---
title: "On the Control of Anger · De cohibenda ira"
author: "Plutarch"
translator: "William Clark Helmbold"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Philosophy"
url: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-control-of-anger/
cite: "Plutarch, tr. William Clark Helmbold, On the Control of Anger · De cohibenda ira. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-control-of-anger/"
---

# On the Control of Anger · De cohibenda ira

*Plutarch, tr. William Clark Helmbold*

A dialogue on how one man learned to master his temper.

> Greek: ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0007.tlg095, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: William Clark Helmbold, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0007.tlg095.perseus-eng3). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## Contents

1. [Sections 2–10](https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-control-of-anger/1.md)
2. [Sections 11–16](https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-control-of-anger/2.md)

## 1. Sections 2–10

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-control-of-anger/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-control-of-anger/1/#p-N

[¶0] The subject of this essay is not the emotion of anger itself, but the cure best applicable to the passion. In form it is a dialogue, but, apart from the beginning and the end, it is as undramatic as the later works of Plato. The principal speaker, Fundanus, treats the subject in a manner partly general and partly specific, and concludes with a pleasant history of his own cure. Hirzel (Der Dialog, ii. p. 170) has described the work as a monument (Ehrendenkmal) to the memory of Fundanus, dedicated to Sulla. Scholars concerned in the investigation of the sources used by Plutarch for this discourse have arrived at varying results: some have imagined that Stoic writers were used, others that the Peripatetic Hieronymus of Rhodes was Plutarch’s principal authority. The numerous parallels to Seneca’s De Ira have been used by both parties to substantiate their theories, but it is more likely that Plutarch, while borrowing numerous loci communes and examples from earlier writers, constructed for himself the main features of the dialogue. The self-portrayal of Fundanus and his cure, the frame-work of the whole discourse, is clearly Plutarch’s own device. The author’s debt to preceding literature is, as always, immense, yet the creation of such a work as this is by selection and arrangement; and for that Plutarch is alone responsible. The essay was known to Aulus Gellius (i. 26), who relates a pleasant anecdote of Plutarch and a rascally slave who ventured to reprove the philosopher for his anger. Among English writers Jeremy Taylor has made admirable use of the essay by paraphrase and even translation, in his Holy Living, iv. 8. The ms. tradition is good. The work is apparently missing in the Lamprias catalogue, since Περὶ ὀργῆς (No. 93) almost certainly refers to a different work from which Stobaeus has preserved a fragment (Bernardakis, vol. vii. p. 138). (Speakers in the Dialogue: Sulla and Fundanus) SULLA. A good plan, as it seems to me, Fundanus, is that which painters follow: they scrutinize their productions from time to time before they finish them. They do this because, by withdrawing their gaze and by inspecting their work often, they are able to form a fresh judgement, and one which is more likely to seize upon any slight discrepancy, such as the familiarity of uninterrupted contemplation will conceal. Since, therefore, it is impossible for a man to contemplate himself from time to time by getting apart from himself and interrupting his consciousness of himself by breaking its continuity (and this is what, more than anything else, makes every man a poorer judge of himself than of others), the next best course would be for him to inspect his friends from time to time and likewise to offer himself to them, not to see if he is grown old suddenly or if his body is better or worse, but for them to examine both his behaviour and his character to learn whether time has added some excellence or taken away some vice. As for me, since I have returned to Rome after a year’s absence and this is now the fifth month that I have been with you constantly, I do not find it altogether surprising that, of the virtues which were already yours by gift of Nature, there has been so great an increment and increase; but when I see that that violent and fiery tendency of yours toward anger has become so gentle and submissive to reason, it occurs to me to say with reference to your temper “O wonder, how much milder has it grown!” Yet this mildness has brought about no inactivity or feebleness in you, but, like the earth when it has been subdued by cultivation, it has received a smoothness and depth conducive to fruitful action in place of that impetuousness of yours and quickness of temper. For that reason it is evident that the spirited part of your soul is not withering away through any abatement of vigour caused by age, nor yet spontaneously, but that it is receiving the skilful treatment of some excellent precepts. And yet - for I shall tell you the plain truth - when our friend Eros told me all this, I suspected that he was bearing witness, by reason of his goodwill, to qualities that were not actually present in you, yet should be so in men of breeding, although, as you know, he is by no means the sort of man to surrender his own opinion as a favour to anyone. But as things are, Eros stands acquitted of the charge of bearing false witness, and do you, since our journey gives us leisure for conversation, tell me, as though you were recounting some medical treatment, what remedy you used that you have made your temper so obedient to the rein and tender-mouthed, so mild and subservient to reason. FUNDANUS. Well, what about you, my generous friend Sulla? Are you careful not to let your goodwill and friendship for me make you overlook some of my real qualities? For since on many occasions not even Eros himself can keep his temper in its place in that Homeric obedience, but when it becomes too exasperated through hatred of evil, it is reasonable to suppose that I appear more gentle to him, just as in changes of key certain high notes assume the position of low notes in contrast with other high notes. SULLA. Neither of these suppositions is true, Fundanus. Please do as I ask.

> Greek: ΣΥΛΛΑΣ. καλῶς μοι δοκοῦσιν, ὦ Φουνδάνε, ποιεῖν οἱ ζωγράφοι διὰ χρόνου τὰ ἔργα πρὶν ἢ συντελεῖν ἐπισκοποῦντες· ὅτι τὴν ὄψιν αὐτῶν ἀφιστάντες τῇ πολλάκις κρίσει ποιοῦσι καινὴν καὶ μᾶλλον ἁπτομένην τῆς παρὰ μικρὸν διαφορᾶς, ἣν ἀποκρύπτει τὸ συνεχὲς καὶ τὸ σύνηθες. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτὸν αὑτῷ διὰ χρόνου προσελθεῖν χωρὶς γενόμενον καὶ διαστήσαντα τῆς συνεχείας τὴν αἴσθησιν, ἀλλὰ τοῦτʼ ἐστὶ τὸ μάλιστα ποιοῦν ἕκαστον αὑτοῦ φαυλότερον κριτὴν ἢ ἑτέρων· δεύτερον ἂν εἴη τὸ τοὺς φίλους ἐφορᾶν διὰ χρόνου καὶ παρέχειν ὁμοίως ἐκείνοις ἑαυτόν, οὐκ εἰ γέρων γέγονε ταχὺ καὶ τὸ σῶμα βέλτιον ἢ χεῖρον ἔσχηκεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν τρόπον καὶ τὸ ἦθος ἐπισκοπεῖν, εἴ τι χρηστὸν ὁ χρόνος προστέθεικεν ἢ τῶν φαύλων ἀφῄρηκεν. ἐγὼ γοῦν ἐνιαυτῷ μὲν ἀφιγμένος εἰς Ῥώμην δευτέρῳ, συνὼν δέ σοι μῆνα τουτονὶ πέμπτον, τὸ μὲν ἐξ ὑπαρχόντων διʼ εὐφυΐαν ἀγαθῶν ἐπίδοσιν γεγονέναι τοσαύτην καὶ αὔξησιν οὐ πάνυ θαυμαστὸν ἡγοῦμαι· τὸ δὲ σφοδρὸν ἐκεῖνο καὶ διάπυρον πρὸς ὀργὴν ὁρῶντί μοι πρᾶον οὕτω καὶ χειρόηθες τῷ λογισμῷ γεγενημένον ἐπέρχεται πρὸς τὸν θυμὸν εἰπεῖν ὢ πόποι, ἦ μάλα δὴ μαλακώτερος αὓτη δʼ ἡ μαλακότης οὐκ ἀργίαν οὐδʼ ἔκλυσιν, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἡ κατειργασμένη γῆ λειότητα καὶ βάθος ἐνεργὸν ἐπὶ τὰς πράξεις ἔσχηκεν ἀντὶ τῆς φορᾶς ἐκείνης καὶ τῆς ὀξύτητος. διὸ καὶ δῆλόν ἐστιν οὐ παρακμῇ τινι διʼ ἡλικίαν τὸ θυμοειδὲς οὐδʼ αὐτομάτως ἀπομαραινόμενον, ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ λόγων τινῶν χρηστῶν θεραπευόμενον. καίτοι ʽ τὸ γὰρ ἀληθὲς εἰρήσεται πρὸς σἔ ταῦθʼ ἡμῖν Ἔρως ὁ ἑταῖρος ἀπαγγέλλων ὕποπτος ἦν τὰ μὴ προσόντα πρέποντα δὲ προσεῖναι τοῖς καλοῖς κἀγαθοῖς διʼ εὔνοιαν ἐπιμαρτυρεῖν· καίπερ, ὡς οἶσθα, οὐδαμῇ πιθανὸς ὢν τῷ πρὸς χάριν ὑφίεσθαι τοῦ δοκοῦντος. ἀλλὰ νῦν ἐκεῖνός τε τῶν ψευδομαρτυριῶν ἀφεῖται, καὶ σύ, τῆς ὁδοιπορίας σχολὴν διδούσης, δίελθʼ ἡμῖν ὥσπερ ἰατρείαν τινὰ σεαυτοῦ, χρησάμενος οὕτως εὐήνιον καὶ ἁπλοῦν καὶ τῷ λόγῳ πρᾶον καὶ ὑπήκοον ἐποιήσω τὸν θυμόν.
ΦΟΥΝΔΑΝΟΣ. εἶτʼ οὐ σκοπεῖς, ὦ προθυμότατε Σύλλα, μὴ καὶ αὐτὸς εὐνοίᾳ καὶ φιλίᾳ τῇ πρὸς ἡμᾶς παρορᾷς τι τῶν ἡμετέρων; ἔρωτι μὲν γὰρ οὐδʼ αὐτῷ πολλάκις ἔχοντι κατὰ χώραν ἐν τῇ Ὁμηρικῇ πείσῃ μένοντα τὸν θυμόν, ἀλλὰ τραχύτερον ὑπὸ μισοπονηρίας, εἰκός ἐστι πραοτέρους ἡμᾶς φανῆναι, καθάπερ ἐν διαγραμμάτων μεταβολαῖς νῆταί τινες πρὸς ἑτέρας νήτας τάξιν ὑπάτων λαμβάνουσιν.
ΣΥΛΛ. οὐδέτερα τούτων, ἔστιν, ὦ Φουνδάνε· ποίει δʼ ὡς λέγω, χαριζόμενος ἡμῖν.

[¶1] 2. FUNDANUS. One of those excellent precepts of Musonius which I remember, Sulla, is: “He that wishes to come through life safe and sound must continue throughout his life to be under treatment.” For I do not think that reason should be used in one’s cure as we use hellebore, and be washed out of the body together with the disease, but it must remain in the soul and keep watch and ward over the judgements. For the power of reason is not like drugs, but like wholesome food, engendering an excellent state, together with great vigour, in those who become accustomed to it; but exhortations and admonitions, if applied to the passions when they are at their height and swollen, can scarcely accomplish anything at all, and that with difficulty. They are no better than those aromatic preparations which rouse epileptics when they lie prostrate, but do not rid them of the disease. Yet the other passions, even at their height, do in some sort yield and admit reason, when it comes from without to the rescue, into the soul; but temper does not, as Melanthius says, “Shunt off the mind, and then do dreadful deeds,” but on the contrary, it shuts out sense completely and locks it out, and just like those who burn themselves up in their own homes, it makes everything within full of confusion and smoke and noise, so that the soul can neither see nor hear anything that might help it. For this reason a ship deserted by her crew in the midst of a storm far out at sea will more easily be able to take on a pilot from the outside, than will a man who is being tossed upon the billows of passion and anger admit the reasoning of another, unless he has his own powers of reason prepared to receive it. But just as those who expect a siege collect and store up all that is useful to them if they despair of relief from without, so it is most important that we should acquire far in advance the reinforcements which philosophy provides against temper and convey them into the soul in the knowledge that, when the occasion for using them comes, it will not be possible to introduce them with ease. For the soul hears nothing from the outside because of its tumult unless it has its own reason within, which, like a boatswain who directs the rowers, will promptly catch and understand every order given. Yet if the soul has heard words of advice which have been quietly and mildly spoken, it despises them; and toward any who insist in a rougher fashion, it grows exasperated. In fact, temper is overbearing and stubborn and altogether difficult for anyone other than itself to move, and, like a well-fortified tyranny, must have its destroyer born and bred in the same household.

> Greek: 2. ΦΟΥΝΔ. καὶ μὴν ὧν γε μεμνήμεθα Μουσωνίου καλῶν ἕν ἐστιν, ὦ Σύλλα, τὸ δεῖν ἀεὶ θεραπευομένους βιοῦν τοὺς σῴζεσθαι μέλλοντας. οὐ γὰρ ὡς ἐλλέβορον, οἶμαι, δεῖ θεραπεύσαντα συνεκφέρειν τῷ νοσήματι τὸν λόγον, ἀλλʼ ἐμμένοντα τῇ ψυχῇ συνέχειν τὰς κρίσεις καὶ φυλάσσειν. φαρμάκοις γὰρ οὐκ ἔοικεν ἀλλὰ σιτίοις ὑγιεινοῖς ἡ δύναμις αὐτοῦ, μεθʼ ὑγιείας ἕξιν ἐμποιοῦσα χρηστὴν οἷς ἂν γένηται συνήθης· αἱ δὲ πρὸς ἀκμάζοντα τὰ πάθη καὶ οἰδοῦντα παραινέσεις καὶ νουθεσίαι σχολῇ μὲν ἀνύτουσι καὶ μόλις, οὐδὲν δὲ τῶν ὀσφραντῶν διαφέρουσιν, ἃ τοὺς ἐπιληπτικοὺς ἐγείροντα καταπίπτοντας οὐκ ἀπαλλάττει τοῦ νοσήματος. ὅμως δὲ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα καὶ παρʼ ὃν ἀκμάζει καιρὸν ἁμωσγέπως ὑπείκει καὶ παρίησι βοηθοῦντα λόγον ἔξωθεν εἰς τὴν ψυχήν, ὁ δὲ θυμὸς οὐχ ᾗ φησιν ὁ Μελάνθιος τὰ δεινὰ πράσσει τὰς φρένας μετοικίσας, ἀλλʼ ἐξοικίσας τελείως καὶ ἀποκλείσας, ὥσπερ οἱ συνεμπιπράντες ἑαυτοὺς ταῖς οἰκίαις, πάντα ταραχῆς καὶ καπνοῦ καὶ ψόφου μεστὰ ποιεῖ τὰ ἐντός, ὥστε μήτʼ ἰδεῖν μήτʼ ἀκοῦσαι τῶν ὠφελούντων. διὸ καὶ μᾶλλον ἐν χειμῶνι καὶ πελάγει ναῦς ἔρημος ἀναλήψεται κυβερνήτην ἔξωθεν ἢ προσδέξεται λόγον ἀλλότριον ἄνθρωπος ἐν θυμῷ καὶ ὀργῇ σαλεύων, ἂν μὴ παρεσκευασμένον ἔχῃ τὸν οἰκεῖον λογισμόν. ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ οἱ πολιορκίαν προσδεχόμενοι συνάγουσι, καὶ παρατίθενται τἀπιτήδεια τὰς ἔξωθεν ἐλπίδας ἀπεγνωκότες, οὕτω μάλιστα δεῖ τὰ πρὸς τὸν θυμὸν βοηθήματα πόρρωθεν λαμβάνοντας ἐκ φιλοσοφίας κατακομίζειν εἰς τὴν ψυχήν, ὡς, ὅταν ὁ τῆς χρείας ἀφίκηται καιρός, μὴ ῥᾳδίως παρεισάγειν δυνησομένους· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀκούει τῶν ἐκτὸς ἡ ψυχὴ διὰ τὸν θόρυβον, ἐὰν μὴ καθάπερ κελευστὴν ἔνδοθεν ἔχῃ τὸν αὑτῆς λόγον ὀξέως δεχόμενον καὶ συνιέντα τῶν παραγγελλομένων ἕκαστον· ἀκούσασα δὲ τῶν μὲν ἠρέμα καὶ πράως λεγομένων καταφρονεῖ, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἐνισταμένους τραχύτερον ἐρεθίζεται. καὶ γὰρ ὑπερήφανος καὶ αὐθάδης καὶ ὅλως ὑφʼ ἑτέρου ὁ θυμὸς δυσκίνητος ὢν, ὥσπερ ὀχυρὰ τυραννὶς ἐξ ἑαυτῆς ἔχειν ὀφείλει σύνοικον καὶ συγγενὲς τὸ καταλῦον.

