Plutarch, De cohibenda ira, William Clark Helmbold (Translator), 4

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[4]

FUNDANUS.

And so, just as it is an easy matter to check a flame which is being kindled in hare’s fur¹ or candlewicks or rubbish, but if it ever takes hold of solid bodies having depth, it quickly destroys and consumes

With youthful vigour lofty craftsmen’s work,²

as Aeschylus has it; so the man who at the beginning gives heed to his temper and observes it while it is still smoking and catching flame little by little from some gossip or rubbishy scurrility need have no great concern about it; on the contrary, he has often succeeded in extinguishing it merely by keeping silent and ignoring it. For he who gives no fuel to fire puts it out, and likewise he who does not in the beginning nurse his wrath and does not puff himself up with anger takes precautions against it and destroys it. I was therefore not satisfied with what Hieronymus³ says - although he contributes other useful remarks and advice - in the passage where he declares that we have no perception of anger when it comes into being, but only when it has already come into being and exists, the reason being the swiftness with which it acts. For the truth is that none of the emotions, at the time when they are gathering and beginning to move, has a birth and increase so easy to perceive.⁴ Indeed Homer also skilfully teaches us this lesson when he causes Achilles to be suddenly overwhelmed by grief on receiving the report,⁵ in the passage where the poet says:

He spoke, and a black cloud of grief closed round Achilles;

but Homer portrays Achilles as being slow to lose his temper with Agamemnon⁶ and as becoming inflamed only when many words had been spoken. Yet if either one of the men had held back their words at the beginning and prevented their utterance, the quarrel would not have had so great a growth or have reached such magnitude. That is the reason why Socrates,⁷ as often as he perceived himself being moved to too great harshness against any of his friends, betaking himself to coast

Before the storm along some promontory,⁸

would lower his voice, cause a smile to spread over his face, and make the expression of his eyes more gentle, preserving himself from fault and defeat by setting up within himself an influence to counteract his passion.

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.) — 4 focus

[4]

ΦΟΥΝΔ.

καθάπερ οὖν τὴν φλόγα θριξὶ λαγῴαις ἀναπτομένην καὶ θρυαλλίσι καὶ συρφετῷ ῥᾴδιόν ἐστιν ἐπισχεῖν· ἐὰν δʼ ἐπιλάβηται τῶν στερεῶν καὶ βάθος ἐχόντων, ταχὺ διέφθειρε καὶ συνεῖλεν ὑψηλὸν ἡβάσασα¹ 25 τεκτόνων πόνον ὥς φησιν Αἰσχύλος· οὕτως ὁ τῷ θυμῷ προσέχων ἐν ἀρχῇ καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν ἔκ τινος λαλιᾶς καὶ βωμολοχίας συρφετώδους ὁρῶν 454f καπνίζοντα καὶ διακαόμενον οὐ μεγάλης δεῖται πραγματείας, ἀλλὰ πολλάκις αὐτῷ τῷ σιωπῆσαι καὶ καταμελῆσαι 5 κατέπαυσε. καὶ γὰρ τὸ πῦρ ὁ μὴ παρασχὼν ὕλην ἔσβεσε, καὶ ὀργὴν ὁ μὴ θρέψας ἐν ἀρχῇ καὶ μὴ φυσήσας ἑαυτὸν ἐφυλάξατο καὶ καθεῖλεν. οὐκ ἤρεσκεν οὖν μοι, καίπερ ἄλλα χρήσιμα λέγων καὶ παραινῶν ὁ Ἱερώνυμος, ἐν οἷς οὔ φησι γιγνομένης 10 ἀλλὰ γεγενημένης καὶ οὔσης αἴσθησιν ὀργῆς εἶναι διὰ τὸ τάχος. οὐθὲν γὰρ οὕτω τῶν παθῶν συλλεγόμενον καὶ διακινούμενον ἔχει τὴν γένεσιν ἐμφανῆ 455a καὶ τὴν αὔξησιν· ὡς δὴ καὶ Ὅμηρος² ἐμπείρως διδάσκει, λυπηθέντα μὲν εὐθὺς ἐξαίφνης ποιῶν τὸν 15 Ἀχιλλέα τοῦ λόγου προσπεσόντος, ἐν οἷς λέγει

