Plutarch, De cohibenda ira, ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, 13

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[13]

ΦΟΥΝΔ.

>καὶ μὴν τάς γε συνεχεῖς καὶ πυκνὰς καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ συλλεγομένας ὀργὰς μάλιστα φιλαυτία καὶ δυσκολία μετὰ τρυφῆς, καὶ μαλακίας οἷον σμῆνος ἢ σφηκιὰν ἡμῖν ἐντίκτουσι. διὸ μεῖζον οὐδὲν εὐκολίας καὶ ἀφελείας ἐφόδιον εἰς πραότητα 15 πρὸς οἰκέτας καὶ γυναῖκα καὶ φίλους τῷ δυναμένῳ συμφέρεσθαι τοῖς παροῦσι καὶ μὴ δεομένῳ πολλῶν καὶ περιττῶν 461b

ὁ δʼ οὔτʼ ἄγαν ὀπτοῖσιν οὔθʼ ἑφθοῖς ἄγαν,

οὔθʼ ἧττον οὔτε μᾶλλον οὔτε διὰ² μέσου 20

ἠρτυμένοισι χαίρων ὥστʼ ἐπαινέσαι

χιόνος δὲ μὴ παρούσης οὐκ ἂν πιὼν, οὐδʼ³ ἄρτον ἐξ ἀγορᾶς φαγὼν οὐδʼ ὄψου γευσάμενος ἐν λιτοῖς ἢ κεραμεοῖς σκεύεσιν, οὐδὲ κοιμηθεὶς ἐπὶ στρωμνῆς μὴ οἰδούσης μηδʼ ὥσπερ θαλάττης διὰ⁴ βάθους κεκινημένης, 25 ῥάβδοις δὲ καὶ πληγαῖς τοὺς περὶ τράπεζαν ὑπηρέτας ἐπιταχύνων μετὰ δρόμου καὶ βοῆς καὶ ἱδρῶτος, ὥσπερ φλεγμοναῖς καταπλάσματα κομίζοντας, 461c ἀσθενεῖ καὶ φιλαιτίῳ καὶ μεμψιμοίρῳ δουλεύων διαίτῃ, καθάπερ ὑπὸ βηχὸς ἐνδελεχοῦς προσκρουμάτων⁵ πολλῶν ἔλαθεν ἑλκώδη καὶ καταρροϊκὴν διάθεσιν 5 περὶ τὸ θυμοειδὲς ἀπεργασάμενος. ἐθιστέον οὖν τὸ σῶμα διʼ εὐτελείας πρὸς εὐκολίαν αὔταρκες ἑαυτῷ γιγνόμενον· οἱ γὰρ ὀλίγων δεόμενοι πολλῶν οὐκ ἀποτυγχάνουσι. καὶ δεινὸν οὐδὲν ἀρξαμένους⁶ ἀπὸ τῆς τροφῆς σιωπῇ χρήσασθαι τοῖς παρατυγχάνουσι, 10 καὶ μὴ πολλὰ χολουμένους⁷ καὶ δυσκολαίνοντας ἀτερπέστατον ὄψον ἐμβαλεῖν ἑαυτοῖς καὶ φίλοις τὴν ὀργήν·

