσιῶν λαμβάνοντας, ἀπέχεσθαι διηγόρευσεν, ἐκγόνων τε ἕνεκα καὶ μητέρων, εἰς ἡμερότητα τὸν ἄνθρωπον κάτωθεν ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων ἀνατρέφων. Χάρισαι γοῦν, φησί, τῇ μητρὶ τὸ ἔκγονον κἂν ἑπτὰ τὰς πρώτας ἡμέρας. Εἰ γὰρ μηδὲν ἀναιτίως γίνεται, γάλα δὲ ἐπομβρεῖται ταῖς τετοκυίαις εἰς διατροφὴν τῶν ἐκγόνων, ὁ ἀποσπῶν τῆς τοῦ γάλακτος οἰκονομίας τὸ τεχθὲν ἀτιμάζει τὴν φύσιν. Δυσωπείσθωσαν οὖν Ἕλληνες καὶ εἴ τις ἕτερός ἐστι τοῦ νόμου κατατρέχων, εἰ ὃ μὲν καὶ ἐπ´ ἀλόγων ζῴων χρηστεύεται, οἳ δὲ καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐκτιθέασιν ἔκγονα, καίτοι μακρόθεν καὶ προφητικῶς ἀνακόπτοντος αὐτῶν τὴν ἀγριότητα τοῦ νόμου διὰ τῆς προειρημένης ἐντολῆς. Εἰ γὰρ τῶν ἀλόγων τὰ ἔκγονα διαζεύγνυσθαι τῆς τεκούσης πρὸ τῆς γαλακτουχίας ἀπαγορεύει, πολὺ πλέον ἐπ´ ἀνθρώπων τὴν ὠμὴν καὶ ἀτιθάσευτον προθεραπεύει γνώμην, ἵν´ εἰ καὶ τῆς φύσεως, μαθήσεως γοῦν μὴ καταφρονῶσιν. Ἐρίφων μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἀρνῶν ἐμφορεῖσθαι ἐπιτέτραπται, καί τις ἴσως ἀπολογία τῷ διαζεύξαντι τῆς τεκούσης τὸ ἔκγονον· ἡ δὲ τοῦ παιδίου ἔκθεσις τίνα τὴν αἰτίαν ἔχει; ἐχρῆν γὰρ μηδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν γῆμαι τῷ μηδὲ παιδοποιεῖσθαι γλιχομένῳ ἢ δι´ ἡδονῆς ἀκρασίαν παιδοκτόνον γεγονέναι. Πάλιν αὖ ὁ χρηστὸς νόμος ἀπαγορεύει ἡμέρᾳ τῇ αὐτῇ συγκαταθύειν ἔκγονον καὶ μητέρα. Ἐντεῦθεν καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι, εἰ καί τις ἔγκυος καταδικασθείη τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ, οὐ πρότερον ἐῶσιν ὑποσχεῖν τὴν τιμωρίαν πρὶν ἢ ἐκτεκεῖν. Ἄντικρυς γοῦν καὶ ὅσα τῶν ζῴων κυοφορεῖ, ὁ νόμος οὐκ ἐπιτρέπει ἄχρις ἂν ἀποτέκῃ σφαγιάζεσθαι, μακρόθεν ἐπισχὼν τὴν εὐχέρειαν τῶν εἰς ἄνθρωπον ἀδικούντων. Οὕτως ἄχρι καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων τὸ ἐπιεικὲς ἀπέτεινεν, ἵνα ἐν τοῖς ἀνομογενέσιν ἀσκήσαντες πολλῇ τινι περιουσίᾳ φιλανθρωπίας ἐν τοῖς ὁμογενέσι χρησώμεθα. Οἳ δὲ καὶ περιλακτίζοντες τὰς γαστέρας πρὸ τῆς ἀποτέξεως ζῴων τινῶν, ἵνα δὴ γάλακτι ἀνακεκραμένην σάρκα θοινάζωνται, τάφον τῶν κυοφορουμένων τὴν εἰς γένεσιν κτισθεῖσαν μήτραν πεποιήκασι, διαρρήδην τοῦ νομοθέτου κελεύοντος, Ἀλλ´ οὐδὲ ἑψήσεις ἄρνα ἐν γάλακτι μητρὸς αὐτοῦ· μὴ γὰρ γινέσθω ἡ τοῦ ζῶντος τροφὴ ἥδυσμα τοῦ ἀναιρεθέντος ζῴου, φησίν ἡ σάρξ, μηδὲ τὸ τῆς ζωῆς αἴτιον συνεργὸν τῇ τοῦ σώματος καταναλώσει γινέσθω. Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Στρωματεων, Λογος Β' Κεφ' ΙΗ' Source: Migne PG 8.1033a-35b

'The merciful man is long-suffering, in every one who has care there is wisdom. For to the thoughtful man care will come, and, given to thought, he will seek life, and he who seeks God shall find knowledge with righteousness, and they who have sought Him rightly have found peace.' 1 And it seems to me that Pythagoras took his gentleness for irrational creatures from the Law. For example, he prohibited the immediate use of the young of sheep and goats and cattle at the instant of their birth, not permitting it even for the sake of sacrifice, both on account of the offspring and the mothers, thus by use of irrational creatures educating man to gentleness for what is inferior. 'Allow, then,' he says, 'the offspring to be with the mother for the first seven days.' For if nothing happens without a cause, and at birth milk is for the sustenance of the offspring, he that removes that which has been born for the supply of milk, dishonours nature. Let the Greeks, then, be ashamed, and whoever else disputes the Law, since it is kind to irrational creatures. And moreover they expose even the offspring of men, though long ago and prophetically the Law thrust back their savagery in the above-mentioned commandment. For if it prohibits the offspring of irrational creatures to be taken from the mother before suckling, much more in the case of men does it set down beforehand a remedy for brutishness and savagery of disposition, so that even if they scorn nature, they might not do teaching. For they are permitted to make use of kids and lambs, and perhaps there might be some reason for removing the offspring from the mother, but what cause is there for the exposure of a child? For the man who dislikes siring children has no right to marry in the first place, he who then by eagerness for pleasure becomes a child killer. Again, the kindly law prohibits the slaying of the offspring and the mother together on the same day. Thence also the Romans, if some pregnant woman were condemned to death, do not allow her to suffer the punishment until she gives birth. The Law too expressly prohibits the killing of animals who are pregnant until they have given birth, at a remove restraining the inclination of man to do wrong to man. Thus it extended its clemency to irrational creatures, that from the exercise of kindness for creatures of different species, we might practice it with much greater abundance for those of the same species. Those also who kick the bellies of certain animals before birth that they might feast on flesh mixed with milk, make a grave of the womb that was created for the birth of the child, even though the Law expressly commands, 'But neither shall you boil a lamb in the milk of its mother.' 2 For it should not be that the nourishment of the living animal should become relish for that which has been deprived of life, and that which is the cause of life should not be an assistant in the consumption of the body. Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, Book 2, Chapter 18 1 Prov 9.11,14.23,17.12 2 Deut 14.21