§10ΦΟΥΝΔ.ὥσπερ οὖν ἐπὶ τοῦ Φιλίππου τις εἶπε κατασκάψαντος Ὄλυνθον,
ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἂν ἀνοικίσαι γε πόλιν ἐκεῖνος δύναιτο τηλικαύτην
οὕτως ἔστιν εἰπεῖν πρὸς τὸν θυμὸν
ἀνατρέψαι μὲν δύνασαι καὶ διαφθεῖραι καὶ καταβαλεῖν, ἀναστῆσαι δὲ καὶ σῶσαι καὶ φείσασθαι καὶ καρτερῆσαι πραότητός ἐστι καὶ συγγνώμης καὶ μετριοπαθείας, καὶ Καμίλλου καὶ Μετέλλου καὶ Ἀριστείδου καὶ Σωκράτους· τὸ δʼ ἐμφῦναι καὶ δακεῖν μυρμηκῶδες καὶ μυῶδες. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἄμυναν ἅμα σκοπῶν τὸν διʼ ὀργῆς; τρόπον ἄπρακτον εὑρίσκω τὰ πολλά, δήγμασι χειλῶν καὶ πρίσεσιν ὀδόντων καὶ κεναῖς ἐπιδρομαῖς καὶ βλασφημίαις ἀπειλὰς ἀνοήτους ἐχούσαις καταναλισκόμενον, εἶθʼ ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς δρόμοις τὰ παιδία τῷ μὴ κρατεῖν ἑαυτῶν προκαταπίπτοντα τοῦ τέλους ἐφʼ ὃ σπεύδει γελοίως.
FUNDANUS. Just as, then, someone said of Philip when he had razed Olynthus, "But he would not be able to rebuild such a city," so it is possible to say to anger: "To overturn, indeed, and to destroy and to cast down you are able, but to restore and to save and to spare and to endure belongs to gentleness, forgiveness, and moderation, and to Camillus, Metellus, Aristides, and Socrates; but to cling and to bite is like ants and mice." Nay, rather, looking at the same time at revenge, I find the way of anger to be for the most part ineffective, being consumed in bitings of lips, grindings of teeth, empty charges, and revilings containing foolish threats; and then, just like children in races, by not controlling themselves, falling down ridiculously before the goal towards which they hasten.
ὅθεν οὐ φαύλως ὁ Ῥόδιος πρὸς ὑπηρέτην τοῦ Ῥωμαίων στρατηγοῦ βοῶντα καὶ θρασυνόμενον
οὐ μέλει μοι τί σὺ λέγεις ἀλλὰ τί τῆνος σιγῇ
καὶ τὸν, Νεοπτόλεμον ὁ Σοφοκλῆς καὶ τὸν Εὐρύπυλον ὁπλίσας
"ἐκόμπασʼ ἀλοιδόρητα"
φησίν
"ἐρρηξάτην ἐς κύκλα χαλκέων ὅπλων. "
τὸν μὲν γὰρ σίδηρον ἔνιοι τῶν βαρβάρων φαρμάσσουσιν, δʼ ἀνδρεία χολῆς οὐ δεῖται βέβαπται γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου· τὸ δὲ θυμικὸν καὶ μανικὸν εὐπερίθραυστόν ἐστι καὶ σαθρόν.
Whence not badly did the Rhodian say to the servant of the Roman general who was shouting and behaving insolently, "I do not care what you say, but what he keeps silent about." And Sophocles, having armed Neoptolemus and Eurypylus, says: "They boasted without reviling, and broke into the circles of bronze weapons." For some of the barbarians indeed poison their iron, but courage does not need gall; for it has been tempered by reason; but the passionate and mad element is easily broken and unsound.
ἀφαιροῦσι γοῦν αὐλοῖς τὸν θυμὸν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τῶν μαχομένων, καὶ Μούσαις πρὸ πολέμου θύουσιν ὅπως ὁ λόγος ἐμμένῃ· καὶ τρεψάμενοι τοὺς πολεμίους οὐ διώκουσιν, ἀλλʼ ἀνακαλοῦνται τὸν θυμόν, ὥσπερ τὰ σύμμετρα τῶν ἐγχειριδίων εὐανακόμιστον ὄντα καὶ ῥᾴδιον.
