female humans. Animals are more temperate and do not desire material possessions; animals have no need for perfumes; animals do not commit adultery deceptively; animals do not have sex except in order to procreate; they therefore avoid sexual perversions. Animals stick to simple diets, have the right amount of intelligence for their natural conditions of life and therefore must be credited with rationality. The life of the animal as defined by Gryllus resembles the life of an ascetic philosopher. Plutarch here entices the reader into serious thinking about human social and ethical life through
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