animals, oranyrecommendationto considertheir interests.
Jesushimselfisdescribedasshowingapparentindifferenceto
thefateofnonhumanswhenheinducedtwothousandswine
tohurlthemselvesintothesea—anactwhichwasapparently
quiteunnecessary,sinceJesuswaswellabletocastoutdevils
withoutinflictingthemuponanyothercreature.^6 SaintPaul
insisted on reinterpreting the old Mosaic law that forbade
muzzlingtheoxthattrodoutthecorn:“DothGodcarefor
oxen?”Paulasksscornfully.No,heanswered,thelawwas
intended “altogether for our sakes.”^7
TheexamplegivenbyJesuswasnotlostonlaterChristians.
Referring to the incident of theswine and the episodein
which Jesus cursed a fig tree, Saint Augustine wrote:
Christ himself shows that to refrain from the killing of
animals and the destroying of plants is the height of
superstition, for judging that there are no common rights
betweenusandthebeastsandtrees,hesentthedevilsintoa
herdofswineandwithacursewitheredthetreeonwhichhe
foundnofruit....Surelytheswinehadnotsinned,norhadthe
tree.
Jesuswas,accordingtoAugustine,tryingtoshowusthatwe
neednotgovernourbehaviortoward animalsbythemoral
rulesthatgovernourbehaviortowardhumans.Thatiswhyhe
transferredthedevilstoswineinsteadofdestroyingthemas
he could easily have done.^8
OnthisbasistheoutcomeoftheinteractionofChristianand
Romanattitudesisnotdifficulttoguess.Itcanbeseenmost
clearlyby lookingat what happenedto the Romangames
aftertheconversionoftheempire toChristianity.Christian