δόρπου δʼ οὐκ ἄν πως ἀχαρίστερον ἄλλο γένοιτο·

⁸ διὰ πρόσκαυσιν ἢ καπνὸν ἢ ἁλῶν ἔνδειαν ἢ ψυχρότερον 15 461d ἄρτον οἰκετῶν τυπτομένων καὶ λοιδορουμένης γυναικός. Ἀρκεσιλάου δὲ μετὰ ξένων τινῶν ἑστιῶντος· τοὺς φίλους παρετέθη τὸ δεῖπνον, ἄρτοι δʼ οὐκ ἦσαν ἀμελησάντων πρίασθαι τῶν παίδων. ἐφʼ ᾧ τίς οὐκ ἂν ἡμῶν διέστησε τοὺς τοίχους κεκραγώς; ὁ δὲ 20 μειδιάσας οἷόν ἐστιν ἔφη τὸ συμποτικὸν εἶναι τὸν σοφόν τοῦ δὲ Σωκράτους ἐκ παλαίστρας παραλαβόντος. τὸν Εὐθύδημον, ἡ Ξανθίππη μετʼ ὀργῆς ἐπιστᾶσα καὶ λοιδορηθεῖσα τέλος ἀνέτρεψε τὴν τράπεζαν, 461e ὁ δʼ Εὐθύδημος ἐξαναστὰς ἀπῄει περίλυπος 25 γενόμενος· καὶ ὁ Σωκράτης παρὰ σοὶ δʼ εἶπεν οὐ πρῴην ὄρνις τις εἰσπτᾶσα ταὐτὸ τοῦτʼ ἐποίησεν, ἡμεῖς δʼ οὐκ ἠγανακτήσαμεν; δεῖ γὰρ σὺν εὐκολίᾳ καὶ γέλωτι καὶ φιλοφροσύνῃ τοὺς φίλους δέχεσθαι, μὴ τὰς ὀφρῦς συνάγοντας μηδὲ φρίκην καὶ τρόμον 5 ἐμβάλλοντας τοῖς ὑπηρετοῦσιν. ἐθιστέον δὲ καὶ σκεύεσιν εὐκόλως ὁμιλεῖν ἅπασι καὶ μὴ τῷδε μᾶλλον ἢ τῷδε χρῆσθαι· καθάπερ ἔνιοι πολλῶν παρόντων ἓν ἐξελόμενοι κανθάριον, ὡς Μάριον ἱστοροῦσιν, ἢ ῥυτὸν οὐκ ἂν ἑτέρῳ πίοιεν. οὕτω δὲ καὶ πρὸς 10 ληκύθους ἔχουσιν καὶ πρὸς στλεγγίδας, ἀγαπῶντες 461f ἐκ πασῶν μίαν· εἶθʼ ὅταν συντριβῇ τι τούτων ἢ ἀπόληται, βαρέως φέρουσι καὶ κολάζουσι. ἀφεκτέον οὖν τῷ πρὸς ὀργὴν φαύλως ἔχοντι τῶν σπανίων καὶ περιττῶν, οἷον ἐκπωμάτων καὶ σφραγίδων καὶ 15 λίθων πολυτελῶν· ἐξίστησι γὰρ ἀπολλύμενα μᾶλλον τῶν εὐπορίστων καὶ συνήθων. διὸ καὶ τοῦ Νέρωνος ὀκτάγωνόν τινα σκηνὴν ὑπερφυὲς κάλλει καὶ πολυτελείᾳ θέαμα κατασκευάσαντος, ἤλεγξας ἔφη ὁ Σενέκας πένητα σεαυτόν· ἐὰν γὰρ ταύτην ἀπολέσῃς, 20 462a ἑτέραν οὐ κτήσῃ τοιαύτην καὶ μέντοι καὶ συνέπεσε τοῦ πλοίου καταδύντος ἀπολέσθαι τὴν σκηνήν· ὁ δὲ Νέρων ἀναμνησθεὶς τοῦ Σενέκα μετριώτερον ἤνεγκεν., ἡ δὲ πρὸς; τὰ πράγματʼ εὐκολία καὶ πρὸς οἰκέτας εὔκολον ποιεῖ καὶ πρᾶον· εἰ δὲ πρὸς οἰκέτας, 25 δῆλον ὅτι καὶ πρὸς φίλους καὶ πρὸς ἀρχομένους. ὁρῶμεν δὲ καὶ δούλους νεωνήτους περὶ τοῦ πριαμένου πυνθανομένους, οὐκ εἰ δεισιδαίμων οὐδʼ εἰ φθονερὸς ἀλλʼ εἰ θυμώδης καὶ ὅλως σὺν ὀργῇ μηδὲ σωφροσύνην ἄνδρας γυναικῶν μηδʼ ἔρωτα γυναῖκας 462b ἀνδρῶν ὑπομένειν δυναμένας μηδὲ συνήθειαν ἀλλήλων φίλους. οὕτως οὔτε γάμος οὔτε φιλία μετʼ ὀργῆς ἀνεκτόν, ἀλλὰ χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ μέθη κοῦφόν ἐστιν· ὁ γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ νάρθηξ ἱκανὸς κολαστὴς 5 τοῦ μεθύοντος, ἂν μὴ προσγενόμενος ὁ θυμὸς ὠμηστὴν καὶ μαινόλην ἀντὶ λυαίου καὶ χορείου ποιήσῃ τὸν ἄκρατον. καὶ τὴν μανίαν αὐτὴν καθʼ αὑτὴν ἡ Ἀντίκυρα θεραπεύει, μιχθεῖσα δʼ ὀργῇ τραγῳδίας ποιεῖ καὶ μύθους. 10

De cohibenda ira. Plutarch. ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs. Leipzig. 1891.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (2)

On the Control of Anger Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. VI. Helmbold, William Clark, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 13 focus

[13]

FUNDANUS.

Furthermore it is especially selfishness and peevishness, together with luxury and softness, which beget in us those continuous or oft-recurring fits of anger that are gathered together in the soul little by little, like a swarm of bees or wasps. And so there is nothing more conducive to gentleness than graciousness and simplicity toward servants and wife and friends if a man is able to get along with what comforts he has and is in no need of many superfluities:

But he who liked his meat not overdone

Nor underdone, nor medium, nor boiled

Too much; and liked no food enough to praise¹

who will drink no wine if there is no snow with it,² nor eat bread purchased in the market, nor touch food served on cheap or earthenware dishes, nor sleep upon a bed that does not billow like the sea stirred to its depths; he who with rods and blows makes his servants at table hasten about running and crying out and sweating as though they were bringing poultices for boils,³ such a man is enslaved to an impotent, querulous, and discontented mode of life. His many shocks of anger are like a chronic cough by which he reduces himself to a condition where anger becomes a running sore. We must, therefore, accustom the body to contentment by plain living and to self-sufficiency, for those who need but little are not disappointed of much.

FUNDANUS.