[¶2] 3. FUNDANUS. To be sure, when anger persists and its outbursts are frequent, there is created in the soul an evil state which is called irascibility, and this usually results in sudden outbursts of rage, moroseness, and peevishness when the temper becomes ulcerated, easily offended, and liable to find fault for even trivial offences, like a weak, thin piece of iron which is always getting scratched. But if judgement at once opposes the fits of anger and represses them, it not only cures them for the present, but for the future also it renders the soul firm and difficult for passion to attack. In my own case, at any rate, when I had opposed anger two or three times, it came about that I experienced what the Thebans did, who, when they had for the first time repulsed the Spartans, who had the reputation of being invincible, were never thereafter defeated by them in any battle; for I acquired the proud consciousness that it is possible for reason to conquer. Not only did I see that anger ceases when cold water is sprinkled on it, as Aristotle says, but that it is also extinguished when a poultice of fear is applied to it. And, by Heaven, if joy comes on the scene, in the case of many the temper has been quickly “warmed,” as Homer says, or dissipated. Consequently I came to the opinion that this passion is not altogether incurable, for those, at least, who wish to cure it. FUNDANUS. For anger does not always have great and powerful beginnings; on the contrary, even a jest, a playful word, a burst of laughter or a nod on the part of somebody, and many things of the kind, rouse many persons to anger; just as Helen, by thus addressing her niece, “Electra, virgin for so long a time,” provoked her to reply,
Too late you’re wise; but once you left your home
Disgraced.
And so was Alexander provoked by Callisthenes, who said, when the great bowl was going its rounds, “I do not care to have a drink of Alexander and then have to call in Asclepius.”

> Greek: 3. ΦΟΥΝΔ.ἡ μὲν οὖν συνέχεια τῆς ὀργῆς καὶ τὸ προσκρούειν πολλάκις ἕξιν ἐμποιεῖ πονηρὰν τῇ ψυχῇ, ἣν ὀργιλότητα καλοῦσιν, εἰς ἀκραχολίαν καὶ πικρίαν καὶ δυσκολίαν τελευτῶσαν, ὅταν ἑλκώδης καὶ μικρόλυπος ὁ θυμὸς γένηται καὶ φιλαίτιος ὑπὸ τῶν τυχόντων ὡς σίδηρος ἀσθενὴς καὶ λεπτὸς ἀναχαρασσόμενος· ἡ δὲ παραχρῆμα ταῖς ὀργαῖς ἐνισταμένη καὶ πιέζουσα κρίσις οὐ τὸ παρὸν ἰᾶται μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸ λοιπὸν εὔτονον ποιεῖ καὶ δυσπαθῆ τὴν ψυχήν. ἐμοὶ γοῦν συνέβη δὶς ἢ τρὶς ἐνστάντι πρὸς ὀργὴν τὸ τῶν Θηβαίων παθεῖν, οἳ τὸ πρῶτον ὠσάμενοι Λακεδαιμονίους ἀηττήτους εἶναι δοκοῦντας, οὐδεμίαν ὕστερον ἡττήθησαν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν μάχην· φρόνημα γὰρ ἔσχον ὡς κρατεῖν ἔστι τῷ λογισμῷ. ἑώρων δʼ οὐ μόνον ψυχροῦ κατασκεδαννυμένου λήγουσαν ὀργὴν ὡς Ἀριστοτέλης ἱστόρησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ φόβου προσαχθέντος ἀποσβεννυμένην καὶ νὴ Δία χαρᾶς ἐπιγενομένης ἄφνω καθʼ Ὅμηρον ἰάνθη καὶ διεχύθη πολλοῖς ὁ θυμός. ὥστε μοι παρίστατο μὴ παντελῶς ἀβοήθητον εἶναι τοῖς γε βουλομένοις τὸ πάθος. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀρχὰς ἔχει μεγάλας ἀεὶ καὶ ἰσχυράς, ἀλλὰ καὶ σκῶμμα καὶ παιδιὰ καὶ τὸ γελάσαι τινὰ καὶ τὸ διανεῦσαι καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα πολλοὺς εἰς ὀργὴν καθίστησιν, ὥσπερ ἡ Ἑλένη τὴν ἀδελφιδῆν προσαγορεύσασα παρθένε μακρὸν δὴ μῆκος Ἠλέκτρα χρόνου παρώξυνεν εἰπεῖν ὀψέ γε φρονεῖς εὖ, τότε λιποῦσʼ αἰσχρῶς δόμους· καὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ὁ Καλλισθένης εἰπὼν, τῆς μεγάλης κύλικος περιφερομένης, οὐ βούλομαι πιὼν Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἀσκληπιοῦ δεῖσθαι.

[¶3] 4. FUNDANUS. And so, just as it is an easy matter to check a flame which is being kindled in hare’s fur or candlewicks or rubbish, but if it ever takes hold of solid bodies having depth, it quickly destroys and consumes “With youthful vigour lofty craftsmen’s work,” as Aeschylus has it; so the man who at the beginning gives heed to his temper and observes it while it is still smoking and catching flame little by little from some gossip or rubbishy scurrility need have no great concern about it; on the contrary, he has often succeeded in extinguishing it merely by keeping silent and ignoring it. For he who gives no fuel to fire puts it out, and likewise he who does not in the beginning nurse his wrath and does not puff himself up with anger takes precautions against it and destroys it. I was therefore not satisfied with what Hieronymus says - although he contributes other useful remarks and advice - in the passage where he declares that we have no perception of anger when it comes into being, but only when it has already come into being and exists, the reason being the swiftness with which it acts. For the truth is that none of the emotions, at the time when they are gathering and beginning to move, has a birth and increase so easy to perceive. Indeed Homer also skilfully teaches us this lesson when he causes Achilles to be suddenly overwhelmed by grief on receiving the report, in the passage where the poet says: “He spoke, and a black cloud of grief closed round Achilles;” but Homer portrays Achilles as being slow to lose his temper with Agamemnon and as becoming inflamed only when many words had been spoken. Yet if either one of the men had held back their words at the beginning and prevented their utterance, the quarrel would not have had so great a growth or have reached such magnitude. That is the reason why Socrates, as often as he perceived himself being moved to too great harshness against any of his friends, betaking himself to coast “Before the storm along some promontory,” would lower his voice, cause a smile to spread over his face, and make the expression of his eyes more gentle, preserving himself from fault and defeat by setting up within himself an influence to counteract his passion.

> Greek: 4. ΦΟΥΝΔ.καθάπερ οὖν τὴν φλόγα θριξὶ λαγῴαις ἀναπτομένην καὶ θρυαλλίσι καὶ συρφετῷ ῥᾴδιόν ἐστιν ἐπισχεῖν· ἐὰν δʼ ἐπιλάβηται τῶν στερεῶν καὶ βάθος ἐχόντων, ταχὺ διέφθειρε καὶ συνεῖλεν ὑψηλὸν ἡβάσασα τεκτόνων πόνον ὥς φησιν Αἰσχύλος· οὕτως ὁ τῷ θυμῷ προσέχων ἐν ἀρχῇ καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν ἔκ τινος λαλιᾶς καὶ βωμολοχίας συρφετώδους ὁρῶν καπνίζοντα καὶ διακαόμενον οὐ μεγάλης δεῖται πραγματείας, ἀλλὰ πολλάκις αὐτῷ τῷ σιωπῆσαι καὶ καταμελῆσαι κατέπαυσε. καὶ γὰρ τὸ πῦρ ὁ μὴ παρασχὼν ὕλην ἔσβεσε, καὶ ὀργὴν ὁ μὴ θρέψας ἐν ἀρχῇ καὶ μὴ φυσήσας ἑαυτὸν ἐφυλάξατο καὶ καθεῖλεν. οὐκ ἤρεσκεν οὖν μοι, καίπερ ἄλλα χρήσιμα λέγων καὶ παραινῶν ὁ Ἱερώνυμος, ἐν οἷς οὔ φησι γιγνομένης ἀλλὰ γεγενημένης καὶ οὔσης αἴσθησιν ὀργῆς εἶναι διὰ τὸ τάχος. οὐθὲν γὰρ οὕτω τῶν παθῶν συλλεγόμενον καὶ διακινούμενον ἔχει τὴν γένεσιν ἐμφανῆ καὶ τὴν αὔξησιν· ὡς δὴ καὶ Ὅμηρος ἐμπείρως διδάσκει, λυπηθέντα μὲν εὐθὺς ἐξαίφνης ποιῶν τὸν Ἀχιλλέα τοῦ λόγου προσπεσόντος, ἐν οἷς λέγει ὣς φάτο· τὸν δʼ ἄχεος νεφέλη ἐκάλυψε μέλαινα· θυμούμενον δὲ βραδέως τῷ Ἀγαμέμνονι καὶ διὰ λόγων πολλῶν ἐκκαόμενον· οὓς εἴ τις ὑφεῖλεν αὐτῶν ἐν ἀρχῇ καὶ διεκώλυσεν, οὐκ ἂν ἔσχεν αὔξησιν ἡ διαφορὰ τηλικαύτην καὶ μέγεθος. ὅθεν ὁ Σωκράτης ὁσάκις αἴσθοιτο κινουμένου τραχύτερον αὑτοῦ πρός τινα τῶν φίλων, πρὸ χείματος ὥστʼ ἀνὰ ποντίαν ἄκραν στελλόμενος ἐνεδίδου τε τῇ φωνῇ καὶ διεμειδία τῷ προσώπῳ καὶ τὸ βλέμμα πραότερον παρεῖχε, τῷ ῥέπειν ἐπὶ θάτερα καὶ πρὸς τοὐναντίον ἀντικινεῖσθαι τῷ πάθει διαφυλάττων ἑαυτὸν ἀπτῶτα καὶ ἀήττητον.

[¶4] 5. FUNDANUS. For the first way, my friend, to dethrone temper as you would a tyrant, is not to oey or hearken when it bids us cry aloud and look fierce and beat our breasts, but to keep quiet and not intensify the passion, as we would a disease, by tossing about and making a clamour. It is quite true that lovers’ practices, such as serenading in concert or alone and crowning the beloved’s door with garlands, do in some way or other bring an alleviation that is not without charm or grace:
I came, but did not shout your name or race;
I merely kissed the door. If this be sin, Then I have sinned.
So too the surrender of mourners to weeping and wailing carries away much of their grief together with their tears. But temper is the more readily fanned into flame by what people in that state do and say. FUNDANUS. The best course, therefore, is for us to compose ourselves, or else to run away and conceal ourselves, and anchor ourselves in a calm harbour, as though we perceived a fit of epilepsy coming on, so that we may not fall, or rather may not fall upon others; and we are especially likely to fall most often upon our friends. For we do not love or envy or fear everyone indiscriminately, but there is nothing that temper will not touch and assail: we grow angry with enemies and friends, with children and parents, yes, even with the gods, with wild beasts and soulless implements, as Thamyris did: “Breaking the lyre-arms, overlaid with gold, Breaking his melodious, taut-strung lyre;” and Pandarus, who invoked a curse on himself if he did not “break with his hands” his bow and burn it. And Xerxes not only branded and lashed the sea, but also sent a letter to Mount Athos: “Noble Athos, whose summit reaches heaven, do not put in the way of my deeds great stones difficult to work. Else I shall hew you down and cast you into the sea.” For temper can do many terrible things, and likewise many that are ridiculous; therefore it is both the most hated and the most despised of the passions. It will be useful to consider it in both of these aspects.

> Greek: 5. ΦΟΥΝΔ.ἔστι γάρ τις, ὦ ἑταῖρε, πρώτη καθάπερ τυράννου κατάλυσις τοῦ θυμοῦ, μὴ πείθεσθαι μηδʼ ὑπακούειν προστάττοντος αὐτοῦ μέγα βοᾶν καὶ δεινὸν βλέπειν καὶ κόπτειν ἑαυτόν, ἀλλʼ ἡσυχάζειν καὶ μὴ συνεπιτείνειν ὥσπερ νόσημα ῥιπτασμῷ καὶ διαβοήσει τὸ πάθος. αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐρωτικαὶ πράξεις, οἷον ἐπικωμάσαι καὶ ᾆσαι καὶ στεφανῶσαι θύραν, ἔχουσιν ἁμωσγέπως κουφισμὸν οὐκ ἄχαριν οὐδʼ ἄμουσον
ἐλθὼν δʼ οὐκ ἐβόησα τίς ἢ τίνος, ἀλλʼ ἐφίλησα
τὴν φλιήν. εἰ τοῦτʼ ἔστʼ ἀδίκημʼ, ἀδικῶ.
αἵ τε τοῖς πενθοῦσιν ἐφέσεις τοῦ ἀποκλαῦσαι καὶ ἀποδύρασθαι πολύ τι τῆς λύπης ἅμα τῷ δακρύῳ συνεξάγουσιν· ὁ δὲ θυμὸς ἐκριπίζεται μᾶλλον οἷς πράττουσι καὶ λέγουσιν οἱ ἐν αὐτῷ καθεστῶτες. ἀτρεμεῖν οὖν κράτιστον ἢ φεύγειν καὶ ἀποκρύπτειν. καὶ καθορμίζειν ἑαυτὸν εἰς ἡσυχίαν, ὥσπερ ἐπιληψίας ἀρχομένης συναισθανομένους, ἵνα μὴ πέσωμεν μᾶλλον δʼ ἐπιπέσωμεν· ἐπιπίπτομεν δέ γε τοῖς φίλοις μάλιστά τε καὶ πλειστάκις. οὐ γὰρ πάντων ἐρῶμεν οὐδὲ πᾶσι φθονοῦμεν οὐδὲ πάντας φοβούμεθα, θυμῷ δʼ ἄθικτον οὐδὲν οὐδʼ ἀνεπιχείρητον ἀλλʼ ὀργιζόμεθα καὶ πολεμίοις καὶ φίλοις καὶ τέκνοις καὶ γονεῦσι καὶ θεοῖς νὴ Δία καὶ θηρίοις καὶ ἀψύχοις σκεύεσιν, ὡς ὁ Θάμυρις
ῥηγνὺς χρυσόδετον κέρας,
ῥηγνὺς ἁρμονίαν χορδοτόνου λύρας·
καὶ ὁ Πάνδαρος αὑτῷ καταρώμενος, εἰ μὴ τὰ τόξα καταπρήσειε χερσὶ διακλάσσας. ὁ δὲ Ξέρξης καὶ τῇ θαλάττῃ στίγματα καὶ πληγὰς ἐνέβαλλε καὶ πρὸς τὸ ὄρος ἐξέπεμπεν ἐπιστολὰς Ἄθω δαιμόνιε οὐρανόμηκες, μὴ ποιεῖν ἐν ἐμοῖς ἔργοις λίθους μεγάλους καὶ δυσκατεργάστους· εἰ δὲ μὴ, τεμὼν ῥίψω σʼ εἰς θάλασσαν πολλὰ γάρ ἐστι τοῦ θυμοῦ φοβερά, πολλὰ δὲ καὶ γελοῖα· διὸ καὶ μισεῖται καὶ καταφρονεῖται μάλιστα τῶν παθῶν. ἀμφότερα δʼ ἐσκέφθαι χρήσιμον.

