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Animal Rights History Timeline » [1660-1785] Enlightenment] » Nathaniel Wanley

Nathaniel Wanley

Wonders of the Little World; or, A General History of Man

Of the Meekness, Humanity, Clemency, Mercy of Some Men

[1678] Nathaniel Wanley, "Of the Meekness, Humanity, Clemency, and Mercy of Some Men," in The Wonders of the Little World; or, A General History of Man (1678; London, 1806; Google Books: Online Library of Free eBooks).

Photius, the learned Patriach of Constantinople, observeth in his Bibliotheque, a wonderful judgment given in the city of Athens: he saith, "the senate of the Areopagites being assembled together on a mountain, without any roof but heaven, the senators perceived a bird of prey which pursued a little sparrow, that came to save itself in the bosom of one of their company. This man, who naturally was harsh, threw it from him so roughly, that he killed it; whereat the court was offended, and a decree was made, by which he was banished from the senate;" where the judicious may observe that this company, which was at the time one of the gravest in the world, did it not for the care they had to make a law concerning sparrows, but it was to show that clemency and a merciful inclination, was so necessary in a state, that a man destitute of it was not worthy to hold any place in government, he having (as it were) renounced humanity. (115)

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"[Roger Pearse] has placed online the text of J.H. Freese' English translation of [Photius of Constantinople's Bibliotheca] codices 1-165 . This was published in 1920, but no further volumes ever appeared. This text is now in the public domain. The remainder has not been translated into English, with the exception of selected codices by N.G. Wilson in 1994. The whole has been translated into French by René Henry—not very well, according to Wilson." Therefore, at this time, I have unable to verify the quote from Photius, Wanley references in the above passage.