---
title: "On the Control of Anger · De cohibenda ira"
author: "Plutarch"
translator: "William Clark Helmbold"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Philosophy"
section: 1 of 2
url: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-control-of-anger/1/
cite: "Plutarch, tr. William Clark Helmbold, On the Control of Anger · De cohibenda ira, section 1. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-control-of-anger/1/"
---

# 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.

## 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.