[¶5] 6. FUNDANUS. As for me - whether rightly I do not know - I made this start in the treatment of my anger: I began to observe the passion in others, just as the Spartans used to observe in the Helots what a thing drunkenness is. And first, as Hippocrates says that the most severe disease is that in which the countenance of the sufferer is most unlike itself, so I observed that those who are transported by anger also change most in countenance, colour, gait, and voice, and thus formed for myself a picture of that passion and was exceedingly uncomfortable to think that I should ever appear so terrible and deranged to my friends and my wife and daughters, not merely savage and unfamiliar to their sight, but also speaking with so harsh and rough a voice as were others of my intimate friends whom I used to meet at times when anger had made them unable to preserve their character or bearing or grace of speech or their winning and affable manners. The ease of Gaius Gracchus the orator will serve as illustration. He was not only severe in his disposition, but spoke too passionately; so he caused a pitch-pipe to be made of the sort which musicians use to lead the voice up and down the scales to the proper note; with this in hand his servant used to stand behind him as he spoke and give him a decorous and gentle tone which enabled Gracchus to remit his loud cries and remove from his voice the harsh and passionate element; just as the shepherds’
Wax-joined pipe, clear sounding,
Drones a slumberous strain,
so did he charm and lay to rest the rage of the orator. But as for me, if I had some attentive and clever companion, I should not be vexed if he held a mirror up to me during my moments of rage, as they do for some persons after bathing, though to no useful purpose. For to see oneself in a state which nature did not intend, with one’s features all distorted, contributes in no small degree toward discrediting that passion. In fact, those who delight in pleasant fables tell us that when Athena played on the pipes, she was rebuked by the satyr and would give no heed:
That look becomes you not; lay by your pipes
And take your arms and put your cheeks to rights;
but when she saw her face in a river, she was vexed and threw her pipes away. Yet art makes melody some consolation for unsightliness. And Marsyas, it seems, by a mouthpiece and cheek-bands repressed the violence of his breath and tricked up and concealed the distortion of his face:
He fitted the fringe of his temples with gleaming gold
And his greedy mouth he fitted with thongs bound behind;
but anger, which puffs up and distends the face in an unbecoming way, utters a voice still more ugly and unpleasant, “Stirring the heart-strings never stirred before.” For when the sea is disturbed by the winds and casts up tangle and seaweed, they say that it is being cleansed; but the intemperate, bitter, and vulgar words which temper casts forth when the soul is disturbed defile the speakers of them first of all and fill them with disrepute, the implication being that they have always had these traits inside of them and are full of them, but that their inner nature is now laid bare by their anger. Hence for a mere word, the “lightest of things,” as Plato says, they incur the “heaviest of punishments,” being esteemed as hostile, slanderous, and malicious.

> Greek: 6. ΦΟΥΝΔ.ἐγὼ γοῦν, εἰ μὲν ὀρθῶς οὐκ οἶδα, ταύτην δὲ τῆς ἰατρείας ἀρχὴν ποιησάμενος, ὥσπερ οἱ Λάκωνες ἐν τοῖς εἵλωσι τὸ μεθύειν οἷόν ἐστι, κατεμάνθανον τὴν ὀργὴν ἐν ἑτέροις. καὶ πρῶτον μέν, ᾗ φησιν Ἱπποκράτης χαλεπωτάτην εἶναι νόσον ἐν ᾗ τοῦ νοσοῦντος ἀνομοιότατον αὑτῷ γίνεται τὸ πρόσωπον, οὕτως ὁρῶν ὑπʼ ὀργῆς ἐξισταμένους μάλιστα καὶ μεταβάλλοντας ὄψιν χρόαν βάδισμα φωνήν, οἷον εἰκόνα τοῦ πάθους ἀπεματτόμην ἐμαυτῷ πάνυ δυσχεραίνων, εἰ φοβερὸς; οὕτω καὶ παρακεκινηκὼς; ὁρῶμαί ποτε τοῖς φίλοις καὶ τῇ γυναικὶ καὶ τοῖς θυγατρίοις, οὐ μόνον ἰδεῖν ἄγριος καὶ ἀσυνήθης ἀλλὰ καὶ φωνὴν ἀπηνῆ καὶ τραχεῖαν ἀφιείς· ὥσπερ ἑτέροις τῶν συνήθων ἐνετύγχανον, οὐκ ἦθος οὐ μορφὴν οὐ λόγου χάριν οὐ τὸ πιθανὸν καὶ προσηνὲς ἐν ὁμιλίᾳ δυναμένοις ὑπʼ ὀργῆς διαφυλάττειν. Γαΐῳ μὲν οὖν Γράκχῳ τῷ ῥήτορι καὶ τὸν τρόπον ὄντι χαλεπῷ καὶ περιπαθέστερον λέγοντι διηρμοσμένον ἦν συρίγγιον, ᾧ τὴν φωνὴν οἱ ἁρμονικοὶ σχέδην ἐπʼ ἀμφότερα διὰ τῶν τόνων ἄγουσι· καὶ τοῦτʼ ἔχων οἰκέτης αὐτοῦ λέγοντος ὄπισθεν ἑστὼς ἐνεδίδου τόνον ἐπιεικῆ καὶ πρᾶον, ᾧ τὴν κραυγὴν ἀνεκαλεῖτο καὶ τὸ τραχὺ καὶ τὸ θυμικὸν ἀφῄρει τῆς φωνῆς, ὥσπερ ὁ τῶν βουκόλων
κηρόπλαστος ὀτοβεῖ
δόναξ ἀχέτας ὑπνοδόταν νόμον
ἐπιθέλγων καὶ καθιστὰς τὴν ὀργὴν τοῦ ῥήτορος ἐμοὶ δʼ εἴ τις ἐμμελὴς καὶ κομψὸς ἀκόλουθος ἦν, οὐκ ἂν ἠχθόμην αὐτοῦ προσφέροντος ἐπὶ ταῖς ὀργαῖς ἔσοπτρον, ὥσπερ ἐνίοις προσφέρουσι λουσαμένοις ἐπʼ οὐδενὶ χρησίμῳ. τὸ δʼ αὑτὸν ἰδεῖν παρὰ φύσιν ἔχοντα καὶ συντεταραγμένον οὐ μικρόν ἐστιν εἰς διαβολὴν τοῦ πάθους. καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὴν, Ἀθηνᾶν λέγουσιν οἱ παίζοντες αὐλοῦσαν ὑπὸ τοῦ σατύρου νουθετεῖσθαι καὶ μὴ προσέχειν·
οὔ τοι πρέπει τὸ σχῆμα· τοὺς αὐλοὺς μέθες
καὶ θὦπλα λάζευ καὶ γνάθους εὐθημόνει·
θεασαμένην δὲ τοῦ προσώπου τὴν ὄψιν ἐν ποταμῷ τινι δυσχερᾶναι καὶ προέσθαι τοὺς αὐλούς· καίτοι παραμυθίαν ἡ τέχνη τῆς ἀμορφίας ἔχει τὴν εὐμέλειαν. καὶ ὁ Μαρσύας, ὡς ἔοικε, φορβειᾷ τινι καὶ περιστομίοις τοῦ πνεύματος τὸ ῥαγδαῖον ἐγκαθεῖρξε καὶ τοῦ προσώπου κατεκόσμησε καὶ ἀπέκρυψε τὴν ἀνωμαλίαν,
χρυσῷ δʼ αἰγλήεντι συνήρμοσεν ἀμφιδασείας
κόρσας, καὶ στόμα λάβρον ὀπισθοδέτοισιν ἱμᾶσιν.
ἡ δʼ ὀργὴ φυσῶσα καὶ διατείνουσα τὸ πρόσωπον ἀπρεπῶς, ἔτι μᾶλλον αἰσχρὰν ἀφίησι καὶ ἀτερπῆ φωνὴν κινοῦσα χορδὰς τὰς ἀκινήτους φρενῶν. τὴν μὲν γὰρ θάλασσαν, ὅταν ἐκταραχθεῖσα τοῖς πνεύμασι τὰ βρύα καὶ τὸ φῦκος ἀναβάλλῃ, καθαίρεσθαι λέγουσιν· ἃ δʼ ὁ θυμὸς ἐκβράσσει τῆς ψυχῆς περιτρεπομένης ἀκόλαστα καὶ πικρὰ καὶ σπερμολόγα ῥήματα, τοὺς λέγοντας πρώτους καταρρυπαίνει καὶ καταπίμπλησιν ἀδοξίας, ὡς ἀεὶ μὲν ἔχοντας ἐν αὐτοῖς ταῦτα καὶ πλήρεις ὄντας ὑπὸ δὲ τῆς ὀργῆς ἀνακαλυπτομένους. διὸ κουφοτάτου πράγματος, ὥς φησιν ὁ Πλάτων, λόγου βαρυτάτην ζημίαν τίνουσιν, ἐχθροὶ καὶ κακολόγοι καὶ κακοήθεις δοκοῦντες εἶναι.

[¶6] 7. FUNDANUS. When I, accordingly, observe these things, and store them carefully away, it occurs to me to lay up and quite thoroughly remember for my own use that, just as it is a good thing in a fever, so it is an even better thing in anger, to keep the tongue soft and smooth. For if the tongue of men who are sick of a fever is in an unnatural state, it is a bad symptom, but not the cause of their malady; but when the tongue of angry men becomes rough and foul and breaks out in unseemly speeches, it brings forth insolence which creates irremediable enmity and argues a festering malevolence within. For unmixed wine produces nothing so intemperate and odious as anger does: words flown with wine go well with laughter and sport, but those which spring from anger are mixed with gall; and whereas the man who keeps silent at a drinking-bout is disagreeable and irksome to the company, there is nothing more dignified, if one is angry, than holding one’s peace, as Sappho advises:
When anger swells within the breast,
Restrain the idly barking tongue.

> Greek: 7. ΦΟΥΝΔ.ταῦτʼ οὖν ὁρῶντί μοι καὶ παραφυλάττοντι συμβαίνει τίθεσθαι καὶ διαμνημονεύειν ἐπιεικῶς πρὸς ἐμαυτόν, ὡς ἀγαθὸν μέν ἐστιν ἐν πυρετῷ κρεῖττον δʼ ἐν ὀργῇ τὴν γλῶτταν ἁπαλὴν ἔχειν καὶ λείαν. ἡ μὲν γὰρ τῶν πυρεττόντων ἐὰν μὴ κατὰ φύσιν ἔχῃ, σημεῖόν ἐστι πονηρὸν οὐκ αἴτιον· ἡ δὲ τῶν θυμουμένων τραχεῖα καὶ ῥυπαρὰ γενομένη καὶ ῥυεῖσα πρὸς λόγους ἀτόπους ἔχθρας ἀνηκέστου δημιουργὸν ὕβριν ἐκφέρει καὶ δυσμενείας ὑπούλου κατήγορον. οὐδὲν γὰρ ὁ ἄκρατος ἀκόλαστον οὕτω καὶ δυσχερὲς, ὡς ὁ θυμός, ἀναδείκνυσι· κἀκεῖνα μὲν γέλωτι καὶ παιδιᾷ μέλει, ταῦτα δὲ χολῇ κέκραται· καὶ παρὰ πότον μὲν ὁ σιωπῶν ἐπαχθὴς τοῖς συνοῦσι καὶ φορτικός, ἐν ὀργῇ δὲ σεμνότερον οὐδὲν ἡσυχίας, ὡς ἡ Σαπφὼ παραινεῖ
ʽσκιδναμένας ἐν στήθεσιν ὄργας
πεφυλάχθαι γλῶσσαν μαψυλάκαν.

[¶7] 8. FUNDANUS. But it is not these considerations only that constant watching of those who are in the grip of anger furnishes us, but also an understanding of the general nature of ill temper - that it is not well-bred, nor manly, nor possessing any quality of pride or greatness. Yet most people think its turbulence to be activity, its blustering to be confident boldness, its obstinacy force of character; and some claim that even its cruelty is magnificence in action and its implacability firmness in resolution and its moroseness hatred of evil, but they are wrong in this. For the actions and the motions and the whole demeanour of angry persons declare their utter littleness and weakness, not only when they rend little children and rage bitterly against women and think it proper to punish dogs and horses and mules, as Ctesiphon the pancratiast did, who thought it right to kick back at his mule; but also in the butcheries that tyrants perpetrate, their meanness of soul is apparent in their cruelty and their perverted state in their action, and is like the bites of vipers, which, when thoroughly inflamed with rage and pain, eject their excessive fiery passion upon those who have hurt them. For just as with the flesh a swelling results from a great blow, so with the weakest souls the inclination to inflict a hurt produces a flaring up of temper as great as the soul’s infirmity is great. That is also the reason why women are more prone to anger than men, and sick persons than healthy, and old men than men in their prime, and the unfortunate than the prosperous. Most prone to anger, for instance, are the miser with his steward, the glutton with his cook, the jealous man with his wife, the conceited man when he has been maligned; but worst of all are
Men who court too eagerly
Ambition in the towns:
Manifest is the pain they bring,
as Pindar has it. In like manner from the pain and suffering of the soul, caused generally by weakness, there arises the outburst of passion which is not, as someone has said, like “sinews of the soul,” but like the strainings and convulsions of the soul when it is stirred too vehemently in its impulse to defend itself.

