I conceive there is more barbarity in eating a man alive, than when he is dead; in tearing a body limb from limb by racks and torments, that is yet in perfect sense; in roasting it by degrees; in causing it to be bitten and
worried by dogs and swine (as we have not only read, but lately seen, not among inveterate and mortal
enemies, but among neighbors and fellow-citizens, and, which is worse, under color of piety and religion),
than to roast and eat him after he is dead.
What is Montaigne's purpose in saying this?
He is criticizing the way his own government treats its enemies.
He is addressing the treatment of animals in his own community.
He is explaining why he thinks that cannibalism is a wise idea.
He is asserting that he thinks it is a bad idea to eat people alive.