"A fiction that by no means savours of barbarity"

“Come boldly, every one of you, and assemble together to dine off me, for you shall at the same time eat your fathers and grandfathers, whose flesh has served to feed and nourish this body. These muscles, this flesh and these veins are yours, poor fools that you are! can you not see that they still contain the substance of your ancestor’s limbs? Relish them well, you will find that they have the flavor of your own flesh.”

(Michel de Montaigne, “Of Cannibals.” Trans. E. J. Trechmann)