§16ΦΟΥΝΔ.οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ὅσοις γε συμβαίνει διὰ μισοπονηρίαν ἀληθῶς ἁλίσκεσθαι πολλάκις ὑπʼ ὀργῆς, τὸ ἄγαν ἀφαιρετέον αὐτῆς καὶ τὸ ἄκρατον ἅμα τῇ σφοδρᾷ πίστει περὶ τῶν συνόντων.
FUNDANUS. Nonetheless, for those who indeed happen to be often overcome by anger truly out of hatred of wickedness, one must remove from it the excess and the unmixed, together with the vehement trust regarding their associates.
αὕτη γὰρ αὔξει μάλιστα τῶν αἰτιῶν τὸν θυμόν, ὅταν ἢ χρηστὸς ὑποληφθεὶς ἀναφανῇ μοχθηρὸς ἢ φιλεῖν δόξας ἐν διαφορᾷ τινι καὶ μέμψει γένηται.
For this especially of the causes increases anger, when either one who was assumed to be good turns out to be wicked, or one who seemed to love gets into some dispute and blame.
τὸ δʼ ἐμὸν ἦθος οἶσθα δήπουθεν ἡλίκαις ῥοπαῖς φέρεται πρὸς εὔνοιαν ἀνθρώπων καὶ πίστιν· ὥσπερ οὖν οἱ κατὰ κενοῦ βαίνοντες, ὅσῳ μᾶλλον ἐπερείδω τῷ φιλεῖν ἐμαυτόν, ἁμαρτάνω μᾶλλον καὶ σφαλλόμενος ἀνιῶμαι· καὶ τοῦ μὲν φιλεῖν ἀπαρύσαι τὸ ἐμπαθὲς ἄγαν καὶ πρόθυμον οὐκ ἂν ἔτι δυνηθείην τοῦ δὲ πιστεύειν σφόδρα χρησαίμην ἂν ἴσως χαλινῷ τῇ Πλάτωνος;
You know surely my character, by how great inclinations it is carried toward goodwill and trust of men; just as those who walk on empty space, the more I lean myself upon loving, the more I miss and, slipping, am pained; and from loving, to draw off the overly passionate and eager, I would no longer be able; but regarding trusting vehemently, I might perhaps use as a bridle the caution of Plato.
εὐλαβείᾳ. καὶ γὰρ Ἑλίκωνα τὸν μαθηματικὸν οὕτως ἐπαινεῖν φησιν, ὡς φύσει εὐμετάβολον ζῷον, καὶ τοὺς τεθραμμένους ἐν τῇ πόλει· καλῶς δεδιέναι, μὴ ἄνθρωποι καὶ σπέρματα ἀνθρώπων ὄντες ἐκφήνωσί που τῆς φύσεως τὴν ἀσθένειαν.
For indeed he says that Helicon the mathematician he praised in this way, as by nature a changeable animal, and those reared in the city did well to fear, lest, being humans and seeds of humans, they might show somewhere the weakness of their nature.
ὁ δὲ Σοφοκλῆς λέγων ὅτι
"τὰ πλεῖστα φωρῶν αἰσχρὰ φωράσεις βροτῶν"
ἄγαν ἔοικεν ἡμῖν ἐπεμβαίνειν καὶ κολούειν.
And Sophocles, saying that "searching most things, you will find them to be shameful among mortals," seems too much to trample on us and curtail us.
οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τὸ δύσκολον τοῦτο τῆς κρίσεως καὶ φιλαίτιον εὐκολωτέρους ποιεῖ ταῖς ὀργαῖς ἐκστατικὸν γάρ ἐστι τὸ ἄφνω καὶ ἀπροσδόκητον δεῖ δʼ, ὥς που καὶ Παναίτιος ἔφη, χρῆσθαι τῷ Ἀναξαγόρᾳ, καὶ καθάπερ ἐκεῖνος ἐπὶ τῇ τελευτῇ τοῦ παιδὸς εἶπεν
ᾔδειν ὅτι θνητὸν ἐγέννησα
τοῦτο τοῖς παροξύνουσιν ἕκαστον ἐπιφωνεῖν ἁμαρτήμασιν
ᾔδειν ὅτι σοφὸν οὐκ ἐπριάμην δοῦλον
ᾔδειν ὅτι ἀπαθῆ τὸν φίλον οὐκ ἐκτησάμην
ᾔδειν ὅτι τὴν γυναῖκα γυναῖκʼ εἶχον. ἂν δὲ κἀκεῖνό τις ἐπιφθεγγόμενος ἀεὶ τὸ τοῦ Πλάτωνος
μήπου ἄρʼ ἐγὼ τοιοῦτος; ἔξωθεν εἴσω τὸν λογισμὸν ἀναστρέφῃ καὶ παρεμβάλλῃ ταῖς μέμψεσι τὴν εὐλάβειαν, οὐ πολλῇ χρήσεται μισοπονηρίᾳ πρὸς ἑτέρους πολλῆς ὁρῶν ἑαυτὸν συγγνώμης δεόμενον.
