On Abstinence from Animal Food

...also at the same time might so instruct and purify the life of man that they might raise our minds toward that likeness to God as far as possible original Greek: "τὴν ὁμοίωσιν τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ τὸ δυνατόν", as Plato desired. You repeatedly encouraged and even, by your own right, imposed upon and commanded me that if I could find anything of this sort among the ancient authors, I should rescue it from the darkness and take care that it might go forth into the light even in Latin, so that it might be shared with more people.

For my part, although I was distracted by other occupations and deterred by the awareness of my own modest learning eruditio: comprehensive knowledge and cultivation through study, I nevertheless decided I must not fail to obey your commands, at least in some part—especially since I hold the one who gave the command in the greatest respect and veneration, and I saw that the things commanded were of such a nature that to be engaged in their investigation could not fail to be most useful.

Therefore, having undertaken the task, I sought out several such Greek authors; and I wished to begin this edition with this work of Porphyry, thinking that its reading would not be unpleasant to many, both because of the author’s name and because of the subject at hand. For Porphyry is considered so famous in both Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy that he can easily attract students of philosophy by his name alone. The work itself, moreover, is filled with various and manifold learning; for it treats of abstinence from eating [the flesh] of living beings...