登陆注册
15702000000081

第81章

As for the flesh of animals that had bona fide died a natural death, the permission to eat it was nugatory, for it was generally eaten by some other animal before man got hold of it; or failing this it was often poisonous, so that practically people were forced to evade the law by some of the means above spoken of, or to become vegetarians. This last alternative was so little to the taste of the Erewhonians, that the laws against killing animals were falling into desuetude, and would very likely have been repealed, but for the breaking out of a pestilence, which was ascribed by the priests and prophets of the day to the lawlessness of the people in the matter of eating forbidden flesh. On this, there was a reaction;stringent laws were passed, forbidding the use of meat in any form or shape, and permitting no food but grain, fruits, and vegetables to be sold in shops and markets. These laws were enacted about two hundred years after the death of the old prophet who had first unsettled people's minds about the rights of animals; but they had hardly been passed before people again began to break them.

I was told that the most painful consequence of all this folly did not lie in the fact that law-abiding people had to go without animal food--many nations do this and seem none the worse, and even in flesh-eating countries such as Italy, Spain, and Greece, the poor seldom see meat from year's end to year's end. The mischief lay in the jar which undue prohibition gave to the consciences of all but those who were strong enough to know that though conscience as a rule boons, it can also bane. The awakened conscience of an individual will often lead him to do things in haste that he had better have left undone, but the conscience of a nation awakened by a respectable old gentleman who has an unseen power up his sleeve will pave hell with a vengeance.

Young people were told that it was a sin to do what their fathers had done unhurt for centuries; those, moreover, who preached to them about the enormity of eating meat, were an unattractive academic folk, and though they over-awed all but the bolder youths, there were few who did not in their hearts dislike them. However much the young person might be shielded, he soon got to know that men and women of the world--often far nicer people than the prophets who preached abstention--continually spoke sneeringly of the new doctrinaire laws, and were believed to set them aside in secret, though they dared not do so openly. Small wonder, then, that the more human among the student classes were provoked by the touch-not, taste-not, handle-not precepts of their rulers, into questioning much that they would otherwise have unhesitatingly accepted.

One sad story is on record about a young man of promising amiable disposition, but cursed with more conscience than brains, who had been told by his doctor (for as I have above said disease was not yet held to be criminal) that he ought to eat meat, law or no law.

He was much shocked and for some time refused to comply with what he deemed the unrighteous advice given him by his doctor; at last, however, finding that he grew weaker and weaker, he stole secretly on a dark night into one of those dens in which meat was surreptitiously sold, and bought a pound of prime steak. He took it home, cooked it in his bedroom when every one in the house had gone to rest, ate it, and though he could hardly sleep for remorse and shame, felt so much better next morning that he hardly knew himself.

Three or four days later, he again found himself irresistibly drawn to this same den. Again he bought a pound of steak, again he cooked and ate it, and again, in spite of much mental torture, on the following morning felt himself a different man. To cut the story short, though he never went beyond the bounds of moderation, it preyed upon his mind that he should be drifting, as he certainly was, into the ranks of the habitual law-breakers.

All the time his health kept on improving, and though he felt sure that he owed this to the beefsteaks, the better he became in body, the more his conscience gave him no rest; two voices were for ever ringing in his ears--the one saying, "I am Common Sense and Nature;heed me, and I will reward you as I rewarded your fathers before you." But the other voice said: "Let not that plausible spirit lure you to your ruin. I am Duty; heed me, and I will reward you as I rewarded your fathers before you."Sometimes he even seemed to see the faces of the speakers. Common Sense looked so easy, genial, and serene, so frank and fearless, that do what he might he could not mistrust her; but as he was on the point of following her, he would be checked by the austere face of Duty, so grave, but yet so kindly; and it cut him to the heart that from time to time he should see her turn pitying away from him as he followed after her rival.

The poor boy continually thought of the better class of his fellow-students, and tried to model his conduct on what he thought was theirs. "They," he said to himself, "eat a beefsteak? Never."But they most of them ate one now and again, unless it was a mutton chop that tempted them. And they used him for a model much as he did them. "He," they would say to themselves, "eat a mutton chop?

Never." One night, however, he was followed by one of the authorities, who was always prowling about in search of law-breakers, and was caught coming out of the den with half a shoulder of mutton concealed about his person. On this, even though he had not been put in prison, he would have been sent away with his prospects in life irretrievably ruined; he therefore hanged himself as soon as he got home.

