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

ON ANGER, II. XXV. 4-xx\'i. 5the snow ° ? Nothing, therefore, is more conduciveto anger than the intemperance and intolerance thatcomes from soft Hving ; the mind ought to be schooledby hardship to feel none but a crushing blow.Our anger is stirred either by those from whomw^^could notTiave received any injur)' at all, or bythose from whom we might have received one. Tothe fbrmer class belong certain inanimate things,such as the manuscript which we often hurl from usbecause it is WTitten in too small a script or tear upbecause it is full of mistakes, or the articles of clothingwhich we pull to pieces because we do not likethem. But how foolish it is to get angr)- at thesethinga^vvhich neither desen'e our \\Tath nor feel it !" But of course," you say, " it is those who madethem^who have given us the affront." But, in thefirst place, we often get angry before we make thisdistinction clear to our minds ; in the second place,perhaps also the makers themselves -s^ill have reasonableexcuses to offer : this one could not do betterwork than he did, and it was not out of disrespect foryou that he was poor at his trade ; another did notaim to affront you by what he did. In the end whatcan be madder than to accumulate spleen against menand then vent it upon things ? But as it is the act of amadman to become angr}- aFThmgs 'without life, it isnot less mad to be a.ngry at dumb animals, which dous no~iiijury because they cannot ^\^ll to do so ; forthere~can be no injury unless it arises from design.Therefore they can harm us just as the sword or astone may do, but they cannot injure us. But somepeople think that a man is insulted when the samehorses which are submissive to one rider are rebelhoustoward another, just as if it were due to the animal's221