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

—ON ANGER, III. XXXVII. 5-xxxix. 3enemy. But when you are a candidate, you are^\•illing to put up calmly—with the votes !Some one, perhaps, has offered you an insult ; wasit any greater than the one Diogenes, the Stoicphilosopher, suffered, who at the very time he was|discoursing upon anger was spat upon by a shamelessyouth ? Yet he bore this calmly and wisely." Really, I am not angrj," he said, " but neverthelessI am not sure but that I ought to be angry." Yethow much better the course of our own Cato ! Forwhen he was pleading a case, Lentulus, that factiousand unruly man who lingers in the memorj' of ourfathers, gathering as much thick sahva as he could,spat it full upon the middle of Cato's forehead. Buthe wiped it off his face and said, " To all who affirmthat you have no cheek," Lentulus, I'll swear thatthey are mistaken."We_haY£-now succeeded, Novatus, in bringing composureto the mind ; it either does not feel anger,or is siiperior to it. Let us now see how we mayallay the anger of others. For we wish not merelyto be-healed ourselves, but also to heal.We shall not venture to soothe the first burst ofanger with words. It is both deaf and mad ; wemust give it room. Remedies are effective whenthe malady subsides. We do not tamper with theeyes when they are swollen—for in their stiff conditionwe are hkely to irritate them by mo'ving themnor with other affected parts while they are inflamed.Rest is the cure in the first stages of illness. " Howhttle," you say, " is yom- remedy worth, if it quietsanger when it is subsiding of its own accord "! Inthe first place, it makes it subside all the morequickly ; in the second, it prevents its recurrence ;345