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

not\ON ANGER, II. 11. 3-m. 1and from reading of happenings of long ago. _Hqwoften we seem to grow angry with Clodius for banishingCicero^ with Antony for kilhng him ! Who is notaroused against the arms which Marius took up,against the proscription which Sulla used ? WTio isnot incensed against Theodotus and Achillas, and thechild himself " who dared an unchildish crime ? Singingsometimes stirs us, and quickened rhythm, andthe well-known blare of the War-god's trumpets ;our minds are perturbed by a shocking picture andby the melancholy sight of punishment even when itis entirely just ; in the same way we smile whenothers smile, we are saddened by a throng ofmourners, and are thrown into a ferment by thestruggles of others. Such_sensations, however, areno more anger than that is sorrow which furrows thebrow at-Si^ght of a mimic shipwTCck, no more angerthan that is fear which thrills our minds when weread how Hannibal after Cannae beset the walls ofRome^ but_they are all emotions of a mind thatwottkL prefer -^ to be so affected ; they are noljpassions,but the beginnings that are prehminaryito passions. So, too, the warrior in the midst ofpeace, wearing now his ci\"ihan dress, will prick uphis ears at the blast of a trumpet, and army horsesare made restive by the clatter of arms. It is saidthat Alexander, when Xenophantus * played theflute, reached for his weapons.None of these things which move the mind throughthe agency of chance should be called passions ; themind suffers them, so to speak, rather than causesthem. Passion, consequently, does not consist inbeing moved by the impressions that are presentedto the mind, but in surrendering to these and follow-^'171