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

ON ANGER, III. XII. 2-6hope of reward, whether he was pleasing himself orlending aid to another. The age of the offendercounts for something, his station for something, sothat to tolerate or to submit becomes merely indulgenceor deference. Let_us put ourselves in theplace of the man with whom we^re~angrT ; as it is,an~ unwarranted opinion of self makes us prone toanger, and we are unwilling to bear what we ourselveswould have been willing to inflict. No one makeshimself wait : yet the best cure for anger is waiting,to allow the first ardour to abate and to let the darknessthat clouds the reason either subside or be lessdense. Of the offences which were dri\ing you headlong,some an hour will abate, to say nothing of aday, some will vanish altogether ; though the postponementsought shall accomphsh nothing else, yetit will be e\ident that judgement now rules instead ofanger. If ever you want to find out what a thingreally^ is, entrust it to time ;you can see nothingclearly in the midst of the billows. Plato once,when he was angry with his slave, was unable toimpose delay upon himself, and, bent upon flogginghim with his own hand, ordered him forthwith totake off his shirt and bare his shoulders for the blows ;but afterwards reahzing that he was angr}^ he stayedhis uphfted hand, and just as he was stood with hishand in the air hke one in the act of striking. Later,when a friend who happened to come in asked himwhat he was doing, he said, " I am exacting punishmentfrom an angrj- man." As if sturmed he maintainedthat attitude, unbecoming to a philosopher,of a man in the act of venting his passion, forgetfulnow of the slave since he had found another whomhe was more anxious to punish. He therefore denied285