De sollertia animalium

Plutarch

Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. XII. Cherniss, Harold, and Helmbold, William C., translators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1957 (printing).

ARISTOTIMUS.[*](Perhaps rather Heracleon (975 c) or Optatus (965 d).) So, gentlemen of the jury, you may now cast your votes.

SOCLARUS. As for us, we have for some time held the view of Sophocles[*](Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 314, frag. 783; Pearson, iii, p. 69, frag. 867.):

  1. It is a marvel how of rival sides
  2. The strife of tongues welds both so close together.
For by combining what you have said against each other, you will together put up a good fight against those[*](The Stoics, as always in this essay.) who would deprive animals of reason and understanding.[*](To some critics the ending is suspicious because of its brevity and vagueness; they regard it as added by an ancient editor who could not find the original termination. But the sudden turn at the end may merely indicate that the whole debate is in reality a single argument to prove the thesis that animals do have some degree of rationality (see also the Introduction to this dialogue).)