Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, ed. William W. Goodwin, 110

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[110]

Question 110.

Why is the same high priest forbid to touch raw flesh?

Solution. Is it because custom makes them averse enough to raw flesh? Or is it that the same reason that makes them averse to meal doth also make them averse to flesh; for it is neither a living creature nor dressed food? Roasting or boiling, being an alteration and change, doth change its form; but fresh and raw flesh offers not a pure and unpolluted object to the eye, but such as is offensive to the eye, and like that of a raw wound.

Quaestiones Romanae. Plutarch. ed. William W. Goodwin. Boston. 1874.

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Current edition Perseus

Roman Questions (English) (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Chauncy, Isaac translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.)

Editions (2)

Αἴτια Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 110 focus

[110] διὰ τί καὶ σαρκὸς ὠμῆς ἀπείρηται τῷ ἱερεῖ ψαύειν;

πότερον ὠμοφαγίας πάνυ πόρρωθεν ἀποτρέπει τὸ ἔθος, ἢ διʼ ἣν τὸ ἄλευρον αἰτίαν ἀφοσιοῦνται καὶ τὸ 290a κρέας; οὔτε γάρ ἐστι ζῷον οὔτε ὄψον ἤδη γέγονεν. ἡ γὰρ ἕψησις καὶ ὄπτησις ἀλλοίωσις οὖσα καὶ μετακόσμησις ἐξίστησι τὴν μορφήν, τὸ δὲ πρόσφατον καὶ ὠμὸν οὐδὲ τὴν ὄψιν ἔχει καθαρὰν καὶ ἀμίαντον, ἀλλʼ εἰδεχθῆ καὶ ἑλκώδη.

Κεφαλαίων καταγραφή Ῥωμαϊκά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 110 focus

[110] διὰ τί καὶ σαρκὸς ὠμῆς ἀπείρηται τῷ ἱερεῖ ψαύειν; πότερον ὠμοφαγίας πάνυ πόρρωθεν ἀποτρέπει τὸ ἔθος, ἢ διʼ ἣν τὸ ἄλευρον αἰτίαν 15 290a ἀφοσιοῦνται καὶ τὸ κρέας; οὔτε γάρ ἐστι ζῷον οὔτε ὄψον ἤδη γέγονεν. ἡ γὰρ ἕψησις καὶ ὄπτησις ἀλλοίωσις οὖσα καὶ μετακόσμησις ἐξίστησι τὴν μορφήν. τὸ δὲ πρόσφατον καὶ ὠμὸν οὐδὲ τὴν ὄψιν ἔχει καθαρὰν καὶ ἀμίαντον, ἀλλʼ εἰδεχθῆ καὶ ἑλκώδη. 20

Translations (1)

The Roman Questions Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 110 focus

[110] Why is this priest also forbidden to touch raw flesh?

Is this custom intended to deter people completely from eating raw meat, or do they scrupulously repudiate flesh for the same reason as flour? For neither is it a living creature nor has it yet become a cooked food. Now boiling or roasting, being a sort of alteration and mutation, eliminates, the previous form; but fresh raw meat does not have a clean and unsullied appearance, but one that is repulsive, like a fresh wound.

Plutarch Quaestiones Romanae 110

ed. William W. Goodwin

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Question 110.

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