Ovid on Vegetarianism

“O impious use! to Nature's laws oppos'd, Where bowels are in other bowels clos'd: Where fatten'd by their fellow's fat, they thrive; Maintain'd by murder, and by death they live. 'Tis then for nought, that Mother Earth provides The stores of all she shows, and all she hides, If men with fleshy morsels must be fed, And chaw with bloody teeth the breathing bread: What else is this, but to devour our guests, And barb'rously renew Cyclopean feasts! We, by destroying life, our life sustain; And gorge th' ungodly maw with meats obscene.”

“O mortals, from your fellows' blood abstain, Nor taint your bodies with a food profane: While corn, and pulse by Nature are bestow'd, And planted orchards bend their willing load; While labour'd gardens wholesom herbs produce, And teeming vines afford their gen'rous juice; Nor tardier fruits of cruder kind are lost, But tam'd with fire, or mellow'd by the frost; While kine to pails distended udders bring, And bees their hony redolent of Spring; While Earth not only can your needs supply, But, lavish of her store, provides for luxury; A guiltless feast administers with ease, And without blood is prodigal to please.”