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

ON ANGER, III. xLi. 2-xlii. 3say, " admires spirited action, and the bold are heldin horibur while quiet people are considered ineffective."Perhaps so, at first sight. But whenthese have proved by the even tenor of their hvesthat they seek, not inaction, but peace of mind, thatsame pubhc "will reverence and respect them. Conseq^uentlsLJliis Jiideous and ruinous passion serv'esnot a single useful end, but, on the contrary, evil ofevery sort, the sword, and flame. Tramphng underfoot every scruple, it stains the hands with murder, itscatters abroad the limbs of children, it suffers noplace fo be free from crime, \\'ith no thought ofglorj', with no fear of disgrace, it is incurable whenonce, from anger, it has hardened into hate.Let us be freed from this evil, let us clear it fromour minds and tear it up by the roots, for if thereshould Unger the smallest traces, it Mill grow again ;and let us not tr}^ to regulate our anger, but be ridof it altogether—ior what regulation can there beoflmye\il thing ? Moreover, we can do it, if onlywe^^all make the effort. And nothing \nl\ helpus so much as pondering our mortality. Let each/man say to himself and to his fellow-mortal ": Why^do we,_as if born to live for ever, take dehght in proclaimingour wTath and in wasting the little span oflife ? \\ hy do we delight to employ for somebody'sdistress and torture the days that we might devote to Ivirtuous pleasure ? Your fortunes admit no squander-~ring, and you have no spare time to waste. Whydo we rush into the fray ? Why do we in\ite troublefor ourselves ? WTiy do we, forgetting our weakness,take up the huge burden of hate, and, easily brokenas we are, rise up to break ? Soon a fever or someother bodily ill will stay that war of hatred, which351