“Abstain from the flesh of living beings, for you are one in nature with them.”
— EmpedoclesCommonly cited paraphrase of Empedocles' teaching on abstinence, reported in Porphyry, On Abstinence; approximate English rendering
Commentary
This paraphrase reflects the Pythagorean-influenced ethic of the Purifications, which forbids the eating of animal flesh on the grounds of kinship between souls and living creatures. The teaching follows from the doctrine of transmigration, since a soul may inhabit any living form. Kirk, Raven, and Schofield note the close affinity of this ethic with Pythagorean views, and they caution that the testimony of Porphyry is later. Daniel Graham argues that the ethic of abstinence depends on the physics of mixture, since all living things share the same roots. Richard Wright discusses the ethical injunctions of the poem and their religious framing. Jean Bollack emphasises the mystical and purificatory elements of the teaching. The sentence is a paraphrase and should be labelled accordingly, with Porphyry checked before quotation.
Commentary
This paraphrase reflects the Pythagorean-influenced ethic of the Purifications, which forbids the eating of animal flesh on the grounds of kinship between souls and living creatures. The teaching follows from the doctrine of transmigration, since a soul may inhabit any living form. Kirk, Raven, and Schofield note the close affinity of this ethic with Pythagorean views, and they caution that the testimony of Porphyry is later. Daniel Graham argues that the ethic of abstinence depends on the physics of mixture, since all living things share the same roots. Richard Wright discusses the ethical injunctions of the poem and their religious framing. Jean Bollack emphasises the mystical and purificatory elements of the teaching. The sentence is a paraphrase and should be labelled accordingly, with Porphyry checked before quotation.