§6ΦΟΥΝΔ.ἐγὼ γοῦν, εἰ μὲν ὀρθῶς οὐκ οἶδα, ταύτην δὲ τῆς ἰατρείας ἀρχὴν ποιησάμενος, ὥσπερ οἱ Λάκωνες ἐν τοῖς εἵλωσι τὸ μεθύειν οἷόν ἐστι, κατεμάνθανον τὴν ὀργὴν ἐν ἑτέροις.
FUNDANUS. I, at any rate (whether rightly I know not, but having made this the beginning of my cure), just as the Spartans learn what drunkenness is in the case of the Helots, observed anger in others.
καὶ πρῶτον μέν, ᾗ φησιν Ἱπποκράτης χαλεπωτάτην εἶναι νόσον ἐν ᾗ τοῦ νοσοῦντος ἀνομοιότατον αὑτῷ γίνεται τὸ πρόσωπον, οὕτως ὁρῶν ὑπʼ ὀργῆς ἐξισταμένους μάλιστα καὶ μεταβάλλοντας ὄψιν χρόαν βάδισμα φωνήν, οἷον εἰκόνα τοῦ πάθους ἀπεματτόμην ἐμαυτῷ πάνυ δυσχεραίνων, εἰ φοβερὸς; οὕτω καὶ παρακεκινηκὼς; ὁρῶμαί ποτε τοῖς φίλοις καὶ τῇ γυναικὶ καὶ τοῖς θυγατρίοις, οὐ μόνον ἰδεῖν ἄγριος καὶ ἀσυνήθης ἀλλὰ καὶ φωνὴν ἀπηνῆ καὶ τραχεῖαν ἀφιείς· ὥσπερ ἑτέροις τῶν συνήθων ἐνετύγχανον, οὐκ ἦθος οὐ μορφὴν οὐ λόγου χάριν οὐ τὸ πιθανὸν καὶ προσηνὲς ἐν ὁμιλίᾳ δυναμένοις ὑπʼ ὀργῆς διαφυλάττειν.
And first, just as Hippocrates says that that disease is most dangerous in which the face of the sufferer becomes most unlike itself, so, seeing men beside themselves with anger and changing most of all their look, color, gait, and voice, I modeled for myself as it were an image of the passion, being utterly vexed at the thought of whether I might ever appear to my friends, to my wife, and to my daughters so fearsome and deranged, not only wild and strange to look upon, but also emitting a harsh and rough voice; just as I encountered others among my acquaintances who were unable, by reason of anger, to preserve their character, their form, the grace of their speech, or their persuasiveness and pleasantness in conversation.
Γαΐῳ μὲν οὖν Γράκχῳ τῷ ῥήτορι καὶ τὸν τρόπον ὄντι χαλεπῷ καὶ περιπαθέστερον λέγοντι διηρμοσμένον ἦν συρίγγιον, ᾧ τὴν φωνὴν οἱ ἁρμονικοὶ σχέδην ἐπʼ ἀμφότερα διὰ τῶν τόνων ἄγουσι· καὶ τοῦτʼ ἔχων οἰκέτης αὐτοῦ λέγοντος ὄπισθεν ἑστὼς ἐνεδίδου τόνον ἐπιεικῆ καὶ πρᾶον, ᾧ τὴν κραυγὴν ἀνεκαλεῖτο καὶ τὸ τραχὺ καὶ τὸ θυμικὸν ἀφῄρει τῆς φωνῆς, ὥσπερ ὁ τῶν βουκόλων
"
κηρόπλαστος ὀτοβεῖ
δόναξ ἀχέτας ὑπνοδόταν νόμον
"
ἐπιθέλγων καὶ καθιστὰς τὴν ὀργὴν τοῦ ῥήτορος ἐμοὶ δʼ εἴ τις ἐμμελὴς καὶ κομψὸς ἀκόλουθος ἦν, οὐκ ἂν ἠχθόμην αὐτοῦ προσφέροντος ἐπὶ ταῖς ὀργαῖς ἔσοπτρον, ὥσπερ ἐνίοις προσφέρουσι λουσαμένοις ἐπʼ οὐδενὶ χρησίμῳ.
To Gaius Gracchus indeed, the orator, who was of a harsh temper and spoke with too much passion, a pitch-pipe was tuned, with which musicians lead the voice gradually to both extremes through its tones; and when he spoke, his servant who had this would stand behind him and blow a moderate and gentle note, by which he recalled Gracchus's shouting and took away the rough and angry element from his voice, just as the herdsmen's "wax-molded reed-pipe sounds its loud sleep-giving tune, "soothing and quieting the orator's anger. But as for me, if I had a cultured and smart attendant, I should not have been vexed at his offering me a mirror during my fits of anger, as they offer one to some when they have bathed, to no useful purpose.
