But no such man was the Laconian who, on seeing a man refuse to eat a young peacock or other expensive bird that was placed before him, and complain that he could not eat because of lack of appetite, remarked, "But I could eat a vulture or a buzzard."
Zeno of Citium even when he was ill thought that no unusually delicate food should be brought him, and when the attending physician ordered him to eat squab, he would not allow it, and said, "Treat me as you would treat my slave Manes." For I imagine that he thought there should be nothing more delicate in his treatment than for one of his slaves if he were ill; for if they can be cured without receiving more delicate fare, so can we.
Surely a good man should be no more delicate than a slave; and for that reason Zeno very likely thought he ought to beware of delicacy in diet and not yield to it in the least, for if he once yielded he would go the whole way, since in the matter of food and drink, pleasure accelerates its pace alarmingly. The words spoken on that occasion concerning food and nourishment seemed to us more unusual than the customary discourses day by day.
I do worry that my desire for quality in what I eat and drink can too easily become a form of pretension, where the substance is confused with a mere love of the appearances. If I am honest with myself, I know that the difference will be found in my own judgments, in the reasons why I choose to pursue certain things.
I think with shame of a time when I started to refuse eating a certain soup I had long enjoyed, only because I learned that it contained mushrooms. I had thought that those were pieces of meat, and it somehow disturbed me to no end that they were actually pieces of fungus. I had unwittingly joined the ranks of the picky eaters, all too common in a culture of luxury.
The mere thought of the mushrooms disturbed me, even though I enjoyed the taste of them, and, more to the point, they were surely healthier for me than the pork I had taken them for. I should be thinking more like a Spartan instead of some culinary dandy, happy to eat buzzard instead of peacock if it gives me good nourishment.
A good test of my integrity will be if I am willing to apply the same standards across the board, or if I expect some form of special treatment for myself. If I say that eating an apple instead of a hamburger is good enough for anyone else, it should also be good enough for me. It will hardly be moderation if I consider myself exempt.
The danger in making excuses for myself is that allowing for too many luxuries will weaken any good habits I may still have. How many wills have been broken by starting with just one bite or with just one sip? Pleasure has a way of carrying me away, not because a feeling of satisfaction is somehow bad, but rather because I am far too prone to abusing it. I find that I no longer have a rule over it, and it now has a rule over me.
Was Zeno being too strict with himself? I might say that a stronger man could handle it, but perhaps it was that very sense of self-discipline that made him strong to begin with.
Written in 5/2000
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