同类推荐
  • 绛守居园池

    绛守居园池

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 天厨禁脔

    天厨禁脔

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 雅量

    雅量

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 净土五会念佛略法事仪赞

    净土五会念佛略法事仪赞

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 校邠庐抗议

    校邠庐抗议

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 天殇皇殿

    天殇皇殿

    我本笑傲九天阙,无奈一朝落草间。前世有缘今生聚,莫等离时徒叹息!
  • 原手记

    原手记

    是复仇还是救赎!是正义还是邪恶!是大义还是亲情!一个徘徊在十字路口的灵魂!他该如何取舍!一个同样的故事,一个不一样的历史!带你领略人性的另一面!跟随我!去感受一个别样的世界!
  • 异谈

    异谈

    曾经死去的人出现了,活的很久的人却早已死去,虔诚的人看见心中所求,迷失的人找不到出路,莫名其妙的事情总会发生,高高的塔总是没有门,灵丹妙药或许能救命,却救不出在森林中晃悠的人,午夜开门的酒楼人满为患,午夜关上的宅门前灯笼高挂,梦中的美景,离水的黑鱼,空无一人的街道永远没有尽头,能够听见人声却走不出迷宫,直到祭天之日……在这个世界上存在着很多传说,也存在着很多产生传说的地方,但是,更多的是不为人所知的充满了神秘的地方,这些地方或许不起眼,或许一般人根本就发现不了,可是,总有那么一些有缘的人来到这些地方,命运的安排也从此拉开序幕,它将为我们拉开这些所有的神秘面纱。
  • 诡异:黑色眸子

    诡异:黑色眸子

    (灵异)不了解的人不懂,了解的人不了解,天给我一双鬼眼,可以看见冥,看见鬼,看见生,看见死,来自冥界的他唤醒我体内的沉封,重新回国的他竟会是法师,凭空出现的他说是千百年前的青梅竹马,可我却说”人妖殊途。“见过恨吗?那些东西就是不愿轮回的怨恨,该除除,能改过的改,沉封究竟与我有何关联?
  • 神偷盗天下

    神偷盗天下

    她是21世纪的神偷,萝莉的外表,邪恶的性子,外貌天生甜美,动手毫不犹豫,一次意外却莫名其妙穿越了,管你啥时代,小爷照样手到擒来,金银珠宝,偷,帅锅美男,偷,他是一代帝王,绝色的外貌,腹黑的心里,当一代神偷遇见一代帝王,会擦出什么样的火花呢?
  • 冷酷总裁高调爱:求婚101次

    冷酷总裁高调爱:求婚101次

    到底是什么样的爱,什么样的愁,让两人爱得辛苦执著,爱得甜蜜幸福?徐紫蕙和唐君霈两人,明明就在对方眼前,爱在心里口却难开!人生际遇大起大落,爱却始终埋藏在心底。徐紫蕙和唐君霈,互相暗自喜欢对方八年,默默地为彼此付出,可这段情给他们带来的却是无尽的伤害……徐紫蕙终于紧紧地拥抱着那个他日思暮想的男子,男子也紧紧地抱着她,她闻到了他身上那淡淡的男人味道……当他和她终于大胆开口,却遭遇重重困难……
  • 我在异世之超级抽奖系统

    我在异世之超级抽奖系统

    一切的结束都是开始。一切的一切只是过往云烟。看看我们的宅男主角是怎么样用抽奖系统一路碾压各种鬼怪的。最终会通往什么样的方向。敬请期待。第一次写书,如果有什么不合理的地方请给我醒,我会尽量改正的,谢谢大家了。
  • 真灵锻造师

    真灵锻造师

    边荒之外,诡兽肆虐,苍穹倒转,唯有武者逆天而行。他出生时天降异象,被称为绝世天才,然而十岁之时,他却忽然自废武道,另辟蹊径,展现种种神奇手段。战边荒、平至尊国度、封灾厄八界,成就真灵传说。
  • 零号魔王

    零号魔王

    黑发,赤瞳,身负两大王室血统的混血儿,他的身上蓄积着上一代人的爱恨情仇。面对帝国的要挟和外界的“猎龙”计划。是就此沦为帝国的屠刀,还是打破桎梏,与心爱的女孩归隐山林……一切尽在《零号魔王》
  • 穿越之老婆换我来追你

    穿越之老婆换我来追你

    女主本是现代某财经学院的职专生,与同校女学生发生了矛盾然而因为一个契机,穿越到了一个历史上没有的一个王国。遇到一个腹黑冷酷的王爷,活在乱世注定要战争才能生存。她能改变男主命运吗?一个尊贵无上的古代王爷居然倒追女主到现代,落魄到给丈母娘家卖土豆。