Nonetheless, this difficulty of judgment and fault-finding makes us easier prey to anger; for the sudden and unexpected is unsettling. But one must, as Panaetius also somewhere said, make use of Anaxagoras, and just as he said upon the death of his son: "I knew that I begot a mortal," to utter this for each of the irritating offenses: "I knew that I did not buy a wise slave"; "I knew that I did not acquire a friend free from passions"; "I knew that I had a wife who was a woman." And if someone, always uttering also that saying of Plato: "Am I not perhaps such a one?" turns his reasoning from outside inward, and inserts caution into his censures, he will not use much hatred of wickedness against others, seeing himself in need of much forgiveness.
νῦν δʼ ἕκαστος ἡμῶν ὀργιζόμενος καὶ κολάζων Ἀριστείδου φωνὰς ἐπιφέρει καὶ Κάτωνος
μὴ κλέπτε
μὴ ψεύδου
διὰ τί ῥᾳθυμεῖς; καὶ ὃ δὴ πάντων αἴσχιστόν ἐστιν, ὀργιζομένοις ἐπιτιμῶμεν μετʼ ὀργῆς καὶ τὰ διὰ θυμὸν ἡμαρτημένα θυμῷ κολάζομεν, οὐχ ὥσπερ οἱ ἰατροί
"πικρῷ πικρὰν κλύζουσι φαρμάκῳ χολήν,"
ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἐπιτείνοντες καὶ προσεκταράττοντες ὅταν οὖν ἐν τούτοις γένωμαι τοῖς ἐπιλογισμοῖς, ἅμα τι πειρῶμαι καὶ τοῦ πολυπράγμονος ἀφαιρεῖν.
But as it is, each of us, when angry and punishing, brings up the words of Aristides and Cato: "Do not steal!", "Do not lie!", "Why are you lazy?" And what is indeed the most shameful of all, we censure those who are angry with anger, and we punish errors done through rage with rage, not as the physicians "purge bitter bile with a bitter drug," but rather intensifying and further disturbing. Therefore, when I am in these reflections, at the same time I try also to strip away something of inquisitiveness.
τὸ γὰρ ἐξακριβοῦν ἅπαντα καὶ φωρᾶν καὶ πᾶσαν ἕλκειν εἰς μέσον ἀσχολίαν οἰκέτου καὶ πρᾶξιν φίλου καὶ διατριβὴν υἱοῦ καὶ ψιθυρισμὸν γυναικός, ὀργὰς φέρει πολλὰς καὶ συνεχεῖς καὶ καθημερινάς, ὧν δυσκολία τρόπου καὶ χαλεπότης τὸ κεφάλαιόν ἐστι.
For to examine everything minutely and search out and drag into the open every occupation of a servant, deed of a friend, pastime of a son, and whisper of a wife, brings many and continuous and daily fits of anger, of which a difficult character and harshness is the sum total.
ὁ μὲν οὖν θεός, ὡς Εὐριπίδης φησί,
"
τῶν ἄγαν ἅπτεται,
τὰ μικρὰ δʼ εἰς τύχην ἀφεὶς ἐᾷ
"
ἐγὼ δὲ τῇ τύχῃ μὲν οὐδὲν οἶμαι δεῖν ἐπιτρέπειν οὐδὲ παρορᾶν τὸν νοῦν ἔχοντα, πιστεύειν δὲ καὶ χρῆσθαι τὰ μὲν γυναικὶ· τὰ δʼ οἰκέταις τὰ δὲ φίλοις οἷον ἄρχοντʼ, ἐπιτρόποις τισὶ καὶ λογισταῖς καὶ διοικηταῖς, αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῶν κυριωτάτων ὄντα τῷ λογισμῷ· καὶ μεγίστων.