> Greek: 8. ΦΟΥΝΔ.οὐ ταῦτα δὲ μόνον ἐπιλογίζεσθαι δίδωσι τὸ προσέχειν αὑτοῖς ἁλισκομένοις ὑπʼ ὀργῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἄλλην τοῦ θυμοῦ κατανοεῖν φύσιν, ὡς οὐκ εὐγενὴς οὐδʼ ἀνδρώδης οὐδʼ ἔχουσα φρόνημα καὶ μέγεθός ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ δοκεῖ τοῖς πολλοῖς τὸ ταρακτικὸν αὐτοῦ πρακτικὸν καὶ τὸ ἀπειλητικὸν εὐθαρσὲς εἶναι καὶ τὸ ἀπειθὲς ἰσχυρόν. ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ τὴν ὠμότητα μεγαλουργίαν καὶ τὸ δυσπαραίτητον εὐτονίαν καὶ μισοπονηρίαν τὸ δύσκολον οὐκ ὀρθῶς τίθενται· τὰ γὰρ ἔργα καὶ τὰ κινήματα καὶ τὰ σχήματα μικρότητα πολλὴν καὶ ἀσθένειαν κατηγορεῖ, οὐ μόνον ἐν οἷς παιδάρια σπαράττουσι καὶ πρὸς γύναια διαπικραίνονται καὶ κύνας καὶ ἵππους καὶ ἡμιόνους; οἴονται δεῖν κολάζειν, ὡς Κτησιφῶν ὁ παγκρατιαστὴς ἀντιλακτίσαι τὴν ἡμίονον ἀξιῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τὰς τυραννικὰς μιαιφονίας τῷ πικρῷ τὸ μικρόψυχον αὐτῶν καὶ τῷ δρῶντι τὸ πεπονθὸς ἐνορώμενον ἔοικε τοῖς δήγμασι τῶν ἑρπετῶν, ὅταν διακαῇ καὶ περιώδυνα γένηται, τὴν φλεγμονὴν ἀπερειδομένων σφοδρὰν τοῖς λελυπηκόσιν. ὡς γὰρ οἴδημα μεγάλης ἐστὶν ἐν σαρκὶ πληγῆς πάθος, οὕτως ἐν ταῖς μαλακωτάταις ψυχαῖς ἡ πρὸς τὸ λυπῆσαι ἔνδοσις ἐκφέρει μείζονα θυμὸν ἀπὸ μείζονος ἀσθενείας. διὸ καὶ γυναῖκες ἀνδρῶν ὀργιλώτεραι, καὶ νοσοῦντες ὑγιαινόντων καὶ γέροντες ἀκμαζόντων καὶ κακῶς πράττοντες εὐτυχούντων· ὀργιλώτατος γὰρ ὁ φιλάργυρος πρὸς τὸν οἰκονόμον, ὁ γαστρίμαργος πρὸς τὸν ὀψοποιὸν ὁ ζηλότυπος πρὸς τὸ γύναιον ὁ κενόδοξος κακῶς ἀκούσας· χαλεπώτατοι δʼ ἄγαν φιλοτιμίαν μνώμενοι ἐν πόλεσιν ἄνδρες ἢ στάσιν, ἄλγος ἐμφανές κατὰ Πίνδαρον. οὕτως ἐκ τοῦ λυπουμένου μάλιστα τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ πάσχοντος ἀνίσταται μάλιστα διʼ ἀσθένειαν ὁ θυμός, οὐχὶ νεύροις, ὥς τις εἶπε, τῆς ψυχῆς ἐοικώς, ἀλλʼ ἐπιτάμασι καὶ σπάσμασιν ἐν ταῖς ἀμυντικαῖς ὁρμαῖς σφοδρότερον ἐξανισταμένης.

[¶8] 9. FUNDANUS. These base examples, to be sure, were not pleasant to observe, but merely unavoidable; but in discussing those who deal with transports of rage in a mild and gentle way I offer instances which are very beautiful both to hear and to witness, and I begin with a word of scorn for those who say, “It was a man you wronged: should a man bear this?” and
Trample him underfoot, tread on his neck,
And bring him to the ground!
and other provocative expressions, by using which some err in transferring anger from the women’s quarters to the men’s. For although courage gets along well with justice in all other respects, yet, as it seems to me, it fights for the possession of gentleness alone, as belonging rather to itself. But although cases do occur in which even baser men gain the mastery over their betters, yet to erect in the soul a trophy of victory over anger (which Heracleitus says it is difficult to contend against: “for whatever it wishes, it buys at the price of the soul”) is proof of a great and victorious strength which possesses against the passions the weapons of its judgements, as in very truth its nerves and sinews. FUNDANUS. For this reason I always strive to collect and to peruse, not only these sayings and deeds of the philosophers, who are said by fools to have no bile, but even more those of kings and despots. There is, for instance, the remark of Antigonus to his soldiers who were reviling him near his tent in the belief that he could not hear them: he merely thrust out his staff and cried, “Good heavens! will you not go somewhere farther off to abuse me?” And there is the case of Arcadion the Achaean who was always railing against Philip and advising flight “Until one comes to men who know not Philip;” when Arcadion later visited Macedonia on some chance or other, Philip’s friends thought that he should not be let off but punished. Yet Philip, when he met him, treated him kindly and sent him friendly presents and gifts; and later bade his friends inquire how Arcadion now spoke of him to the Greeks. When all testified that the fellow had become a wonderful eulogist of the king, Philip said, “Then I am a better physician than you.” So in Olympia when Philip was being defamed, and some persons said that the Greeks should smart for it since they spoke evil of Philip though they were being well treated by him, Philip said, “What will they do, then, if they are badly treated?” FUNDANUS. Likewise admirable was the behaviour of Peisistratus to Thrasybulus, and of Porsenna to Mucius, and of Magas to Philemon. For when Magas had been publicly ridiculed by Philemon in a comedy at the theatre:
A. For you some letters, Magas, from the king.
B. Unhappy Magas, who no letters know!
Magas later captured Philemon, who had been cast ashore by a storm at Paraetonium, and ordered a soldier merely to touch Philemon on the neck with a naked sword and then depart courteously; and Magas sent dice and a ball to Philemon, as to a senseless child, and sent him on his way. So also Ptolemy, when he was jeering at a pedant for his ignorance, asked him who was Peleus’ father; and the pedant replied, “I shall tell you if you will first tell me who was the father of Lagus.” This was a jest at the dubious birth of the king, and everyone was indignant at its improper and inopportune character; but Ptolemy said, “If it is not the part of a king to take a jest, neither is it to make one.” But Alexander had behaved more harshly than was his custom toward Callisthenes and Cleitus. And so Porus, when he was taken captive, requested Alexander to treat him “like a king.” When Alexander asked, “Is there nothing more?” “In the words ‘like a king,’ ” replied Porus, “there is everything.” For this reason also they call the king of the gods Meilichios, or the Gentle One, while the Athenians, I believe, call him Maimactes, or the Boisterous; but punishment is the work of the Furies and spirits, not of the high gods and Olympian deities.

> Greek: 9. ΦΟΥΝΔ.τὰ μὲν οὖν φαῦλα παραδείγματα τὴν θέαν οὐκ εὔχαριν ἀλλʼ ἀναγκαίαν μόνον εἶχε· τοὺς δʼ ἠπίως καὶ λείως ὁμιλοῦντας ὀργαῖς κάλλιστα μὲν ἀκούσματα κάλλιστα δὲ θεάματα ποιούμενος, ἄρχομαι καταφρονεῖν τῶν λεγόντων· ἄνδρʼ ἠδίκησας· ἄνδρʼ ἀνεκτέον τόδε; καὶ βαῖνε λάξ, ἐπὶ τραχήλου βαῖνε, καὶ πέλα χθονί, καὶ τἄλλα παροξυντικά, διʼ ὧν ἔνιοι τὸν θυμὸν ἐκ τῆς γυναικωνίτιδος εἰς τὴν ἀνδρωνῖτιν οὐκ εὖ μετοικίζουσιν. ἡ γὰρ ἀνδρεία κατὰ τἄλλα τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ συμφερομένη περὶ μόνης μοι δοκεῖ διαμάχεσθαι τῆς πραότητος, ὡς αὐτῇ μᾶλλον προσηκούσης. ἀνθρώπων μὲν γὰρ κρατῆσαι καὶ χείροσι βελτιόνων ὑπῆρξε, τὸ δʼ ἐν ψυχῇ στῆσαι κατὰ θυμοῦ τρόπαιον ʽ ᾧ χαλεπὸν εἶναι διαμάχεσθαι φησὶν Ἡράκλειτος ὅ τι γὰρ ἂν θέλῃ, ψυχῆς ὠνεῖται μεγάλης ἐστὶ καὶ νικητικῆς ἰσχύος, ὥσπερ νεῦρα καὶ τόνους ἀληθῶς ἐπὶ τὰ πάθη τὰς κρίσεις ἐχούσης. διὸ καὶ συνάγειν ἀεὶ πειρῶμαι καὶ ἀναγιγνώσκειν οὐ ταῦτα δὴ μόνον τὰ τῶν φιλοσόφων, οὕς φασι χολὴν οὐκ ἔχειν οἱ νοῦν οὐκ ἔχοντες, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τὰ τῶν βασιλέων καὶ τυράννων οἷον Ἀντιγόνου τὸ πρὸς τοὺς στρατιώτας τοὺς παρὰ τὴν σκηνὴν λοιδοροῦντας αὐτὸν ὡς οὐκ ἀκούοντα· τὴν βακτηρίαν γὰρ ὑποβαλὼν ἔξω παπαί εἶπεν οὐ πορρωτέρω ποι τραπόμενοι κακῶς ἐρεῖθʼ ἡμᾶς; Ἀρκαδίωνος δὲ τοῦ Ἀχαιοῦ τὸν Φίλιππον ἀεὶ κακῶς λέγοντος καὶ φεύγειν παραινοῦντος εἰσόκε τοὺς ἀφίκηται οἳ οὐκ ἴσασι Φίλιππον εἶτά πως ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ φανέντος, ᾤοντο δεῖν οἱ φίλοι κολάσαι καὶ μὴ περιιδεῖν· ὁ δὲ Φίλιππος ἐντυχὼν αὐτῷ φιλανθρώπως καὶ ξένια καὶ δῶρα πέμψας ἐκέλευσεν ὕστερον πυνθάνεσθαι, τίνας λόγους ἀπαγγέλλοι πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας· ὡς δὲ πάντες ἐμαρτύρουν ἐπαινέτην αὐτοῦ γεγονέναι τὸν ἄνδρα θαυμάσιον, ἐγὼ τοίνυν ἔφη βελτίων ἰατρὸς ὑμῶν. ἐν Ὀλυμπίοις δὲ βλασφημίας περὶ αὐτοῦ γενομένης καί τινων λεγόντων, ὡς οἰμῶξαι προσήκει τοὺς Ἕλληνας, ὅτι εὖ πάσχοντες ὑπὸ τοῦ Φιλίππου κακῶς αὐτὸν λέγουσι· τί οὖν ἔφη ποιήσουσιν, ἂν κακῶς πάθωσι; καλὰ δὲ καὶ Πεισιστράτου τὰ πρὸς Θρασύβουλον καὶ Πορσήνα τὰ πρὸς Μούκιον καὶ Μάγα τὰ πρὸς Φιλήμονα· δημοσίᾳ γὰρ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ κωμῳδηθεὶς ἐν θεάτρῳ
παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως γράμμαθʼ ἣκει σοι, Μάγα.
Μάγα κακόδαιμον, γράμματʼ οὐκ ἐπίστασαι·
λαβὼν ὑπὸ χειμῶνος εἰς Παραιτόνιον ἐξενεχθέντα, στρατιώτην μὲν ἐκέλευσε γυμνῇ τῇ μαχαίρᾳ θιγεῖν τοῦ τραχήλου μόνον εἶτα κοσμίως ἀπελθεῖν· ἀστραγάλους δὲ καὶ σφαῖραν ὡς παιδαρίῳ νοῦν οὐκ ἔχοντι προσπέμψας; ἀφῆκε. Πτολεμαῖος.; δὲ γραμματικὸν εἰς ἀμαθίαν ἐπισκώπτων ἠρώτησε τίς ὁ τοῦ Πηλέως πατὴρ ἦν· κἀκεῖνος ἂν σὺ πρότερον εἴπῃς ἔφη τίς ὁ τοῦ Λάγου· τὸ δὲ σκῶμμα τῆς δυσγενείας ἥπτετο τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ πάντες ἠγανάκτησαν ὡς οὐκ ἐπιτήδειον ὄντα φέρειν· καὶ ὁ Πτολεμαῖος εἰ τὸ φέρειν ἔφη σκωπτόμενον, οὐδὲ τὸ σκώπτειν βασιλικόν ἐστιν. Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ πικρότερος αὑτοῦ γέγονεν ἐν τοῖς περὶ Καλλισθένη καὶ Κλεῖτον. καὶ, Πῶρος ἁλοὺς παρεκάλει χρήσασθαι· βασιλικῶς αὐτῷ καὶ πυθομένου μή τι πλέον; ἐν τῷ βασιλικῶς ἔφη πάντʼ ἔνεστι. διὸ καὶ τῶν θεῶν τὸν βασιλέα μειλίχιον Ἀθηναῖοι δέ· Μαιμάκτην οἶμαι καλοῦσι· τὸ δὲ κολαστικὸν ἐρινυῶδες καὶ δαιμονικόν, οὐ θεῖον οὐδʼ ὀλύμπιον.

[¶9] 10. FUNDANUS. Just as, then, someone said of Philip when he had razed Olynthus to the ground, “But he could not possibly repeople a city so large,” so one may address Anger and say, “You are able to overturn and destroy and throw down, but to raise up and preserve and spare and forbear is the work of mildness and forgiveness and moderation in passion, the work of a Camillus or a Metellus or an Aristeides or a Socrates; but to attach oneself to the wound and to sting is the part of an ant or a horse-fly.” As I study, however, anger’s method of defending itself, I find it for the most part ineffectual, since it spends itself in biting the lips and gnashing the teeth, in vain attacks and railings coupled with senseless threats, and eventually resembles children running races, who, through lack of self-control, fall down ridiculously before they reach the goal toward which they are hastening. Therefore there was point in what the Rhodian said to the Roman general’s servant who was shouting and talking insolently: “What you say,” said the Rhodian, “matters nothing to me, but what your master doesn’t say.” And Sophocles, when he has armed Neoptolemus and Eurypylus, says
Without a vaunt, without reviling, they
Have rushed within the ring of brazen arms. FUNDANUS. For although there are barbarians who poison their steel, true bravery has no need of bitter gall, for it has been dipped in reason; but rage and fury are rotten and easily broken. At any rate the Spartans use the playing of pipes to remove from their fighting men the spirit of anger, and they sacrifice to the Muses before battle in order that reason may remain constant within them; and when they have routed the enemy, they do not pursue, but sound the recall to their high spirits, which, like small daggers, are manageable and can be easily withdrawn. Yet wrath has slain thousands before its revenge was accomplished, as, for instance, Cyrus t and Pelopidas the Theban. But Agathocles endured with mildness the revilings of those he was besieging, and when one of them cried out, “Potter, how will you get pay for your mercenaries?”, Agathocles laughed and said, “If I take this town.” And there is the case of Antigonus, who, when some men on the wall of a town jeered at him because of his deformity, said to them, “Why, I thought my face was handsome!” But when he took the town he sold as slaves those who jeered at him, protesting that he would have speech with their masters if they reviled him again. FUNDANUS. I observe also that both advocates and orators commit serious mistakes because of anger; and Aristotle relates that the friends of Satyrus the Samian, when he was to plead, stopped up his ears with wax, that he might not spoil his case through temper at the insults of his enemies. And as for ourselves, does it not happen often that the punishment of a delinquent slave eludes our power? For slaves are made afraid by threatening words and run away. The words, therefore, which nurses use with children, “Stop crying and you shall have it!” may, not without benefit, be applied to temper: “Stop hurrying and shouting and making haste, and you shall have what you want better and more easily!” For if a father sees his son trying to cut something in two or to make a notch in it with a knife, he takes the knife himself and does it; so likewise, if reason takes upon itself the punishment which temper would inflict, it chastises the person who deserves it safely and harmlessly and for that person’s good, and does not, as temper often does, punish itself instead.