At any rate, the Lacedaemonians remove anger from those who are fighting by means of flutes, and they sacrifice to the Muses before war in order that reason may remain; and having turned the enemy, they do not pursue them, but they recall their anger, which, like moderate daggers, is easily brought back and easy to handle.
ὀργὴ δὲ, μυρίους προανεῖλε τῆς ἀμύνης, ὡς Κῦρον καὶ Πελοπίδαν τὸν Θηβαῖον.
But anger has destroyed countless people before their revenge, like Cyrus and Pelopidas the Theban.
Ἀγαθοκλῆς; δὲ πράως ἔφερε λοιδορούμενος ὑπὸ τῶν πολιορκουμένων· καί τινος εἰπόντος
κεραμεῦ, πόθεν ἀποδώσεις τοῖς ξένοις τὸν μισθὸν; ἐπιγελάσας αἴκα
ταύταν ἐξέλω
καὶ τὸν Ἀντίγονον ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους τινὲς εἰς ἀμορφίαν ἔσκωπτον· ὁ δὲ πρὸς αὐτοὺς
καὶ μὴν ἐδόκουν εὐπρόσωπος εἶναι. λαβὼν δὲ τὴν πόλιν ἐπίπρασκε τοὺς σκώπτοντας, μαρτυράμενος ὅτι πρὸς τοὺς δεσπότας ἕξει τὸν λόγον, ἂν πάλιν αὐτὸν λοιδορῶσιν.
And Agathocles bore being reviled mildly by those who were besieged; and when someone said, "Potter, where will you pay the soldiers' wages from?" he laughed and said, "If I take this [city]." And some people on the wall mocked Antigonus for his deformity; but he said to them, "Indeed, I thought I was handsome." And having taken the city, he sold those who mocked him, protesting that he would have a word with their masters if they should revile him again.
ὁρῶ δὲ καὶ κυνηγοὺς σφαλλομένους ὑπʼ ὀργῆς μεγάλα καὶ ῥήτορας.
And I see both hunters and orators failing greatly through anger.
Ἀριστοτέλης δʼ ἱστορεῖ Σατύρου τοὺς φίλους ἐμφράξαι τὰ ὦτα κηρῷ δίκην ἔχοντος, ὅπως μὴ συγχέῃ τὸ πρᾶγμα διὰ θυμὸν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν λοιδορούμενος.
And Aristotle records that the friends of Satyrus stopped his ears with wax when he was on trial, so that he might not confuse the case because of anger when he was reviled by his enemies.
αὐτοὺς δʼ ἡμᾶς οὐ πολλάκις ἐκφεύγει τὸ κολάσαι πλημμελήσαντα δοῦλον;
And does not the punishing of an offending slave often escape us ourselves?
ἀποδιδράσκουσι γὰρ τὰς ἀπειλὰς καὶ τοὺς λόγους δείσαντες.
For they run away, fearing the threats and the words.
ὅπερ οὖν αἱ τίτθαι πρὸς τὰ παιδία λέγουσι
μὴ κλαῖε καὶ λήψῃ,
τοῦτο πρὸς τὸν θυμὸν οὐκ ἀχρήστως λεκτέον
μὴ σπεῦδε μηδὲ βόα μηδʼ ἐπείγου, καὶ μᾶλλον ἃ θέλεις γενήσεται καὶ βέλτιον
καὶ γὰρ παῖδʼ ἰδὼν πατὴρ ἐπιχειροῦντά τι σιδηρίῳ διελεῖν ἢ τεμεῖν, αὐτὸς λαβὼν τὸ σιδήριον ἐποίησε· καὶ τοῦ θυμοῦ τὴν τιμωρίαν παρελόμενος αὐτὸς ἀσφαλῶς καὶ ἀβλαβῶς καὶ ὠφελίμως ἐκόλασε τὸν ἄξιον οὐχ ἑαυτὸν ὥσπερ ὁ θυμούμενος ἀντʼ ἐκείνου πολλάκις.
Therefore, what the nurses say to the children, "Do not cry and you will get [it]," this must be said not uselessly to anger: "Do not hasten, nor cry, nor urge, and what you wish will happen more surely and better." For indeed, a father, seeing his child attempting to divide or cut something with an iron tool, himself takes the tool and does it; and taking away the vengeance from anger, he himself punishes safely, harmlessly, and usefully the one who deserves it, and not himself instead of that person, as the angry man often does.