Moral essays. With an English translation by J.W. Basore

ON ANGER, I. xvii. 5-x\iii. 2cruelty aiicLiuiheiud-of forms of torture, yet whenthe time is ripe for punishment it has already becomecrippled and weak. Passion quickly falls, reason isbalanced. But even if anger persists, it ^\"ill oftenhappeii that having taken the blood of two or threevictims it ^^•ill cease to slay, although there are morewho deserve to die. Its first blows are fierce ; soserpents when they first crawl from their lair arecharged with venom, but their fangs are harmlessafter they have been drained by repeated biting.Consequently, not all who have sinned ahke arepunished alike, and often he who has committed thesmaller sin receives the greater punishment, becausehe was subjected to anger when it was fresh. Andanger is altogether ujibalanced ; it now rushesfarther than itsEould, now halts sooner than it ought.For it~m3utges its own impulses, is capricious injudgement, refuses to listen to e\'idence, grants noopportunity for defence, maintains whatever positionit has seized, and is never AWlling to surrender itsjudgement even if it is wTong. p^Keason^rants a hearing to both sides, then seeksto postpone action, even ifs o^\^\, in order that it maygain time to sift out the truth ; but anger is precipitate.Reason -wishes the decision that it givesto be just ; anger wishes to have the decision whichit has given seem the just decision. Reason considersnothing except the question at issue ; anger is movedby trifling things that lie outside the case. An overconfidentdemeanour, a voice too loud, boldness ofspeech, foppishness in dress, a pretentious show ofpatronage, popularity ^\ith the pubhc—these inflameanger. Many times it \*ill condemn the accusedbecause it hates his lawyer ; even if the truth is153