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

ON ANGER, II. XI. 2-5terrible, they are not for that reason preferable, andI woulcT not Tiave it said to the wise man: "Thewild bea'-t and the v. ise man have the same weapon ;they are feared." What ? Is not a fever feared,the gout, a malignant sore ? And do they for thatreason have any good in them ? Or are they, onthe contrary, all despised and loathsome and ugly,and for this and no other reason are feared ? Soanger is in itself onlj^ repulsive and is by no meansto be Hreaded, yet most people fear it just as childrenf&ar a" repulsive maslu-—Andr-wha^of the fact thatfear ahtays recoils upon those who inspire it andthat no one whois feared is himself unafraid ? Youmay recall m this connexion the famous line ofLaberius :Full many he must fear whom many fear,"which when delivered in the theatre '' in the heightof civil war caught the ear of the whole people as ifutterance had been given to the people's voice.Nature has so ordained it that wliatever is misrlitvthrough the fearthat otheTsTeel is not without itsown. Htow even" the Tioh^s heart quakes at theshghtest sound ! The boldest of wild beasts isstartled by a shadow or a voice or an unfamiliarsmell. Whatever terrifies must also tremble. Thereis no reasmi, then, why any wise man should desireto be leaFed, nor should he think that anger is anaighty^thing' simply because it arouses dread, sinceyen the most contemptible things, such as poisonous>rews " and iioxi ous bones and