September 20, 2009

Shakespeare on the madness of eating meat

SIR ANDREW
... I am a great eater of beef and I believe that does harm to my wit.

SIR TOBY
No question.

(Twelfth Night, act I, scene iii)

and

Clown [as Sir Topas the curate]
What is the opinion of Pythagoras concerning wild fowl?

MALVOLIO
That the soul of our grandam might haply inhabit a bird.

Clown
What thinkest thou of his opinion?

MALVOLIO
I think nobly of the soul, and no way approve his opinion.

Clown
Fare thee well. Remain thou still in darkness: thou shalt hold the opinion of Pythagoras ere I will allow of thy wits, and fear to kill a woodcock, lest thou dispossess the soul of thy grandam. Fare thee well.

(Twelfth Night, act IV, scene ii)