Plutarch, De cohibenda ira, William Clark Helmbold (Translator), 3

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[3]

FUNDANUS.

To be sure, when anger persists and its outbursts are frequent, there is created in the soul an evil state which is called irascibility,¹ and this usually results in sudden outbursts of rage, moroseness, and peevishness when the temper becomes ulcerated, easily offended, and liable to find fault for even trivial offences, like a weak, thin piece of iron which is always getting scratched. But if judgement at once opposes the fits of anger and represses them, it not only cures them for the present, but for the future also it renders the soul firm and difficult for passion to attack. In my own case, at any rate, when I had opposed anger two or three times, it came about that I experienced what the Thebans did, who, when they had for the first time² repulsed the Spartans, who had the reputation of being invincible, were never thereafter defeated by them in any battle; for I acquired the proud consciousness that it is possible for reason to conquer. Not only did I see that anger ceases when cold water is sprinkled on it, as Aristotle³ says, but that it is also extinguished when a poultice of fear is applied to it. And, by Heaven, if joy comes on the scene, in the case of many the temper has been quickly warmed, as Homer⁴ says, or dissipated. Consequently I came to the opinion that this passion is not altogether incurable, for those, at least, who wish to cure it.

FUNDANUS.

For anger does not always have great and powerful beginnings; on the contrary, even a jest, a playful word, a burst of laughter or a nod on the part of somebody, and many things of the kind, rouse many persons to anger; just as Helen, by thus addressing her niece,

Electra, virgin for so long a time,

provoked her to reply,

Too late you’re wise; but once you left your home

Disgraced.⁵

And so was Alexander provoked by Callisthenes,⁶ who said, when the great bowl was going its rounds, I do not care to have a drink of Alexander and then have to call in Asclepius.⁷

De cohibenda ira. Plutarch. William Clark Helmbold (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1939.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

On the Control of Anger (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. VI. Helmbold, William Clark, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ ἀοπγησίας Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol III. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1891.) — 3 focus

[3]

ΦΟΥΝΔ.

ἡ μὲν οὖν συνέχεια τῆς ὀργῆς καὶ τὸ προσκρούειν πολλάκις ἕξιν ἐμποιεῖ πονηρὰν τῇ ψυχῇ, ἣν ὀργιλότητα καλοῦσιν, εἰς ἀκραχολίαν καὶ πικρίαν 20 καὶ δυσκολίαν τελευτῶσαν, ὅταν ἑλκώδης καὶ μικρόλυπος 454c ὁ θυμὸς γένηται καὶ φιλαίτιος ὑπὸ τῶν τυχόντων ὡς σίδηρος ἀσθενὴς καὶ λεπτὸς ἀναχαρασσόμενος· ἡ δὲ παραχρῆμα ταῖς ὀργαῖς ἐνισταμένη καὶ πιέζουσα κρίσις οὐ τὸ παρὸν ἰᾶται μόνον, ἀλλὰ 25 καὶ πρὸς τὸ λοιπὸν εὔτονον ποιεῖ καὶ δυσπαθῆ τὴν ψυχήν. ἐμοὶ γοῦν συνέβη δὶς ἢ τρὶς ἐνστάντι πρὸς ὀργὴν τὸ τῶν Θηβαίων παθεῖν, οἳ τὸ πρῶτον ὠσάμενοι Λακεδαιμονίους ἀηττήτους εἶναι δοκοῦντας, οὐδεμίαν ὕστερον ἡττήθησαν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν μάχην· φρόνημα 454d γὰρ ἔσχον ὡς κρατεῖν ἔστι τῷ λογισμῷ. ἑώρων δʼ οὐ μόνον ψυχροῦ κατασκεδαννυμένου λήγουσαν 5 ὀργὴν ὡς Ἀριστοτέλης¹ ἱστόρησεν,² ἀλλὰ καὶ φόβου προσαχθέντος ἀποσβεννυμένην καὶ νὴ Δία χαρᾶς ἐπιγενομένης ἄφνω καθʼ Ὅμηρον³ ἰάνθη καὶ διεχύθη πολλοῖς ὁ θυμός. ὥστε μοι παρίστατο μὴ παντελῶς ἀβοήθητον εἶναι τοῖς γε βουλομένοις τὸ 10 πάθος. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀρχὰς ἔχει μεγάλας ἀεὶ καὶ ἰσχυράς, ἀλλὰ καὶ σκῶμμα καὶ παιδιὰ καὶ τὸ γελάσαι τινὰ καὶ τὸ διανεῦσαι καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα πολλοὺς εἰς ὀργὴν καθίστησιν, ὥσπερ ἡ Ἑλένη τὴν ἀδελφιδῆν προσαγορεύσασα 15 454e

