This extract is from ‘Beasts are Rational’ which is part of Plutarch’s collection of essays known as on Moralia. The compilation consists of literary works and touches on political, religious, and ethical issues. The publication date is thought to be around 100 AD.
In this text, Plutarch casts an ironic view on human life and behavior, as well as that, the protagonist is a pig named Gryllus. The source of Plutarch’s parody is The Odyssey in which the crew of Odysseus have been turned into pigs by the goddess Circe. Odysseus overcomes Circe and forces her to change his men back to their original form. In this version, the pig Gryllus argues his point with Odysseus on the disadvantages of being human. It is a satirical perspective on current intellectual culture regarding language and sophistic learning.
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In the opening lines, Odysseus is questioning whether virtue in beasts exists. Gryllus responds that the souls of animals are more naturally disposed to virtue. Unlike men who are predisposed to falsehood and mislead. Ironically, Odysseus is fondly called ‘willy one’ by Athena because he characteristically deceives. Therefore, Gryllus implies that through man’s ability to speak, he will lack virtue, as he has a penchant for physical pleasures and will continuously lie to achieve his ends. Yet it is through Gryllus’ art of speech that he enforces how virtuous the animal kingdom is in comparison to man. His language articulates their unpretentious nature through words such as ‘guileless’, ‘artless’, and ‘stout heart’, a human metaphor and ironically valor for their courage.
According to Gryllus, an animal’s bravery is equally manifested in both genders, “and the female is in no way inferior to the male”. Nevertheless, the following lines describe the female in derogative terms, ‘sow’, and ‘vixen’, and yet the horse is called a ‘fine-spirited mare’. The examples he uses are associated with Hesiod’s view of women in Works and Days. Nonetheless, his observations about the fairness of the sexes link to the Stoic opinion that women were ethically equal to their counterparts. Gryllus also points to the fact that humans pride themselves on being superior to wild animals in bravery, integrity, and reason yet animal epithets are applied to heroes to describe their skills.
Plutarch’s philosophical interest is cleverly manipulated through Gryllus's humorous dialogue, and his empathy for animals is perceptible, though he suggests that their reasoning capabilities are weaker than that of humans, hinting they are able “to live lives that are more naturally virtuous than are those of humans”. There is an ambiguity within the text which is highlighted by that the fact Gryllus's mental faculties are noticeably human. This is in conjunction with George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm. The main protagonist is a pig named Napoleon, who parallels Gryllus’ dislike of humans and the consensus on the farm is “Four legs good, two legs bad”. Though given the power of speech, this does not always equate to reason as both these pigs are biased in their views. This characteristic of contempt is singular to human qualities.
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