> Greek: 10. ΦΟΥΝΔ.ὥσπερ οὖν ἐπὶ τοῦ Φιλίππου τις εἶπε κατασκάψαντος Ὄλυνθον, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἂν ἀνοικίσαι γε πόλιν ἐκεῖνος δύναιτο τηλικαύτην οὕτως ἔστιν εἰπεῖν πρὸς τὸν θυμὸν ἀνατρέψαι μὲν δύνασαι καὶ διαφθεῖραι καὶ καταβαλεῖν, ἀναστῆσαι δὲ καὶ σῶσαι καὶ φείσασθαι καὶ καρτερῆσαι πραότητός ἐστι καὶ συγγνώμης καὶ μετριοπαθείας, καὶ Καμίλλου καὶ Μετέλλου καὶ Ἀριστείδου καὶ Σωκράτους· τὸ δʼ ἐμφῦναι καὶ δακεῖν μυρμηκῶδες καὶ μυῶδες. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἄμυναν ἅμα σκοπῶν τὸν διʼ ὀργῆς; τρόπον ἄπρακτον εὑρίσκω τὰ πολλά, δήγμασι χειλῶν καὶ πρίσεσιν ὀδόντων καὶ κεναῖς ἐπιδρομαῖς καὶ βλασφημίαις ἀπειλὰς ἀνοήτους ἐχούσαις καταναλισκόμενον, εἶθʼ ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς δρόμοις τὰ παιδία τῷ μὴ κρατεῖν ἑαυτῶν προκαταπίπτοντα τοῦ τέλους ἐφʼ ὃ σπεύδει γελοίως. ὅθεν οὐ φαύλως ὁ Ῥόδιος πρὸς ὑπηρέτην τοῦ Ῥωμαίων στρατηγοῦ βοῶντα καὶ θρασυνόμενον οὐ μέλει μοι τί σὺ λέγεις ἀλλὰ τί τῆνος σιγῇ καὶ τὸν, Νεοπτόλεμον ὁ Σοφοκλῆς καὶ τὸν Εὐρύπυλον ὁπλίσας ἐκόμπασʼ ἀλοιδόρητα φησίν ἐρρηξάτην ἐς κύκλα χαλκέων ὅπλων. τὸν μὲν γὰρ σίδηρον ἔνιοι τῶν βαρβάρων φαρμάσσουσιν, δʼ ἀνδρεία χολῆς οὐ δεῖται βέβαπται γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου· τὸ δὲ θυμικὸν καὶ μανικὸν εὐπερίθραυστόν ἐστι καὶ σαθρόν. ἀφαιροῦσι γοῦν αὐλοῖς τὸν θυμὸν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τῶν μαχομένων, καὶ Μούσαις πρὸ πολέμου θύουσιν ὅπως ὁ λόγος ἐμμένῃ· καὶ τρεψάμενοι τοὺς πολεμίους οὐ διώκουσιν, ἀλλʼ ἀνακαλοῦνται τὸν θυμόν, ὥσπερ τὰ σύμμετρα τῶν ἐγχειριδίων εὐανακόμιστον ὄντα καὶ ῥᾴδιον. ὀργὴ δὲ, μυρίους προανεῖλε τῆς ἀμύνης, ὡς Κῦρον καὶ Πελοπίδαν τὸν Θηβαῖον. Ἀγαθοκλῆς; δὲ πράως ἔφερε λοιδορούμενος ὑπὸ τῶν πολιορκουμένων· καί τινος εἰπόντος κεραμεῦ, πόθεν ἀποδώσεις τοῖς ξένοις τὸν μισθὸν; ἐπιγελάσας αἴκα ταύταν ἐξέλω καὶ τὸν Ἀντίγονον ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους τινὲς εἰς ἀμορφίαν ἔσκωπτον· ὁ δὲ πρὸς αὐτοὺς καὶ μὴν ἐδόκουν εὐπρόσωπος εἶναι. λαβὼν δὲ τὴν πόλιν ἐπίπρασκε τοὺς σκώπτοντας, μαρτυράμενος ὅτι πρὸς τοὺς δεσπότας ἕξει τὸν λόγον, ἂν πάλιν αὐτὸν λοιδορῶσιν. ὁρῶ δὲ καὶ κυνηγοὺς σφαλλομένους ὑπʼ ὀργῆς μεγάλα καὶ ῥήτορας. Ἀριστοτέλης δʼ ἱστορεῖ Σατύρου τοὺς φίλους ἐμφράξαι τὰ ὦτα κηρῷ δίκην ἔχοντος, ὅπως μὴ συγχέῃ τὸ πρᾶγμα διὰ θυμὸν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν λοιδορούμενος. αὐτοὺς δʼ ἡμᾶς οὐ πολλάκις ἐκφεύγει τὸ κολάσαι πλημμελήσαντα δοῦλον; ἀποδιδράσκουσι γὰρ τὰς ἀπειλὰς καὶ τοὺς λόγους δείσαντες. ὅπερ οὖν αἱ τίτθαι πρὸς τὰ παιδία λέγουσι μὴ κλαῖε καὶ λήψῃ, τοῦτο πρὸς τὸν θυμὸν οὐκ ἀχρήστως λεκτέον μὴ σπεῦδε μηδὲ βόα μηδʼ ἐπείγου, καὶ μᾶλλον ἃ θέλεις γενήσεται καὶ βέλτιον καὶ γὰρ παῖδʼ ἰδὼν πατὴρ ἐπιχειροῦντά τι σιδηρίῳ διελεῖν ἢ τεμεῖν, αὐτὸς λαβὼν τὸ σιδήριον ἐποίησε· καὶ τοῦ θυμοῦ τὴν τιμωρίαν παρελόμενος αὐτὸς ἀσφαλῶς καὶ ἀβλαβῶς καὶ ὠφελίμως ἐκόλασε τὸν ἄξιον οὐχ ἑαυτὸν ὥσπερ ὁ θυμούμενος ἀντʼ ἐκείνου πολλάκις.

## 2. Sections 11–16

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-control-of-anger/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-control-of-anger/2/#p-N

[¶0] 11. FUNDANUS. But however true it is that all the passions have need of a process of habituation, which tames as it were and subdues by rigorous training the irrational and obstinate element of the soul, there is no passion that we can better learn to control by practising on servants than temper. For no envy or fear or rivalry enters into our relations with them, but frequent fits of anger bring about many conflicts and errors, and because of the absolute power we possess, there being no one to oppose or prevent us, these cause us to slide and fall, since we are, as it were, on slippery ground. For it is impossible that irresponsible power under the influence of passion should be free from error, unless he who wields this power shall encompass it with a bulwark of gentleness, and shall hold out against many pleas of wife and friends, all charging him with laxity and easy-going ways. By such charges I myself used to be very greatly exasperated against my slaves, in the conviction that they were being ruined by not being punished. At long last, however, though late it was, I came to perceive that, in the first place, it is better to make them worse by forbearance than by harshness and anger to pervert my own self for the correction of the others. In the second place, when I observed that many, just because they were not being punished, were often ashamed to be bad, and made pardon, rather than correction, the starting-point of reformation, and, I swear, performed their duties more zealously for the kind of master who gave orders silently with a nod than for the others who used blows and branding-irons, I began to be convinced that reason is more fit than anger to govern. For it is not as the Poet has said, “Where fear is, there is also reverence;” but, on the contrary, in those who revere there is engendered the kind of fear that corrects behaviour, whereas continual and unmerciful beating produces, not repentance for wrongdoing, but rather the farsighted cunning to do wrong without detection. In the third place, I always keep in mind and reflect in privacy that he who taught us the use of the bow did not forbid us to shoot, but only to miss the mark, and that the infliction of punishment will not be hindered by our teaching how to inflict it at the right time, with moderation, and in a useful and suitable manner; and, remembering these things, I try to get rid of my anger, if possible, by not depriving those who are to be punished of the right to speak in their defence, but by listening to their plea. For both the passage of time gives a pause to passion and a delay which dissolves it, and also the judgement discovers a suitable manner of punishment and an adequate amount; furthermore, the man who suffers punishment has no pretext left for opposing the correction if punishment is inflicted, not in anger, but after the accused has been proved guilty; and finally, the most shameful thing is avoided-that the slave should seem to be making a juster plea than his master. FUNDANUS. And so, just as Phocion after Alexander’s death, trying to keep the Athenians from revolting prematurely or believing the report too quickly, said to them, “If, men of Athens, he is dead to-day, he will be dead to-morrow also, and the day after”; in like manner, I think, the man who, urged on by anger, is in a hurry for vengeance, should suggest to himself, “If this person is guilty of wronging you to-day, he will still be guilty to-morrow also, and the day after; no harm will be done if he shall be punished somewhat late, but if he is punished in haste he will always be thought to have suffered without offending; and this has happened many times in the past.” For which of us is so harsh that he scourges and chastises a slave because five or ten days ago he overroasted the meat or upset the table or carne too slowly at our bidding? And yet these are the very things which cause us to be excited and in a cruel and implacable mood at the moment they happen and are still fresh in our memory. For as the shapes of persons seen through a fog, so things seen through a mist of rage appear greater than they are. FUNDANUS. These are the reasons why we should immediately call to mind such instances and precepts; and when we are free from all suspicion of passion, if the offence still appears evil to the clear and settled judgement, we should attend to it then and not dismiss or abandon the punishment, as we leave food when we have lost our appetite. And nothing is so much the cause of our punishing in a rage as that, when our anger is over, we do not punish, but leave things alone. We are very much like lazy oarsmen, who during calm weather lie in port, and later, at the risk of their lives, avail themselves of a wind to go sailing. And so do we condemn reason for remissness and softness in punishment and hasten on to the deed rashly and to our peril when anger, like a gale, is upon us. For while a hungry man indulges in food as nature dictates, yet punishment is indulged in by one who is not hungry or thirsty for it, nor does he need anger as a relish to stimulate him to punish; on the contrary, when he finds himself very far removed from the desire to punish, he brings up reason to reinforce him and punishes under compulsion. Aristotle relates that in Etruria in his day slaves were scourged to the music of pipes. But one should not, in that spirit, through a craving for the punishment as for a kind of enjoyment, gorge oneself with it, and rejoice while inflicting chastisement and after inflicting it repent - of these the first is bestial, the second womanish - but without either sorrow or pleasure one should mete out punishment in reason’s own good time, leaving anger no excuse.