ὣς φάτο· τὸν δʼ ἄχεος νεφέλη ἐκάλυψε μέλαινα·

θυμούμενον δὲ βραδέως τῷ Ἀγαμέμνονι καὶ διὰ λόγων πολλῶν ἐκκαόμενον· οὓς εἴ τις ὑφεῖλεν αὐτῶν³ ἐν ἀρχῇ καὶ διεκώλυσεν, οὐκ ἂν ἔσχεν αὔξησιν ἡ 20 διαφορὰ τηλικαύτην καὶ μέγεθος. ὅθεν ὁ Σωκράτης ὁσάκις αἴσθοιτο κινουμένου τραχύτερον αὑτοῦ πρός τινα τῶν φίλων, 455b

πρὸ χείματος⁴ ὥστʼ ἀνὰ⁵ ποντίαν ἄκραν στελλόμενος⁶

25 ἐνεδίδου τε τῇ φωνῇ καὶ διεμειδία τῷ προσώπῳ καὶ τὸ βλέμμα πραότερον παρεῖχε, τῷ ῥέπειν ἐπὶ θάτερα καὶ πρὸς τοὐναντίον ἀντικινεῖσθαι τῷ πάθει διαφυλάττων ἑαυτὸν ἀπτῶτα καὶ ἀήττητον.

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.) — 4 focus

[4]

FUNDANUS.

As therefore it is an easy matter to stop the fire that is kindled only in hare’s wool, candle-wick, or a little chaff, but if it have once taken hold of matter that hath solidity and thickness, it soon inflames and consumes, as Aeschylus says,—

With youthful vigor the carpenter’s lofty work;

so he that observes anger while it is in its beginning, and sees it by degrees smoking and taking fire from some speech or chaff-like scurrility, need take no great pains to extinguish it, but oftentimes can put an end to it only by silence or neglect. For as he that adds no fuel to the fire hath already as good as put it out, so he that doth not feed anger at the first, nor blow the fire in himself, hath prevented and destroyed it. Wherefore Hieronymus, although he taught many other useful things, yet hath given me no satisfaction in saying that anger is not perceptible in its birth, by reason of its suddenness, but only after its birth and while it lives; for there is no other passion, while it is gathering and stirring up, which hath its rise and increase so conspicuous and observable. This is very skilfully taught by Homer, by making Achilles suddenly surprised with grief as soon as ever the word fell on his ear, saying of him,—

This said, a sable cloud of grief covered him o’er;

but making Agamemnon grow angry slowly and need many words to inflame him, so that, if these had been stopped and forbidden when they began, the contest had never grown to that degree and greatness which it did. Wherefore Socrates, as oft as he perceived any fierceness of spirit to rise within him towards any of his friends, setting himself like a promontory to break the waves, would speak with a lower voice, bear a smiling countenance, and look with a more gentle eye; and thus, by bending the other way and moving contrary to the passion, he kept himself from falling or being worsted.

Notes on the current edition

On the Control of Anger

1. Cf. Moralia, 138 f.

2. Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. 2, p. 107, Frag. 357.

3. Of Rhodes, Peripatetic philosopher of the third century b.c.

4. But Cf. Plutarch, De Amore, 4 (Bernardakis, vol. vii. p. 134).

5. Of Patroclus’s death, brought by Antilochus: Il., xviii. 22.

6. Il., i. 101 ff.

7. Cf. Seneca, De Ira, iii. 13. 3.

8. Author unknown: Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec., iii. p. 721; Diehl, Anthologia Lyrica, ii. p. 163; Edmonds, Lyra Graeca, iii. p. 473; quoted more fully in Moralia, 129 a, 503 a.

Plutarch De cohibenda ira 4

William Clark Helmbold (Translator)

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FUNDANUS.

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ΦΟΥΝΔ.

FUNDANUS.

Notes on the current edition

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