παρθένε μακρὸν δὴ μῆκος Ἠλέκτρα χρόνου

⁴ παρώξυνεν εἰπεῖν

ὀψέ γε φρονεῖς εὖ, τότε λιποῦσʼ αἰσχρῶς δόμους·

⁵ καὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ὁ Καλλισθένης εἰπὼν, τῆς μεγάλης κύλικος περιφερομένης, οὐ βούλομαι πιὼν 20 Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἀσκληπιοῦ δεῖσθαι.

Translations (1)

Concerning the cure of anger: a dialogue Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. I. Goodwin, William W., editor; Dillgham, William, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 3 focus

[3]

FUNDANUS.

Now the continuance of anger and frequent fits of it produce an evil habit in the soul called wrathfulness, or a propensity to be angry, which oft-times ends in choleric temper, bitterness, and moroseness. Then the mind becomes ulcerated, peevish, and querulous, and like a thin, weak plate of iron, receives impression and is wounded by even the least occurrence; but when the judgment presently seizes upon wrathful ebullitions and suppresses them, it not only works a cure for the present, but renders the soul firm and not so liable to such impressions for the future. And truly, when I myself had twice or thrice made a resolute resistance unto anger, the like befell me that did the Thebans; who, having once foiled the Lacedaemonians, that before that time had held themselves invincible, never after lost so much as one battle which they fought against them. For I became fully assured in my mind, that anger might be overcome by the use of reason. And I perceived that it might not only be quieted by the sprinkling of cold water, as Aristotle relates, but also be extinguished by putting one into a flight. Yea, according to Homer, many men have had their anger melted and dissipated by sudden surprise of joy. So that I came to this firm resolution, that this passion is not altogether incurable to such as are but willing to be cured; since the beginnings and occasions of it are not always great or forcible; but a scoff, or a jest, or the laughing at one, or a nod only, or some other matter of no great importance, will put many men into a passion. Thus Helen, by addressing her niece in the words beginning,—

O my Electra, now a virgin stale,

provoked her to make this nipping return:—

Thou’rt wise too late, thou shouldst have kept at home.

And so did Callisthenes provoke Alexander by saying, when the great bowl was going round, I will not drink so deep in honor of Alexander, as to make work for Aesculapius.

Notes on the current edition

On the Control of Anger

1. Cf. Plato, Republic, 411 b-c.

2. At the battle of Leuctra, 371 b.c.

3. This is apparently from a lost work, though not included in Rose’s collection of fragments. In Problemata, x. 60 (898 a 4), however, Aristotle observes that fear is a process of cooling; cf. also De Partibus Animalium, ii. 4 (651 a 8 ff.).

4. Il., xxiii. 598, 600, al.; for Plutarch’s interpretation of ἰαίνεσθαι see Moralia, 947 d: ἀλέαν τῷ σώματι μεθ’ ἡδονῆς, ὅπερ Ὅμηρος ἰαίνεσθαι κέκληκεω; see also Moralia, 735 f.

5. Euripides, Orestes, 72, 99.

6. Cf. Moralia, 623 f - 624 a; Athenaeus, x. 434 d.

7. A jibe at Alexander’s assumed divinity, Alexander taking the place of Dionysus, the wine god, until the physician god, Asclepius, would have to be called in; on the authenticity of the story see Macurdy, Jour. Hell. Stud., 1. (1930), 294-297.

Plutarch De cohibenda ira 3

William Clark Helmbold (Translator)

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FUNDANUS.

FUNDANUS.

Current edition Perseus

ΦΟΥΝΔ.

FUNDANUS.

Notes on the current edition

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