§7ΦΟΥΝΔ.ταῦτʼ οὖν ὁρῶντί μοι καὶ παραφυλάττοντι συμβαίνει τίθεσθαι καὶ διαμνημονεύειν ἐπιεικῶς πρὸς ἐμαυτόν, ὡς ἀγαθὸν μέν ἐστιν ἐν πυρετῷ κρεῖττον δʼ ἐν ὀργῇ τὴν γλῶτταν ἁπαλὴν ἔχειν καὶ λείαν.
FUNDANUS. Therefore, to me observing and watching these things, it happens that I lay them down and remember them fitly for myself: namely, that while in a fever it is a good thing, it is even better in anger to keep the tongue soft and smooth.
ἡ μὲν γὰρ τῶν πυρεττόντων ἐὰν μὴ κατὰ φύσιν ἔχῃ, σημεῖόν ἐστι πονηρὸν οὐκ αἴτιον· ἡ δὲ τῶν θυμουμένων τραχεῖα καὶ ῥυπαρὰ γενομένη καὶ ῥυεῖσα πρὸς λόγους ἀτόπους ἔχθρας ἀνηκέστου δημιουργὸν ὕβριν ἐκφέρει καὶ δυσμενείας ὑπούλου κατήγορον.
For if the tongue of those in a fever is not in a natural state, it is a bad sign, not a cause; but that of those who are angry, becoming rough and dirty and flowing into improper words, brings forth insolence, the creator of incurable enmity, and the accuser of underhand ill-will.
οὐδὲν γὰρ ὁ ἄκρατος ἀκόλαστον οὕτω καὶ δυσχερὲς, ὡς ὁ θυμός, ἀναδείκνυσι· κἀκεῖνα μὲν γέλωτι καὶ παιδιᾷ μέλει, ταῦτα δὲ χολῇ κέκραται· καὶ παρὰ πότον μὲν ὁ σιωπῶν ἐπαχθὴς τοῖς συνοῦσι καὶ φορτικός, ἐν ὀργῇ δὲ σεμνότερον οὐδὲν ἡσυχίας, ὡς ἡ Σαπφὼ παραινεῖ
"
ʽσκιδναμένας ἐν στήθεσιν ὄργας
πεφυλάχθαι γλῶσσαν μαψυλάκαν.
For unmixed wine reveals nothing so licentious and unpleasant as anger; and those things indeed are of concern to laughter and sport, but these are mixed with bile; and during drink, indeed, the one who is silent is offensive and troublesome to those who are with him, but in anger nothing is more stately than silence, as Sappho advises: "When anger is spreading in the breast, keep watch against the idle-barking tongue.
"
"FUNDANUS.
§8ΦΟΥΝΔ.οὐ ταῦτα δὲ μόνον ἐπιλογίζεσθαι δίδωσι τὸ προσέχειν αὑτοῖς ἁλισκομένοις ὑπʼ ὀργῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἄλλην τοῦ θυμοῦ κατανοεῖν φύσιν, ὡς οὐκ εὐγενὴς οὐδʼ ἀνδρώδης οὐδʼ ἔχουσα φρόνημα καὶ μέγεθός ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ δοκεῖ τοῖς πολλοῖς τὸ ταρακτικὸν αὐτοῦ πρακτικὸν καὶ τὸ ἀπειλητικὸν εὐθαρσὲς εἶναι καὶ τὸ ἀπειθὲς ἰσχυρόν.
And paying attention to oneself when being seized by anger does not only grant us to reflect on these things, but also to understand the other nature of anger, how it is neither noble nor manly, nor does it possess high spirit and greatness, but its disruptiveness seems to the many to be active, and its threatening attitude to be courageous, and its disobedience to be strong.
ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ τὴν ὠμότητα μεγαλουργίαν καὶ τὸ δυσπαραίτητον εὐτονίαν καὶ μισοπονηρίαν τὸ δύσκολον οὐκ ὀρθῶς τίθενται· τὰ γὰρ ἔργα καὶ τὰ κινήματα καὶ τὰ σχήματα μικρότητα πολλὴν καὶ ἀσθένειαν κατηγορεῖ, οὐ μόνον ἐν οἷς παιδάρια σπαράττουσι καὶ πρὸς γύναια διαπικραίνονται καὶ κύνας καὶ ἵππους καὶ ἡμιόνους; οἴονται δεῖν κολάζειν, ὡς Κτησιφῶν ὁ παγκρατιαστὴς ἀντιλακτίσαι τὴν ἡμίονον ἀξιῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τὰς τυραννικὰς μιαιφονίας τῷ πικρῷ τὸ μικρόψυχον αὐτῶν καὶ τῷ δρῶντι τὸ πεπονθὸς ἐνορώμενον ἔοικε τοῖς δήγμασι τῶν ἑρπετῶν, ὅταν διακαῇ καὶ περιώδυνα γένηται, τὴν φλεγμονὴν ἀπερειδομένων σφοδρὰν τοῖς λελυπηκόσιν.
And some people incorrectly reckon cruelty as greatness of deed, and stubbornness as vigor, and irritability as hatred of evil; for their actions and movements and postures accuse them of great pettiness and weakness, not only in those cases where they tear children to pieces, and are bitter towards women, and think they must punish dogs and horses and mules (just as Ctesiphon the pancratiast, who deemed it right to kick back his mule), but also in the case of tyrannical massacres, in their harshness their smallness of soul is seen, and in their doing their suffering, resembling the bites of reptiles when they are parched with heat and in great pain, discharging their violent inflammation upon those who have annoyed them.
ὡς γὰρ οἴδημα μεγάλης ἐστὶν ἐν σαρκὶ πληγῆς πάθος, οὕτως ἐν ταῖς μαλακωτάταις ψυχαῖς ἡ πρὸς τὸ λυπῆσαι ἔνδοσις ἐκφέρει μείζονα θυμὸν ἀπὸ μείζονος ἀσθενείας.
For just as a swelling is the affection of a great blow in the flesh, so in the softest souls the yielding to vexation brings forth a greater anger from a greater weakness.
διὸ καὶ γυναῖκες ἀνδρῶν ὀργιλώτεραι, καὶ νοσοῦντες ὑγιαινόντων καὶ γέροντες ἀκμαζόντων καὶ κακῶς πράττοντες εὐτυχούντων· ὀργιλώτατος γὰρ ὁ φιλάργυρος πρὸς τὸν οἰκονόμον, ὁ γαστρίμαργος πρὸς τὸν ὀψοποιὸν ὁ ζηλότυπος πρὸς τὸ γύναιον ὁ κενόδοξος κακῶς ἀκούσας· χαλεπώτατοι δʼ
ἄγαν φιλοτιμίαν μνώμενοι ἐν πόλεσιν ἄνδρες ἢ στάσιν, ἄλγος ἐμφανές
κατὰ Πίνδαρον.
Therefore, indeed, women are more passionate than men, and the sick than the healthy, and the old than those in their prime, and the unfortunate than the successful; for the avaricious man is most angry with his steward, the glutton with his cook, the jealous man with his wife, the vain man when he is spoken ill of; and most difficult of all are "men who court excessive ambition in cities, or faction, a manifest pain, "according to Pindar.
οὕτως ἐκ τοῦ λυπουμένου μάλιστα τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ πάσχοντος ἀνίσταται μάλιστα διʼ ἀσθένειαν ὁ θυμός, οὐχὶ νεύροις, ὥς τις εἶπε, τῆς ψυχῆς ἐοικώς, ἀλλʼ ἐπιτάμασι καὶ σπάσμασιν ἐν ταῖς ἀμυντικαῖς ὁρμαῖς σφοδρότερον ἐξανισταμένης.
Thus it is from the part of the soul that is most pained and suffering that anger especially arises because of weakness, not resembling, as someone said, the "sinews of the soul," but its tensions and spasms as it rises up more violently in its defensive impulses.