> Greek: 11. ΦΟΥΝΔ.πάντων δὲ τῶν παθῶν ἐθισμοῦ δεομένων, οἷον δαμάζοντος καὶ καταθλοῦντος ἀσκήσει τὸ ἄλογον καὶ δυσπειθές, οὐ πρὸς ἄλλο μᾶλλον ἔστιν ἐγγυμνάσασθαι τοῖς οἰκέταις ἢ πρὸς τὸν θυμόν. οὔτε γὰρ φθόνος οὔτε φόβος οὔτε φιλοτιμία τις ἐγγίγνεται πρὸς αὐτούς· ὀργαὶ δὲ συνεχεῖς πολλὰ ποιοῦσαι προσκρούματα καὶ σφάλματα διὰ τὴν ἐξουσίαν ὥσπερ ἐν ὀλισθηρῷ χωρίῳ, μηδενὸς ἐνισταμένου μηδὲ κωλύοντος, ὑποφέρουσιν. οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἀναμάρτητον ἐν πάθει τὸ ἀνυπεύθυνον κατασχεῖν, μὴ πολλῇ τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἐμπεριλαβόντα πραότητι μηδὲ πολλὰς ὑπομείναντα φωνὰς γυναικὸς καὶ φίλων ἐγκαλούντων ἀτονίαν καὶ ῥᾳθυμίαν. οἷς μάλιστα παρωξυνόμην καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τοὺς οἰκέτας ὡς τῷ μὴ κολάζεσθαι διαφθειρομένους. ὀψὲ μέντοι συνεῖδον, ὅτι πρῶτον μὲν ἐκείνους ἀνεξικακίᾳ χείρονας ποιεῖν βέλτιόν ἐστιν ἢ πικρίᾳ καὶ θυμῷ διαστρέφειν ἑαυτὸν εἰς ἑτέρων ἐπανόρθωσιν ἔπειτα πολλοὺς ὁρῶν αὐτῷ τῷ μὴ κολάζεσθαι πολλάκις αἰδουμένους κακοὺς εἶναι καὶ μεταβολῆς ἀρχὴν τὴν συγγνώμην μᾶλλον ἢ τὴν τιμωρίαν λαμβάνοντας, καὶ νὴ Δία δουλεύοντας ἑτέροις ἀπὸ νεύματος καὶ σιωπῇ καὶ προθυμότερον ἢ μετὰ πληγῶν καὶ στιγμάτων ἑτέροις, ἐπειθόμην ἡγεμονικώτερον εἶναι τοῦ θυμοῦ τὸν λογισμόν. οὐ γάρ, ὡς ὁ ποιητὴς εἶπεν ἵνα γὰρ δέος, ἔνθα καὶ αἰδώς· ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον αἰδουμένοις ὁ σωφρονίζων ἐγγίγνεται φόβος. ἡ δὲ συνεχὴς πληγὴ καὶ ἀπαραίτητος οὐ μετάνοιαν ἐμποιεῖ τοῦ κακουργεῖν ἀλλὰ τοῦ λανθάνειν πρόνοιαν μᾶλλον. τρίτον ἀεὶ μνημονεύων καὶ διανοούμενος πρὸς ἐμαυτόν, ὡς οὔθʼ ὁ τοξεύειν ἡμᾶς διδάξας ἐκώλυσε βάλλειν ἀλλὰ μὴ διαμαρτάνειν, οὔτε τῷ κολάζειν ἐμποδὼν ἔσται τὸ διδάσκειν εὐκαίρως τοῦτο ποιεῖν καὶ μετρίως καὶ ὠφελίμως καὶ πρεπόντως πειρῶμαι τὴν ὀργὴν ἀφαιρεῖν μάλιστα τῷ μὴ παραιρεῖσθαι τῶν κολαζομένων τὴν δικαιολογίαν ἀλλʼ ἀκούειν. ὅ τε γὰρ χρόνος ἐμποιεῖ τῷ πάθει διατριβὴν καὶ μέλλησιν ἐκλύουσαν ἥ τε κρίσις εὑρίσκει καὶ τρόπον πρέποντα καὶ μέγεθος ἁρμόττον κολάσεως· ἔτι δʼ οὐχ ὑπολείπεται πρόφασις τῷ διδόντι δίκην ἀντιτείνειν πρὸς τὴν ἐπανόρθωσιν, ἂν μὴ κατʼ ὀργὴν ἀλλʼ ἐξελεγχθεὶς κολάζηται τὸ τʼ αἴσχιστον οὐ πρόσεστι, φαίνεσθαι δικαιότερα τοῦ δεσπότου λέγοντα τὸν οἰκέτην. ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ Φωκίων μετὰ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτὴν οὐκ ἐῶν προεξανίστασθαι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους οὐδὲ ταχὺ πιστεύειν, εἰ σήμερον εἶπεν ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι τέθνηκε, καὶ αὔριον ἔσται καὶ εἰς τρίτην τεθνηκώς οὕτως οἶμαι δεῖν ὑποβάλλειν ἑαυτῷ τὸν σπεύδοντα διʼ ὀργὴν ἐπὶ τὴν τιμωρίαν, εἰ σήμερον οὗτος ἠδίκηκε, καὶ αὔριον ἔσται καὶ εἰς τρίτην ἠδικηκώς· καὶ δεινὸν οὐδέν, εἰ δώσει δίκην βράδιον, ἀλλʼ εἰ ταχὺ παθὼν ἀεὶ φανεῖται μὴ ἀδικῶν· ὅπερ ἤδη συμβέβηκε πολλάκις. τίς. γὰρ ἡμῶν οὕτω δεινός ἐστιν, ὥστε μαστιγοῦν καὶ κολάζειν δοῦλον, ὅτι πέμπτην ἢ δεκάτην ἡμέραν προσέκαυσε τοὖψον ἢ κατέβαλε τὴν τράπεζαν ἢ βράδιον ὑπήκουσε; καὶ μὴν ταῦτʼ ἐστὶν ἐφʼ οἷς εὐθὺς γενομένοις καὶ προσφάτοις οὖσι ταραττόμεθα καὶ πικρῶς καὶ ἀπαραιτήτως ἔχομεν. ὡς γὰρ διʼ ὁμίχλης τὰ σώματα, καὶ διʼ ὀργῆς τὰ πράγματα μείζονα φαίνεται. διὸ δεῖ ταχὺ συμμνημονεύειν τῶν ὁμοίων, καὶ τοῦ πάθους ἔξωθεν ὄντας ἀνυπόπτως, ἂν καθαρῷ τῷ λογισμῷ καὶ καθεστῶτι φαίνηται μοχθηρόν, ἐπιστραφῆναι, καὶ μὴ προέσθαι τότε μηδʼ ἀφεῖναι τὴν κόλασιν ὥσπερ σιτίον ἀνορέκτους γεγονότας. οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως αἴτιόν ἐστι τοῦ παρούσης ὀργῆς κολάζειν, ὡς τὸ παυσαμένης μὴ κολάζειν ἀλλʼ ἐκλελύσθαι, καὶ ταὐτὸ πεπονθέναι τοῖς ἀργοῖς κωπηλάταις, οἳ γαλήνης ὁρμοῦσιν εἶτα κινδυνεύουσιν ἀνέμῳ πλέοντες. καὶ γὰρ ἡμεῖς τοῦ λογισμοῦ κατεγνωκότες ἀτονίαν καὶ μαλακίαν ἐν τῷ κολάζειν, σπεύδομεν παρόντι τῷ θυμῷ καθάπερ πνεύματι παραβόλως. τροφῇ μὲν γὰρ ὁ πεινῶν κατὰ φύσιν χρῆται τιμωρίᾳ δʼ ὁ μὴ πεινῶν μηδὲ διψῶν αὐτῆς, μηδʼ ὥσπερ ὄψου πρὸς τὸ κολάσαι τοῦ θυμοῦ δεόμενος, ἀλλʼ ὅταν πορρωτάτω τοῦ ὀρέγεσθαι γένηται προσάγων τὸν λογισμὸν ἀναγκαίως. οὐ γάρ, ὡς Ἀριστοτέλης ἱστορεῖ κατʼ αὐτὸν ἐν Τυρρηνίᾳ μαστιγοῦσθαι τοὺς οἰκέτας πρὸς αὐλόν, οὕτω πρὸς ἡδονὴν δεῖ καθάπερ ἀπολαύσματος ὀρέξει τῆς τιμωρίας ἐμφορεῖσθαι καὶ χαίρειν κολάζοντας εἶτα μετανοεῖν· ὧν τὸ μὲν θηριῶδες τὸ δὲ γυναικῶδες· ἀλλὰ καὶ λύπης καὶ ἡδονῆς χωρὶς ἐν τῷ τοῦ λογισμοῦ χρόνῳ τὴν δίκην κομίζεσθαι μὴ ὑπολείποντας τῷ θυμῷ πρόφασιν.

[¶1] 12. FUNDANUS. However this, perhaps, will not appear to be a cure for anger, but a temporary reprieve and prophylactic against those errors which some men commit in anger. And yet, though the swelling of the spleen is but a symptom of fever, reducing it assuages the fever, as Hieronymus says. But when I contemplated the origin of anger itself, I observed that different persons are liable to anger from different causes; yet in the case of practically all of them there is present a belief that they are being despised or neglected. For this reason we should assist those who endeavour to avoid anger, by removing as far as possible the act that rouses wrath from any suspicion of contempt or arrogance and by imputing it to ignorance or necessity or emotion or mischance. So Sophocles:
O king, not even the reason Nature gives
Stays with the unfortunate, but goes astray;
and so likewise Agamemnon ascribes the taking away of Briseis to divine infatuation:
I wish again to make amends, to give
You countless ransom.
Supplication, indeed, is the act of one who does not despise; and when he that has done an injury shows himself humble, he removes all notion of contempt. But the man in a rage should not wait for such humility, but should take to himself the reply of Diogenes: when someone said to him, “They are laughing at you, Diogenes,” he answered, “But I am not laughed down.” Just so the angry man should not consider himself despised, but rather despise the man who gave the offence as acting from weakness or rashness, carelessness or illiberality, dotage or childishness. But such a notion must not on any account be entertained toward servants or friends; for our servants presume on our upright character, our friends on our affection, and both disregard us, not as being impotent or ineffectual, but because of our reasonableness or our goodwill. As it is, thinking ourselves despised, we not only treat harshly wife and slaves and friends, but also through rage often fall out with innkeepers and sailors and drunken muleteers; we even rage against dogs that bark at us and asses that jostle us, like the man who wished to beat the assdriver, but when the driver cried out, “I am an Athenian,” indicated the ass and said, “You at any rate are not an Athenian,” and fell to beating it with many blows.

> Greek: 12. ΦΟΥΝΔ.αὕτη μὲν οὖν ἴσως οὐκ ὀργῆς ἰατρεία φανεῖται, διάκρουσις δὲ καὶ φυλακὴ τῶν ἐν ὀργῇ τινος ἁμαρτημάτων. καίτοι καὶ σπληνὸς οἴδημα σύμπτωμα μέν ἐστι πυρετοῦ πραϋνόμενον δὲ κουφίζει τὸν πυρετόν, ὥς φησιν Ἱερώνυμος. ἀλλʼ αὐτῆς γε τῆς ὀργῆς ἀναθεωρῶν τήν γένεσιν ἄλλους ὑπʼ ἄλλων αἰτιῶν ἐμπίπτοντας εἰς αὐτὴν ἑώρων, οἷς ἐπιεικῶς ἅπασι τοῦ καταφρονεῖσθαι καὶ ἀμελεῖσθαι παραγίγνεται. διὸ καὶ τοῖς παραιτουμένοις δεῖ βοηθεῖν πορρωτάτω τὴν πρᾶξιν ὀλιγωρίας ἀπάγοντας καὶ θρασύτητος, εἰς ἄγνοιαν ἢ ἀνάγκην ἢ πάθος ἢ δυστυχίαν τιθεμένους ὡς Σοφοκλῆς
ἀλλʼ οὐ γάρ, ὦ ʼναξ, οὐδʼ ὃς ἂν βλάστῃ μένει
νοῦς τοῖς κακῶς πράξασιν, ἀλλʼ ἐξίσταται.
καὶ τῆς Βρισηΐδος τὴν ἀφαίρεσιν εἰς τὴν Ἄτην ἀναφέρων ὁ Ἀγαμέμνων, ὅμως ἂψ ἐθέλει ἀρέσαι, δόμεναὶ τʼ ἀπερείσιʼ ἄποινα. καὶ γὰρ τὸ δεῖσθαι τοῦ μὴ καταφρονοῦντός ἐστι, καὶ ταπεινὸς; φανεὶς ὁ ἀδικήσας ἔλυσε τὴν τῆς ὀλιγωρίας δόξαν. οὐ δεῖ δὲ ταῦτα περιμένειν τὸν ὀργιζόμενον, ἀλλὰ τὸ τοῦ Διογένους οὗτοί σου καταγελῶσιν ὦ Διόγενες· ἐγὼ δʼ οὐ καταγελῶμαι λαμβάνειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, καὶ καταφρονεῖσθαι μὴ νομίζειν ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἐκείνου καταφρονεῖν, ὡς διʼ ἀσθένειαν ἢ πλημμέλειαν ἢ προπέτειαν ἢ ῥᾳθυμίαν ἢ ἀνελευθερίαν ἢ γῆρας ἢ νεότητα πλημμελοῦντος. οἰκέταις δὲ καὶ φίλοις ἀφετέον τὸ τοιοῦτο παντάπασιν. οὐ γὰρ ὡς ἀδυνάτων οὐδʼ ὡς ἀπράκτων, ἀλλὰ διʼ ἐπιείκειαν ἢ διʼ εὔνοιαν οἱ μὲν ὡς χρηστῶν οἱ δʼ ὡς φιλούντων καταφρονοῦσι· νυνὶ δʼ οὐ μόνον πρὸς γυναῖκα καὶ δούλους καὶ φίλους ὡς καταφρονούμενοι τραχέως ἔχομεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πανδοκεῦσι καὶ ναύταις καὶ ὀρεωκόμοις μεθύουσι πολλάκις ὑπʼ ὀργῆς συμπίπτομεν οἰόμενοι καταφρονεῖσθαι, καὶ κυσὶν ὑλακτοῦσι καὶ ὄνοις ἐμβάλλουσι χαλεπαίνομεν ὡς ἐκεῖνος ὁ βουλόμενος τύπτειν τὸν ὀνηλάτην, εἶτʼ ἀνακραγόντος ὅτι Ἀθηναῖός εἰμι, σὺ δὲ μὲν οὐκ εἶ Ἀθηναῖος τὸν ὄνον λέγων ἔτυπτε καὶ πολλὰς ἐνεφόρει πληγάς.

[¶2] 13. FUNDANUS. Furthermore it is especially selfishness and peevishness, together with luxury and softness, which beget in us those continuous or oft-recurring fits of anger that are gathered together in the soul little by little, like a swarm of bees or wasps. And so there is nothing more conducive to gentleness than graciousness and simplicity toward servants and wife and friends if a man is able to get along with what comforts he has and is in no need of many superfluities:
But he who liked his meat not overdone
Nor underdone, nor medium, nor boiled
Too much; and liked no food enough to praise
who will drink no wine if there is no snow with it, nor eat bread purchased in the market, nor touch food served on cheap or earthenware dishes, nor sleep upon a bed that does not billow like the sea stirred to its depths; he who with rods and blows makes his servants at table hasten about running and crying out and sweating as though they were bringing poultices for boils, such a man is enslaved to an impotent, querulous, and discontented mode of life. His many shocks of anger are like a chronic cough by which he reduces himself to a condition where anger becomes a running sore. We must, therefore, accustom the body to contentment by plain living and to self-sufficiency, for those who need but little are not disappointed of much. FUNDANUS. And, to begin with our food, it is no great hardship if we partake in silence of whatever is set before us and do not, by being repeatedly choleric and peevish, thrust upon ourselves and our friends the worst sauce for meat, anger. “No more unpleasant supper could there be ” than that wherein servants are beaten and wife is reviled because something is burned or smoked or not salted enough, or because the bread is too cold. FUNDANUS. Arcesilaüs was once entertaining his friends and with them some foreign guests, and when dinner was served, there was no bread, since the slaves had neglected to buy any. In such a predicament which one of us would not have rent the walls asunder with outcries? But Arcesilaus merely smiled and said, “How lucky it is that the wise man takes to the flowing bowl!” FUNDANUS. Once when Socrates took Euthydemus home with him from the palaestra, Xanthippe came up to them in a rage and scolded them roundly, finally upsetting the table. Euthydemus, deeply offended, got up and was about to leave when Socrates said, “At your house the other day did not a hen fly in and do precisely this same thing, yet we were not put out about it?” FUNDANUS. For we should receive our friends affably and with laughter and cheerful friendliness, not with frowning brows, or striking fear and trembling into our servants. We must, further, accustom ourselves to make cheerful use of any kind of table utensils and not to prefer this service to that, as some men do who select one goblet or horn out of the many they have, and will drink from no other, as they relate of Marius. Some have this same feeling about oil-flasks and strigils, of which they have a liking for but one out of many; and so when one of these preferred objects is broken or lost, they take it hard and punish severely. Therefore anyone who is prone to anger should abstain from rare and curiously wrought things, like drinking-cups and seal-rings and precious stones; for their loss drives their owner out of his senses more than do objects which are easily procured and may be seen everywhere. This is the reason why, when Nero had had an octagonal tent built, a huge structure which was a sight to be seen because of its beauty and costliness, Seneca remarked, “You have proved yourself a poor man, for if you ever lose this you will not have the means to procure another like it,” And indeed it did so happen that the ship which conveyed it was sunk and the tent lost. But Nero remembered Seneca’s saying and bore his loss with greater moderation. FUNDANUS. A cheerful behaviour toward the affairs of life makes a master cheerful and gentle toward his slaves also; and if to slaves, he will evidently be so to his friends as well as to those who are subject to his rule. And in fact we observe that ne wly purchased slaves inquire about their new master, not whether he is superstititious or envious, but whether he is ill-tempered; and, speaking generally, we see that if anger is present in a home, husbands cannot endure even their wives’ chastity, nor wives even their husbands’ love, nor friends even familiar intercourse with one another. Thus neither marriage nor friendship is tolerable if anger is there, but without anger even drunkenness is easily borne. For the wand of Dionysus suffices to punish the drunkard, unless hot temper is added and makes the undiluted drink cause of savagery and madness instead of a dispeller of care and an inspirer of the dance. Madness pure and simple can indeed be cured by Anticyra; but if madness is mingled with anger, it produces tragedies and tales of horror.