τὸ δʼ αὑτὸν ἰδεῖν παρὰ φύσιν ἔχοντα καὶ συντεταραγμένον οὐ μικρόν ἐστιν εἰς διαβολὴν τοῦ πάθους.
For to see oneself in an unnatural and disordered state is of no small service for discrediting the passion.
καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὴν, Ἀθηνᾶν λέγουσιν οἱ παίζοντες αὐλοῦσαν ὑπὸ τοῦ σατύρου νουθετεῖσθαι καὶ μὴ προσέχειν· "
οὔ τοι πρέπει τὸ σχῆμα· τοὺς αὐλοὺς μέθες
καὶ θὦπλα λάζευ καὶ γνάθους εὐθημόνει· "
θεασαμένην δὲ τοῦ προσώπου τὴν ὄψιν ἐν ποταμῷ τινι δυσχερᾶναι καὶ προέσθαι τοὺς αὐλούς· καίτοι παραμυθίαν ἡ τέχνη τῆς ἀμορφίας ἔχει τὴν εὐμέλειαν.
For indeed, they say that even Athena was admonished by the Satyr when she was playing the flute, but she did not pay attention: "This posture does not become you; put away the flutes, take up your armor, and set your cheeks in order; "but when she beheld the appearance of her face in a certain river, she was vexed and cast the flutes away; and yet the art has, as a consolation for its ugliness, its beautiful melody.
καὶ ὁ Μαρσύας, ὡς ἔοικε, φορβειᾷ τινι καὶ περιστομίοις τοῦ πνεύματος τὸ ῥαγδαῖον ἐγκαθεῖρξε καὶ τοῦ προσώπου κατεκόσμησε καὶ ἀπέκρυψε τὴν ἀνωμαλίαν,
"
χρυσῷ δʼ αἰγλήεντι συνήρμοσεν ἀμφιδασείας
κόρσας, καὶ στόμα λάβρον ὀπισθοδέτοισιν ἱμᾶσιν.
And Marsyas, as it seems, by means of a mouth-band and mouth-pieces, shut in the violence of his breath, and adorned his face and hid its irregularity: "With gleaming gold he fitted together his hairy temples, and his wild mouth with straps tied behind.
"
ἡ δʼ ὀργὴ φυσῶσα καὶ διατείνουσα τὸ πρόσωπον ἀπρεπῶς, ἔτι μᾶλλον αἰσχρὰν ἀφίησι καὶ ἀτερπῆ φωνὴν
"κινοῦσα χορδὰς τὰς ἀκινήτους φρενῶν.
"But anger, puffing out and distorting the face unbecomingly, emits a still more ugly and unpleasant voice, "stirring the strings of the mind that should not be stirred.
"
τὴν μὲν γὰρ θάλασσαν, ὅταν ἐκταραχθεῖσα τοῖς πνεύμασι τὰ βρύα καὶ τὸ φῦκος ἀναβάλλῃ, καθαίρεσθαι λέγουσιν· ἃ δʼ ὁ θυμὸς ἐκβράσσει τῆς ψυχῆς περιτρεπομένης ἀκόλαστα καὶ πικρὰ καὶ σπερμολόγα ῥήματα, τοὺς λέγοντας πρώτους καταρρυπαίνει καὶ καταπίμπλησιν ἀδοξίας, ὡς ἀεὶ μὲν ἔχοντας ἐν αὐτοῖς ταῦτα καὶ πλήρεις ὄντας ὑπὸ δὲ τῆς ὀργῆς ἀνακαλυπτομένους.
"For they say that the sea, when it is troubled by the winds and casts up moss and seaweed, is being purified; but the licentious, bitter, and gossiping words which anger spews out from the soul as it is being overturned, defile those who speak them first of all and fill them with ill repute, as if they always had these things in them and were full of them, but were being unmasked by their anger.
διὸ κουφοτάτου πράγματος, ὥς φησιν ὁ Πλάτων, λόγου βαρυτάτην ζημίαν τίνουσιν, ἐχθροὶ καὶ κακολόγοι καὶ κακοήθεις δοκοῦντες εἶναι.
Therefore, for a thing most light, as Plato says, namely "a word," they pay a most heavy penalty, appearing to be hostile, abusive, and malicious.