3
But there would be no benefit in these many kinds of equipment for procreation, or in such ways and means, such zeal and forethought, if Nature had not implanted in mothers affection and care for their offspring. There is nothing more wretched than a man,Homer, Il., xvii. 446-447; cf. 500 b, infra. Of all that breathes and creeps upon the earth - the poet tells no falsehood if it is about a new-born babe that he speaks.But it is with reference to the dead Patroclus that Zeus speaks these lines. For there is nothing so imperfect, so helpless, so naked, so shapeless, so foul, as man observed at birth, to whom alone, one might almost say, Nature has given not even a clean passage to the light cf.Moralia, 758 a.; but, defiled with blood and covered with filth and resembling more one just slain than one just born, he is an object for none to touch or lift up or kiss or embrace except for someone who loves with a natural affection. Therefore, while the other animals have their dugs hanging loose beneath the belly, in women they grow above on the breast where mothers can kiss and embrace and fondle the infant, the inference being that the end and aim of bearing and rearing a child is not utility, but affection.