> Greek: 13. ΦΟΥΝΔ.>καὶ μὴν τάς γε συνεχεῖς καὶ πυκνὰς καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ συλλεγομένας ὀργὰς μάλιστα φιλαυτία καὶ δυσκολία μετὰ τρυφῆς, καὶ μαλακίας οἷον σμῆνος ἢ σφηκιὰν ἡμῖν ἐντίκτουσι. διὸ μεῖζον οὐδὲν εὐκολίας καὶ ἀφελείας ἐφόδιον εἰς πραότητα πρὸς οἰκέτας καὶ γυναῖκα καὶ φίλους τῷ δυναμένῳ συμφέρεσθαι τοῖς παροῦσι καὶ μὴ δεομένῳ πολλῶν καὶ περιττῶν
ὁ δʼ οὔτʼ ἄγαν ὀπτοῖσιν οὔθʼ ἑφθοῖς ἄγαν,
οὔθʼ ἧττον οὔτε μᾶλλον οὔτε διὰ μέσου
ἠρτυμένοισι χαίρων ὥστʼ ἐπαινέσαι
χιόνος δὲ μὴ παρούσης οὐκ ἂν πιὼν, οὐδʼ ἄρτον ἐξ ἀγορᾶς φαγὼν οὐδʼ ὄψου γευσάμενος ἐν λιτοῖς ἢ κεραμεοῖς σκεύεσιν, οὐδὲ κοιμηθεὶς ἐπὶ στρωμνῆς μὴ οἰδούσης μηδʼ ὥσπερ θαλάττης διὰ βάθους κεκινημένης, ῥάβδοις δὲ καὶ πληγαῖς τοὺς περὶ τράπεζαν ὑπηρέτας ἐπιταχύνων μετὰ δρόμου καὶ βοῆς καὶ ἱδρῶτος, ὥσπερ φλεγμοναῖς καταπλάσματα κομίζοντας, ἀσθενεῖ καὶ φιλαιτίῳ καὶ μεμψιμοίρῳ δουλεύων διαίτῃ, καθάπερ ὑπὸ βηχὸς ἐνδελεχοῦς προσκρουμάτων πολλῶν ἔλαθεν ἑλκώδη καὶ καταρροϊκὴν διάθεσιν περὶ τὸ θυμοειδὲς ἀπεργασάμενος. ἐθιστέον οὖν τὸ σῶμα διʼ εὐτελείας πρὸς εὐκολίαν αὔταρκες ἑαυτῷ γιγνόμενον· οἱ γὰρ ὀλίγων δεόμενοι πολλῶν οὐκ ἀποτυγχάνουσι. καὶ δεινὸν οὐδὲν ἀρξαμένους ἀπὸ τῆς τροφῆς σιωπῇ χρήσασθαι τοῖς παρατυγχάνουσι, καὶ μὴ πολλὰ χολουμένους καὶ δυσκολαίνοντας ἀτερπέστατον ὄψον ἐμβαλεῖν ἑαυτοῖς καὶ φίλοις τὴν ὀργήν· δόρπου δʼ οὐκ ἄν πως ἀχαρίστερον ἄλλο γένοιτο· διὰ πρόσκαυσιν ἢ καπνὸν ἢ ἁλῶν ἔνδειαν ἢ ψυχρότερον ἄρτον οἰκετῶν τυπτομένων καὶ λοιδορουμένης γυναικός. Ἀρκεσιλάου δὲ μετὰ ξένων τινῶν ἑστιῶντος· τοὺς φίλους παρετέθη τὸ δεῖπνον, ἄρτοι δʼ οὐκ ἦσαν ἀμελησάντων πρίασθαι τῶν παίδων. ἐφʼ ᾧ τίς οὐκ ἂν ἡμῶν διέστησε τοὺς τοίχους κεκραγώς; ὁ δὲ μειδιάσας οἷόν ἐστιν ἔφη τὸ συμποτικὸν εἶναι τὸν σοφόν τοῦ δὲ Σωκράτους ἐκ παλαίστρας παραλαβόντος. τὸν Εὐθύδημον, ἡ Ξανθίππη μετʼ ὀργῆς ἐπιστᾶσα καὶ λοιδορηθεῖσα τέλος ἀνέτρεψε τὴν τράπεζαν, ὁ δʼ Εὐθύδημος ἐξαναστὰς ἀπῄει περίλυπος γενόμενος· καὶ ὁ Σωκράτης παρὰ σοὶ δʼ εἶπεν οὐ πρῴην ὄρνις τις εἰσπτᾶσα ταὐτὸ τοῦτʼ ἐποίησεν, ἡμεῖς δʼ οὐκ ἠγανακτήσαμεν; δεῖ γὰρ σὺν εὐκολίᾳ καὶ γέλωτι καὶ φιλοφροσύνῃ τοὺς φίλους δέχεσθαι, μὴ τὰς ὀφρῦς συνάγοντας μηδὲ φρίκην καὶ τρόμον ἐμβάλλοντας τοῖς ὑπηρετοῦσιν. ἐθιστέον δὲ καὶ σκεύεσιν εὐκόλως ὁμιλεῖν ἅπασι καὶ μὴ τῷδε μᾶλλον ἢ τῷδε χρῆσθαι· καθάπερ ἔνιοι πολλῶν παρόντων ἓν ἐξελόμενοι κανθάριον, ὡς Μάριον ἱστοροῦσιν, ἢ ῥυτὸν οὐκ ἂν ἑτέρῳ πίοιεν. οὕτω δὲ καὶ πρὸς ληκύθους ἔχουσιν καὶ πρὸς στλεγγίδας, ἀγαπῶντες ἐκ πασῶν μίαν· εἶθʼ ὅταν συντριβῇ τι τούτων ἢ ἀπόληται, βαρέως φέρουσι καὶ κολάζουσι. ἀφεκτέον οὖν τῷ πρὸς ὀργὴν φαύλως ἔχοντι τῶν σπανίων καὶ περιττῶν, οἷον ἐκπωμάτων καὶ σφραγίδων καὶ λίθων πολυτελῶν· ἐξίστησι γὰρ ἀπολλύμενα μᾶλλον τῶν εὐπορίστων καὶ συνήθων. διὸ καὶ τοῦ Νέρωνος ὀκτάγωνόν τινα σκηνὴν ὑπερφυὲς κάλλει καὶ πολυτελείᾳ θέαμα κατασκευάσαντος, ἤλεγξας ἔφη ὁ Σενέκας πένητα σεαυτόν· ἐὰν γὰρ ταύτην ἀπολέσῃς, ἑτέραν οὐ κτήσῃ τοιαύτην καὶ μέντοι καὶ συνέπεσε τοῦ πλοίου καταδύντος ἀπολέσθαι τὴν σκηνήν· ὁ δὲ Νέρων ἀναμνησθεὶς τοῦ Σενέκα μετριώτερον ἤνεγκεν., ἡ δὲ πρὸς; τὰ πράγματʼ εὐκολία καὶ πρὸς οἰκέτας εὔκολον ποιεῖ καὶ πρᾶον· εἰ δὲ πρὸς οἰκέτας, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ πρὸς φίλους καὶ πρὸς ἀρχομένους. ὁρῶμεν δὲ καὶ δούλους νεωνήτους περὶ τοῦ πριαμένου πυνθανομένους, οὐκ εἰ δεισιδαίμων οὐδʼ εἰ φθονερὸς ἀλλʼ εἰ θυμώδης καὶ ὅλως σὺν ὀργῇ μηδὲ σωφροσύνην ἄνδρας γυναικῶν μηδʼ ἔρωτα γυναῖκας ἀνδρῶν ὑπομένειν δυναμένας μηδὲ συνήθειαν ἀλλήλων φίλους. οὕτως οὔτε γάμος οὔτε φιλία μετʼ ὀργῆς ἀνεκτόν, ἀλλὰ χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ μέθη κοῦφόν ἐστιν· ὁ γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ νάρθηξ ἱκανὸς κολαστὴς τοῦ μεθύοντος, ἂν μὴ προσγενόμενος ὁ θυμὸς ὠμηστὴν καὶ μαινόλην ἀντὶ λυαίου καὶ χορείου ποιήσῃ τὸν ἄκρατον. καὶ τὴν μανίαν αὐτὴν καθʼ αὑτὴν ἡ Ἀντίκυρα θεραπεύει, μιχθεῖσα δʼ ὀργῇ τραγῳδίας ποιεῖ καὶ μύθους.

[¶3] 14. FUNDANUS. Surely we should allow no place to anger even in jest, for that brings enmity in where friendliness was; nor in learned discussions, for that turns love of learning into strife; nor when rendering judgement, for that adds insolence to authority; nor in teaching, for that engenders discouragement and hatred of learning; nor in prosperity, for that increases envy; nor in adversity, for that drives away compassion when men become irritable and quarrel with those who sympathize with them, as Priam did:
Be gone, you wretched, shameful men! Have you
No cause for grief at home that you have come
To trouble me?
But a cheerful disposition in some circumstances is helpful, others it adorns, and still others it helps to sweeten; by its gentleness it overcomes both anger and all moroseness. Thus Eucleides, when his brother said to him after a quarrel, “Damned if I don’t get even with you!” answered, “But as for me, may I be damned if I don’t convince you!” and so at once turned him from his purpose and won him over. And Polemon, when a man who was fond of precious stones and quite mad about expensive seal-rings reviled him, made no answer, but fixed his gaze on one of the seal-rings and eyed it closely. The man, accordingly, was pleased and said to him, “Do not look at it in this light, Polemon, but under the sun’s rays, and it will appear to you far more beautiful.” Aristippus, again, when anger had arisen between him and Aeschines and someone said, “Where now, Aristippus, is the friendship of you two?” replied, “It is asleep, but I shall awaken it”; and, going to Aeschines, he said, “Do I appear to you so utterly unfortunate and incurable as not to receive correction from you?” And Aeschines replied, “No wonder if you, who are naturally superior to me in all things, should in this matter also have discerned before I did the right thing to do.”
For not a woman only, even a child,
Tickling the bristly boar with tender hand,
May throw him easier than a wrestler might.
But we who tame wild beasts and make them gentle and carry about in our arms young wolves and lions’ cubs, then under the impulse of rage cast off children, friends, and companions and let loose our wrath, like some wild beast, on servants and fellow-citizens - we, I say, do not well to use a cozening word for our anger by calling it “righteous indignation,” but it is with anger, I believe, as with the other passions and diseases of the soul: we can rid ourselves of none of them by calling one “foresight,” another “liberality,” another “piety.”

> Greek: 14. ΦΟΥΝΔ.δεῖ δὲ μήτε παίζοντας αὐτῇ διδόναι τόπον, ἔχθραν γὰρ ἐπάγει τῇ φιλοφροσύνῃ· μήτε κοινολογουμένους, φιλονεικίαν γὰρ ἐκ φιλολογίας ἀπεργάζεται· μήτε δικάζοντας, ὕβριν γὰρ τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ προστίθησι· μήτε παιδεύοντας, ἀθυμίαν γὰρ ἐμποιεῖ καὶ μισολογίαν μήτʼ εὐτυχοῦντας, αὔξει γὰρ τὸν φθόνον· μήτε δυστυχοῦντας, ἀφαιρεῖ γὰρ τὸν ἔλεον, ὅταν δυσκολαίνωσι καὶ μάχωνται τοῖς συναχθομένοις· ὡς ὁ Πρίαμος
ἔρρετε, λωβητῆρες, ἐλεγχέες· οὔ νυ καὶ ὑμῖν
ἔστι γόος, ὅτι μʼ ἤλθετε κηδήσοντες;
ἡ δʼ εὐκολία τοῖς μὲν βοηθεῖ τὰ δʼ ἐπικοσμεῖ τὰ δὲ συνηδύνει, περιγίγνεται δὲ τῇ πραότητι καὶ θυμοῦ καὶ δυσκολίας ἁπάσης· ὥσπερ Εὐκλείδης, τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐκ διαφορᾶς εἰπόντος ἀπολοίμην, εἰ μή σε τιμωρησαίμην· ἐγὼ δέ φήσας ἀπολοίμην, εἰ μή σε πείσαιμι διέτρεψε παραχρῆμα καὶ μετέθηκε. πολέμων δέ, λοιδοροῦντος αὐτὸν ἀνθρώπου φιλολίθου καὶ περὶ σφραγίδια πολυτελῆ νοσοῦντος, ἀπεκρίνατο μὲν οὐδὲν τῶν σφραγιδίων δʼ ἑνὶ προσεῖχε τὸν νοῦν καὶ κατεμάνθανεν· ἡσθεὶς οὖν ὁ ἄνθρωπος μὴ οὕτως εἶπεν ὦ Πολέμων, ἀλλʼ ὑπʼ αὐγὰς θεῶ, καὶ πολύ σοι βέλτιον φανεῖται ὁ δʼ Ἀρίστιππος, ὀργῆς αὐτῷ πρὸς Αἰσχίνην γενομένης καί τινος εἰπόντος ὦ Ἀρίστιππε, ποῦ ὑμῶν ἡ φιλία; καθεύδει φησὶν ἐγὼ δʼ αὐτὴν ἐγερῶ· καὶ τῷ Αἰσχίνῃ προσελθὼν εἶπεν οὕτω σοι δοκῶ παντάπασιν ἀτυχής τις εἶναι καὶ ἀνήκεστος, ὥστε μὴ νουθεσίας τυχεῖν; ὁ δʼ Αἰσχίνης οὐδέν ἔφη θαυμαστόν, εἰ πρὸς πάντα μου τῇ φύσει διαφέρων κἀνταῦθα τὸ δέον πρότερος συνεῖδες.
καὶ γὰρ κάπρον φριξαύχενʼ οὐ μόνον γυνή,
παῖς δʼ ἂν νεογνὸς χειρὶ προσκνήθων νέᾳ
κλίναι παλαιστοῦ παντὸς εὐμαρέστερον.
ἀλλʼ ἡμεῖς ἀγριαίνοντα τιθασεύομεν ζῷα καὶ πραΰνομεν, λυκιδεῖς καὶ σκύμνους λεόντων ἐν ταῖς ἀγκάλαις περιφέροντες, εἶτα τέκνα καὶ φίλους καὶ συνήθεις ἐκβάλλομεν ὑπʼ ὀργῆς· οἰκέταις δὲ καὶ πολίταις τὸν θυμὸν ὥσπερ θηρίον ἐφίεμεν οὐ καλῶς ὑποκοριζόμενοι μισοπονηρίαν, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ, οἶμαι, τῶν ἄλλων παθῶν τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ νοσημάτων τὸ μὲν πρόνοιαν τὸ δʼ ἐλευθεριότητα τὸ δʼ εὐσέβειαν καλοῦντες οὐδενὸς ἀπαλλαγῆναι δυνάμεθα.

[¶4] 15. FUNDANUS. And yet, as Zeno used to say that the seed was a mixture and compound drawn from all the faculties of the soul, so temper appears to be a mixture of seeds drawn from all the passions. For it is drawn from pain and pleasure, and from insolence; and although it has envy’s malicious joy in the ills of others, it is even worse than envy; for the object of its striving is, not that it may itself avoid suffering evil, but that at the cost of suffering evil, it may utterly ruin its antagonist; and the most unlovely kind of desire is innate in it, inasmuch as it is a craving to pain someone else. And that is why, when we approach the houses of profligates, we hear a flute-girl still playing in the early morning, and we see “muddy dregs of wine,” as someone has said, “and mangled fragments of garlands,” and tipsy servants reeling at the doors; but the tokens of savage and irascible men you will see on the faces of their servants and in the marks branded upon them and their fetters. “The only music heard within the house” of an angry man “Is wailing cries,” as the stewards are being lashed within and the serving-maids being tortured, so that those who witness the anguish caused by anger in gratifying its desires and ministering to its pleasures must feel pity.

