Fall From the Top

"Of Cannibals" is an extremely interesting essay as it is a very open minded piece for its time period. Montaigne severely criticizes the elitism of the Greeks and their view that those who are not Greek are barbarians and seems to go to a much larger standard of all societies. Every society, no matter what accomplishments they have achieved, will believe that they are the greatest civilization and the rest are simply barabarians. Most of the work describes the habits and lives of the outsiders and how they are not so much barbaric or savages as they are just different. He finds beauty in logic in their way of life and even questions his own society when concerning issues such as execution and torture. He sees a simple dignity in the way they do battle and an appealing view of justice in the way they see life and death. He also points out the ignorance of the Greeks and those who hold that they are greater than another civilization. He contends that perhaps it is the Greeks who are the savages. This essay seems mainly to be that of acceptance and one against prejudice and arrogance. All great super powers in the world fall eventually and historically the "barbarians" have been the ones to do it. When Rome was sacked it was from a "barbaric people" and years later when the Soviet Union fell it was to a "primitive", in their view, Islamic people. So Montaigne seems to believe in the idea of knowing how deep the water is before you jump in. Truly learn about a people before judging them and act based on knowledge. Remember that every society has redeeming and beautiful qualities and that it is unfair to judge any civilization entierely on its negative aspects, such as cannibalism.