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1 For to say that man ever exists without fire
is absurd, nor can he exist at all without it; but
there are differences in kind as in other things. As
for men who have no need of fire from without, they
have this experience not because they do not need it,
but because their own heat more than suffices. This
must be predicated also of other animals which do
not need fire.2 So that in this respect, too, the use
of fire is probably superior. Water is never in such
a condition as to need no external support, but fire
is self-sufficient because of its great excellence. As,
then, a general is better who manages the affairs of
his city so that it needs no allies from without, so
also an element is superior which does not often need
external assistance.
Yet, to take the opposite point of view, that is more
useful which we alone make great use of, since by
the powers of our reason we are able to choose what
is better. For what is more useful and more profitable
to man than reason ? But brute beasts do not have
it. What then ? Is what has been discovered by the
foresight of our better part for this reason less useful ?
[p. 307]
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Harold Cherniss and William C. Helmbold. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1957. 12.
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