> Greek: 15. ΦΟΥΝΔ.καίτοι, καθάπερ ὁ Ζήνων ἔλεγε τὸ σπέρμα σύμμιγμα καὶ κέρασμα τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεων ὑπάρχειν ἀπεσπασμένον, οὕτως ἔοικε τῶν παθῶν πανσπερμία τις ὁ θυμὸς εἶναι· καὶ γὰρ λύπης ἀπέσπασται καὶ ἡδονῆς καὶ ὕβρεως· καὶ φθόνου μὲν ἔχει τὴν ἐπιχαιρεκακίαν, φθόνου δὲ καὶ χείρων ἐστίν· ἀγωνίζεται γὰρ οὐχὶ μὴ παθεῖν αὐτὸς ἀλλὰ παθεῖν κακῶς ἐπιτρίψας ἕτερον· ἐπιθυμίας δʼ αὐτῷ τὸ ἀτερπέστατον ἐμπέφυκεν, εἴ γε δὴ τοῦ λυπεῖν ἕτερον ὄρεξίς ἐστι. διὸ τῶν μὲν ἀσώτων ταῖς οἰκίαις προσιόντες αὐλητρίδος ἀκούομεν ἑωθινῆς, καὶ πηλόν ὣς τις εἶπεν οἴνου καὶ σπαράγματα στεφάνων καὶ κραιπαλῶντας ὁρῶμεν ἐπὶ θύραις ἀκολούθους· τὰ δὲ τῶν πικρῶν ἐκκαλύμματα καὶ δυσκόλων ἐν τοῖς προσώποις τῶν οἰκετῶν ὄψει καὶ τοῖς στίγμασι καὶ ταῖς πέδαις· ἀεὶ δʼ ἀοιδῶν μοῦνος ἐν στέγαις ὀργίλου ἀνδρός κωκυτὸς ἐμπέπτωκε, μαστιγουμένων ἔνδον οἰκονόμων καὶ στρεβλουμένων θεραπαινίδων, ὥστε τοῦ θυμοῦ τὰς λύπας ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις καὶ ταῖς ἡδοναῖς οἰκτίρειν ὁρῶντας.

[¶5] 16. FUNDANUS. However, those of whom it is true that righteous indignation causes them frequently to be overwhelmed by anger should get rid of its excessive and violent form, together with their extreme confidence in those with whom they live. For such confidence more than any other cause increases the spirit of wrath, when, for example, one who has been accounted honourable proves to be base, or one whom we have supposed a true friend quarrels and finds fault with us. As for my own temperament, you doubtless know how strong are the impulses which incline it to be of goodwill toward my fellowmen and to trust them. Consequently, like men who attempt to walk on empty air, the more I give myself up to loving a person the more I go astray, and when I stumble and fall, the greater my distress; and although I may no longer be able to reduce my too great propensity and eagerness to love, yet I may perhaps be able to use Plato’s caution as a curb against excessive trust. For Plato says that he praises Helicon the mathematician in such terms as he uses because man is by nature an animal readily subject to change; and that he does well to fear those who have been educated in the city lest, being men and the seeds of men, they may reveal somewhere the weakness inherent in their nature. But when Sophocles says “Search out most human traits; you’ll find them base,” he seems to go too far in trampling upon and belittling us. This peevish and censorious judgement does, however, tend to make us more considerate in our outbursts of temper; for it is the sudden and the unexpected that throw men off their bearings. But we should, as Panaetius also has somewhere remarked, make use of the precept of Anaxagoras, and just as he, at the death of his son, said, “I knew that I had begotten a mortal”; so on each occasion we should remark with reference to the faults which exasperate us: “I knew that I had not bought a philosopher for a slave,” “I knew that the friend I had made was not incapable of error,” “I knew that my wife was a woman.” And if we keep repeating to ourselves Plato’s question, “Can it be that I am like that?” and turn our reason inward instead of to external things, and substitute caution for censoriousness, we shall no longer make much use of “righteous indignation” toward others when we observe that we ourselves stand in need of much indulgence. But as it is, everyone of us, when we are angry and inflicting punishment, brings out the injunctions of an Aristeides or a Cato: “Do not steal!” “Do not lie!” “Why are you so lazy?”; and - what is most disgraceful of all - while angry we chide others for being angry and punish by rage faults which have been committed in a rage, not like physicians, who “With bitter drugs can purge the bitter bile;” but rather make more intense the malady and aggravate it. FUNDANUS. Whenever, therefore, I have become engaged in these reflections, at the same time I try to do away with some part of my inquisitiveness. For to search I out with great precision and detect and drag into the light every little concern of a slave, every action of a friend, every pastime of a son, every whisper of a wife, produces frequent, or rather continual and daily, fits of anger, of which the sum total is a morose and intractable disposition. It may be, as Euripides says, that God
Will intervene in matters grown too great,
But small things he lets pass and leaves to Fate;
but I am of the opinion that a man of sense should commit nothing to Fate, nor overlook anything at all, but should trust and use for some things his wife, for others servants, for others friends, as a ruler makes use of overseers and accountants and administrators, but himself keeps under his own control the most important and weighty matters by the use of reason. For as small writing strains the eyes, so do trifling matters, by causing a greater strain, prick and stir up anger, which becomes a bad habit that affects more important matters. FUNDANUS. Accordingly, in addition to all these considerations, I have been wont to regard as great and divine that saying of Empedocles, “Fast from evil,” and to applaud also those other vows made in prayer as being neither ungracious nor inappropriate to a philosopher: to abstain from love and wine for a year, honouring God by continence; or again to refrain from lying for a stated time, paying close heed to ourselves that we shall be truthful always whether In jest or earnest. Then with these I compared my own vow, thinking it no less sacred and pleasant in the sight of God: first, to pass a few days without anger, sober and wineless days, as it were, as though I were offering a sacrifice of honey unmixed with wine; then I would do so for a month or two, and so, making trial of myself little by little, in time I made some progress in my forbearance, continently observing and keeping myself courteous in speech, placid, and free from anger, and pure of the taint of evil words and offensive actions and of passion which, at the price of a little unsatisfying pleasure, brings great perturbations of spirit and the most shameful repentance. By such means, I think - and God also gave me help - experience has shown the truth of that judgement: this placid and gentle and humane spirit is not so agreeable and pleasant and free from sorrow to any of those brought in contact with it as it is to those who themselves possess it.

> Greek: 16. ΦΟΥΝΔ.οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ὅσοις γε συμβαίνει διὰ μισοπονηρίαν ἀληθῶς ἁλίσκεσθαι πολλάκις ὑπʼ ὀργῆς, τὸ ἄγαν ἀφαιρετέον αὐτῆς καὶ τὸ ἄκρατον ἅμα τῇ σφοδρᾷ πίστει περὶ τῶν συνόντων. αὕτη γὰρ αὔξει μάλιστα τῶν αἰτιῶν τὸν θυμόν, ὅταν ἢ χρηστὸς ὑποληφθεὶς ἀναφανῇ μοχθηρὸς ἢ φιλεῖν δόξας ἐν διαφορᾷ τινι καὶ μέμψει γένηται. τὸ δʼ ἐμὸν ἦθος οἶσθα δήπουθεν ἡλίκαις ῥοπαῖς φέρεται πρὸς εὔνοιαν ἀνθρώπων καὶ πίστιν· ὥσπερ οὖν οἱ κατὰ κενοῦ βαίνοντες, ὅσῳ μᾶλλον ἐπερείδω τῷ φιλεῖν ἐμαυτόν, ἁμαρτάνω μᾶλλον καὶ σφαλλόμενος ἀνιῶμαι· καὶ τοῦ μὲν φιλεῖν ἀπαρύσαι τὸ ἐμπαθὲς ἄγαν καὶ πρόθυμον οὐκ ἂν ἔτι δυνηθείην τοῦ δὲ πιστεύειν σφόδρα χρησαίμην ἂν ἴσως χαλινῷ τῇ Πλάτωνος; εὐλαβείᾳ. καὶ γὰρ Ἑλίκωνα τὸν μαθηματικὸν οὕτως ἐπαινεῖν φησιν, ὡς φύσει εὐμετάβολον ζῷον, καὶ τοὺς τεθραμμένους ἐν τῇ πόλει· καλῶς δεδιέναι, μὴ ἄνθρωποι καὶ σπέρματα ἀνθρώπων ὄντες ἐκφήνωσί που τῆς φύσεως τὴν ἀσθένειαν. ὁ δὲ Σοφοκλῆς λέγων ὅτι τὰ πλεῖστα φωρῶν αἰσχρὰ φωράσεις βροτῶν ἄγαν ἔοικεν ἡμῖν ἐπεμβαίνειν καὶ κολούειν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τὸ δύσκολον τοῦτο τῆς κρίσεως καὶ φιλαίτιον εὐκολωτέρους ποιεῖ ταῖς ὀργαῖς ἐκστατικὸν γάρ ἐστι τὸ ἄφνω καὶ ἀπροσδόκητον δεῖ δʼ, ὥς που καὶ Παναίτιος ἔφη, χρῆσθαι τῷ Ἀναξαγόρᾳ, καὶ καθάπερ ἐκεῖνος ἐπὶ τῇ τελευτῇ τοῦ παιδὸς εἶπεν ᾔδειν ὅτι θνητὸν ἐγέννησα τοῦτο τοῖς παροξύνουσιν ἕκαστον ἐπιφωνεῖν ἁμαρτήμασιν ᾔδειν ὅτι σοφὸν οὐκ ἐπριάμην δοῦλον ᾔδειν ὅτι ἀπαθῆ τὸν φίλον οὐκ ἐκτησάμην ᾔδειν ὅτι τὴν γυναῖκα γυναῖκʼ εἶχον. ἂν δὲ κἀκεῖνό τις ἐπιφθεγγόμενος ἀεὶ τὸ τοῦ Πλάτωνος μήπου ἄρʼ ἐγὼ τοιοῦτος; ἔξωθεν εἴσω τὸν λογισμὸν ἀναστρέφῃ καὶ παρεμβάλλῃ ταῖς μέμψεσι τὴν εὐλάβειαν, οὐ πολλῇ χρήσεται μισοπονηρίᾳ πρὸς ἑτέρους πολλῆς ὁρῶν ἑαυτὸν συγγνώμης δεόμενον. νῦν δʼ ἕκαστος ἡμῶν ὀργιζόμενος καὶ κολάζων Ἀριστείδου φωνὰς ἐπιφέρει καὶ Κάτωνος μὴ κλέπτε μὴ ψεύδου διὰ τί ῥᾳθυμεῖς; καὶ ὃ δὴ πάντων αἴσχιστόν ἐστιν, ὀργιζομένοις ἐπιτιμῶμεν μετʼ ὀργῆς καὶ τὰ διὰ θυμὸν ἡμαρτημένα θυμῷ κολάζομεν, οὐχ ὥσπερ οἱ ἰατροί πικρῷ πικρὰν κλύζουσι φαρμάκῳ χολήν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἐπιτείνοντες καὶ προσεκταράττοντες ὅταν οὖν ἐν τούτοις γένωμαι τοῖς ἐπιλογισμοῖς, ἅμα τι πειρῶμαι καὶ τοῦ πολυπράγμονος ἀφαιρεῖν. τὸ γὰρ ἐξακριβοῦν ἅπαντα καὶ φωρᾶν καὶ πᾶσαν ἕλκειν εἰς μέσον ἀσχολίαν οἰκέτου καὶ πρᾶξιν φίλου καὶ διατριβὴν υἱοῦ καὶ ψιθυρισμὸν γυναικός, ὀργὰς φέρει πολλὰς καὶ συνεχεῖς καὶ καθημερινάς, ὧν δυσκολία τρόπου καὶ χαλεπότης τὸ κεφάλαιόν ἐστι. ὁ μὲν οὖν θεός, ὡς Εὐριπίδης φησί,
τῶν ἄγαν ἅπτεται,
τὰ μικρὰ δʼ εἰς τύχην ἀφεὶς ἐᾷ
ἐγὼ δὲ τῇ τύχῃ μὲν οὐδὲν οἶμαι δεῖν ἐπιτρέπειν οὐδὲ παρορᾶν τὸν νοῦν ἔχοντα, πιστεύειν δὲ καὶ χρῆσθαι τὰ μὲν γυναικὶ· τὰ δʼ οἰκέταις τὰ δὲ φίλοις οἷον ἄρχοντʼ, ἐπιτρόποις τισὶ καὶ λογισταῖς καὶ διοικηταῖς, αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῶν κυριωτάτων ὄντα τῷ λογισμῷ· καὶ μεγίστων. ὡς γὰρ τὰ λεπτὰ γράμματα τὴν ὄψιν, οὕτω τὰ μικρὰ πράγματα μᾶλλον ἐντείνοντα νύττει καὶ ταράττει τὴν ὀργήν, ἔθος πονηρὸν ἐπὶ τὰ μείζονα λαμβάνουσαν. ἐπὶ πᾶσι τοίνυν τὸ μὲν τοῦ Ἐμπεδοκλέους μέγα καὶ θεῖον ἡγούμην, τὸ νηστεῦσαι κακότητος· ἐπῄνουν δὲ κἀκείνας ὡς οὐκ ἀχαρίστους οὐδʼ ἀφιλοσόφους τὰς ἐν εὐχαῖς ὁμολογίας, ὁμιλίας ἀφροδισίων ἐνιαυτὸν ἁγνεῦσαι καὶ οἴνου, τιμῶντας ἐγκρατείᾳ τὸν θεόν· ἢ ψευδολογίας πάλιν ἀπέχεσθαι χρόνον ὡρισμένον, αὑτοῖς προσέχοντας πῶς ἀληθεύσομεν ἔν τε παιδιᾷ καὶ μετὰ σπουδῆς ἁπάσης. εἶτα ταύταις τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ παρέβαλλον εὐχὴν ὡς οὐχ ἧττον θεοφιλῆ καὶ ἱεράν· ἡμέρας πρῶτον ὀλίγας ἀοργήτους ἔγνων οἷον ἀμεθύστους καὶ ἀοίνους διαγαγεῖν ὥσπερ νηφάλια καὶ μελίσπονδα θύων· εἶτα μῆνʼ ἕνα καὶ δύο πειρώμενος ἐμαυτοῦ κατὰ μικρόν, οὕτω τῷ χρόνῳ προύβαινον εἰς τὸ πρόσθεν τῆς ἀνεξικακίας, ἐγκρατῶς προσέχων καὶ διαφυλάττων μετʼ εὐφημίας ἵλεων καὶ ἀμήνιτον ἐμαυτόν, ἁγνεύοντα καὶ λόγων πονηρῶν καὶ πράξεων ἀτόπων καὶ πάθους ἐφʼ ἡδονῇ μικρᾷ καὶ ἀχαρίστῳ ταραχάς τε μεγάλας καὶ μεταμέλειαν αἰσχίστην φέροντος. ὅθεν, οἶμαι, καὶ θεοῦ τι συλλαμβάνοντος, ἐσαφήνιζεν ἡ πεῖρα τὴν κρίσιν ἐκείνην, ὅτι τὸ ἵλεων τοῦτο καὶ πρᾶον καὶ φιλάνθρωπον οὐδενὶ τῶν συνόντων εὐμενές ἐστιν οὕτω καὶ φίλον καὶ ἄλυπον ὡς αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἔχουσιν.