A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 03 — Voltaire — John Shaqi
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 03
Voltaire · en
Not to go so far for examples, we have one in our own country, in the
very province in which I write; it is attested by our conqueror, our
master, Julius Cæsar. He was besieging Alexia, in the Auxois. The
besieged being resolved to defend themselves to the last extremity, and
wanting provisions, a great council was assembled, in which one of the
chiefs, named Critognatus, proposed that the children should be eaten
one after another to sustain the strength of the combatants. His
proposal was carried by a majority of voices. Nor is this all;
Critognatus in his harangue tells them that their ancestors had had
recourse to the same kind of sustenance in the war with the Cimbri and
Teutones.
We will conclude with the testimony of Montaigne. Speaking of what was
told him by the companions of Villegagnon, returned from Brazil, and of
what he had seen in France, he certifies that the Brazilians ate their
enemies killed in war, but mark what follows: "Is it more barbarous to
eat a man when dead than to have him roasted by a slow fire, or torn to
pieces by dogs and swine, as is yet fresh in our memories--and that not
between ancient enemies, but among neighbors and fellow-citizens--and,
which is worse, on pretence of piety and religion?" What a question for
a philosopher like Montaigne! Then, if Anacreon and Tibullus had been
Iroquois, they would have eaten men! Alas! alas!
SECTION III.
Well; two Englishmen have sailed round the world. They have discovered
that New Holland is an island larger than Europe, and that men still eat
one another there, as in New Zealand. Whence come this race? supposing
that they exist. Are they descended from the ancient Egyptians, from the
ancient people of Ethiopia, from the Africans, from the Indians--or from
the vultures, or the wolves? What a contrast between Marcus Aurelius, or
Epictetus, and the cannibals of New Zealand! Yet they have the same
organs, they are alike human beings. We have already treated on this
property of the human race; it may not be amiss to add another
paragraph.
The following are St. Jerome's own words in one of his letters: _"Quid
loquar de cæteris nationibus, quum ipse adolescentulus in Gallia viderim
Scotos, gentem Britannicam, humanis vesci carnibus, et quum per silvas
porcorum greges pecudumque reperiant, tamen pastorum nates et fæminarum
papillas solere abscindere et has solas ciborum delicias
arbitrari?"_--What shall I say of other nations; when I myself, when
young, have seen Scotchmen in Gaul, who, though they might have fed on
swine and other animals of the forest, chose rather to cut off the
posteriors of the youths and the breasts of the young women, and
considered them as the most delicious food."