For God indeed, as Euripides says, "lays hold of the excessive things, but leaving small things to chance, lets them go." But I think that a sensible person should commit nothing to chance nor overlook it, but should trust and use, in some things his wife, in some things his servants, in others his friends as a ruler does certain stewards, accountants, and administrators, while he himself is over the most sovereign and greatest matters with his reason.
ὡς γὰρ τὰ λεπτὰ γράμματα τὴν ὄψιν, οὕτω τὰ μικρὰ πράγματα μᾶλλον ἐντείνοντα νύττει καὶ ταράττει τὴν ὀργήν, ἔθος πονηρὸν ἐπὶ τὰ μείζονα λαμβάνουσαν.
For just as fine letters strain the sight, so small matters, by straining us more, prick and stir up anger, which acquires a bad habit for greater things.
ἐπὶ πᾶσι τοίνυν τὸ μὲν τοῦ Ἐμπεδοκλέους μέγα καὶ θεῖον ἡγούμην, τὸ
νηστεῦσαι κακότητος· ἐπῄνουν δὲ κἀκείνας ὡς οὐκ ἀχαρίστους οὐδʼ ἀφιλοσόφους τὰς ἐν εὐχαῖς ὁμολογίας, ὁμιλίας ἀφροδισίων ἐνιαυτὸν ἁγνεῦσαι καὶ οἴνου, τιμῶντας ἐγκρατείᾳ τὸν θεόν· ἢ ψευδολογίας πάλιν ἀπέχεσθαι χρόνον ὡρισμένον, αὑτοῖς προσέχοντας πῶς ἀληθεύσομεν ἔν τε παιδιᾷ καὶ μετὰ σπουδῆς ἁπάσης.
Upon all things, therefore, I used to consider that saying of Empedocles great and divine, namely: "to fast from evil"; and I praised also those agreements in vows, as not unpleasant nor unphilosophical, to abstain for a year from sexual intercourse and wine, honoring God with self-control; or again to abstain from lying for a determined time, paying attention to ourselves how we may speak the truth both in play and with all seriousness.
εἶτα ταύταις τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ παρέβαλλον εὐχὴν ὡς οὐχ ἧττον θεοφιλῆ καὶ ἱεράν· ἡμέρας πρῶτον ὀλίγας ἀοργήτους ἔγνων οἷον ἀμεθύστους καὶ ἀοίνους διαγαγεῖν ὥσπερ νηφάλια καὶ μελίσπονδα θύων· εἶτα μῆνʼ ἕνα καὶ δύο πειρώμενος ἐμαυτοῦ κατὰ μικρόν, οὕτω τῷ χρόνῳ προύβαινον εἰς τὸ πρόσθεν τῆς ἀνεξικακίας, ἐγκρατῶς προσέχων καὶ διαφυλάττων μετʼ εὐφημίας ἵλεων καὶ ἀμήνιτον ἐμαυτόν, ἁγνεύοντα καὶ λόγων πονηρῶν καὶ πράξεων ἀτόπων καὶ πάθους ἐφʼ ἡδονῇ μικρᾷ καὶ ἀχαρίστῳ ταραχάς τε μεγάλας καὶ μεταμέλειαν αἰσχίστην φέροντος.
Then I compared my own vow to these, as not less dear to God and sacred: first, I decided to spend a few days free of anger, as if they were days without drunkenness and wine, offering as it were wineless libations and honey-offerings; then for one month and two, testing myself by degrees, in this way with time I went forward in forbearance, with self-control paying attention to and keeping myself, with auspicious words, gracious and free from wrath, abstaining both from evil words and absurd deeds and from a passion which, for a small and unpleasant pleasure, brings great disturbances and the most shameful regret.
ὅθεν, οἶμαι, καὶ θεοῦ τι συλλαμβάνοντος, ἐσαφήνιζεν ἡ πεῖρα τὴν κρίσιν ἐκείνην, ὅτι τὸ ἵλεων τοῦτο καὶ πρᾶον καὶ φιλάνθρωπον οὐδενὶ τῶν συνόντων εὐμενές ἐστιν οὕτω καὶ φίλον καὶ ἄλυπον ὡς αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἔχουσιν.
Whence, I think, and with God somehow helping, experience made clear that judgment, that this gracious, mild, and humane disposition is to none of our associates so favorable, friendly, and painless as to those themselves who possess it.