And, to begin with our food, it is no great hardship if we partake in silence of whatever is set before us and do not, by being repeatedly choleric and peevish, thrust upon ourselves and our friends the worst sauce for meat, anger.

No more unpleasant supper could there be⁴

than that wherein servants are beaten and wife is reviled because something is burned or smoked or not salted enough, or because the bread is too cold.⁵

FUNDANUS.

Arcesilaüs was once entertaining his friends and with them some foreign guests, and when dinner was served, there was no bread, since the slaves had neglected to buy any. In such a predicament which one of us would not have rent the walls asunder with outcries? But Arcesilaus merely smiled and said, How lucky it is that the wise man takes to the flowing bowl!⁶

FUNDANUS.

Once when Socrates took Euthydemus home with him from the palaestra, Xanthippe came up to them in a rage and scolded them roundly, finally upsetting the table.⁷ Euthydemus, deeply offended, got up and was about to leave when Socrates said, At your house the other day did not a hen fly in and do precisely this same thing, yet we were not put out about it?

FUNDANUS.

For we should receive our friends affably and with laughter and cheerful friendliness, not with frowning brows, or striking fear and trembling into our servants. We must, further, accustom ourselves to make cheerful use of any kind of table utensils and not to prefer this service to that, as some men do who select one goblet or horn out of the many they have, and will drink from no other, as they relate of Marius. Some have this same feeling about oil-flasks and strigils, of which they have a liking for but one out of many; and so when one of these preferred objects is broken or lost, they take it hard and punish severely. Therefore anyone who is prone to anger should abstain from rare and curiously wrought things, like drinking-cups and seal-rings and precious stones; for their loss drives their owner out of his senses more than do objects which are easily procured and may be seen everywhere. This is the reason why, when Nero had had an octagonal tent built, a huge structure which was a sight to be seen because of its beauty and costliness, Seneca remarked, You have proved yourself a poor man, for if you ever lose this you will not have the means to procure another like it, And indeed it did so happen that the ship which conveyed it was sunk and the tent lost. But Nero remembered Seneca’s saying and bore his loss with greater moderation.

FUNDANUS.

A cheerful behaviour toward the affairs of life makes a master cheerful and gentle toward his slaves also; and if to slaves, he will evidently be so to his friends as well as to those who are subject to his rule. And in fact we observe that ne wly purchased slaves inquire about their new master, not whether he is superstititious or envious, but whether he is ill-tempered⁸; and, speaking generally, we see that if anger is present in a home, husbands cannot endure even their wives’ chastity, nor wives even their husbands’ love, nor friends even familiar intercourse with one another. Thus neither marriage nor friendship is tolerable if anger is there, but without anger even drunkenness is easily borne. For the wand of Dionysus suffices to punish the drunkard, unless hot temper is added and makes the undiluted drink⁹ cause of savagery and madness instead of a dispeller of care and an inspirer of the dance. Madness pure and simple can indeed be cured by Anticyra¹⁰; but if madness is mingled with anger, it produces tragedies and tales of horror.

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.) — 13 focus

[13]

FUNDANUS.

And especially self-love and morosity, together with luxury and effeminacy, breed in us long and frequent fits of anger, which by little and little are gathered together into our souls, like a swarm of bees or wasps. Wherefore there is nothing more conducing to a gentle behavior towards our wife and servants and friends than contentedness and simplicity, if we can be satisfied with what we have, and not stand in need of many superfluities. Whereas the man described in the poet,—

Who never is content with boiled or roast,

Nor likes his meat, what way soever drest,—

who can never drink unless he have snow by him, or eat bread if it be bought in the market, or taste victuals out of a mean or earthen vessel, or sleep on a bed unless it be swelled and puffed up with feathers, like to the sea when it is heaved up from the bottom; but who with cudgels and blows, with running, calling, and sweating doth hasten his servitors that wait at table, as if they were sent for plasters for some inflamed ulcer, he being slave to a weak, morose, and fault-finding style of life,—doth, as it were by a continual cough or many buffetings, breed in himself, before he is aware, an ulcerous and defluxive disposition unto anger. And therefore the body is to be accustomed to contentment by frugality, and so be made sufficient for itself. For they who need but few things are not disappointed of many; and it is no hard matter, beginning with our food, to accept quietly whatever is sent to us, and not by being angry and querulous at every thing, to entertain ourselves and our friends with the most unpleasant dish of all, which is anger. And surely

Than that supper nought can more unpleasant be,

where the servants are beaten and the wife railed at, because something is burnt or smoked or not salt enough, or because the bread is too cold. Arcesilaus was once entertaining his friends and some strangers at a feast; the supper was set on the board, but there wanted bread, the servants having, it seems, neglected to buy any. Now, on such an occasion, which of us would not have rent the very walls with outcries? But he smiling said only: What a fine thing it is for a philosopher to be a jolly feaster! Once also when Socrates took Euthydemus from the wrestling-house home with him to supper, his wife Xanthippe fell upon him in a pelting chase, scolding him, and in conclusion overthrew the table. Whereupon Euthydemus rose up and went his way, being very much troubled at what had happened. But Socrates said to him: Did not a hen at your house the other day come flying in, and do the like? and yet I was not troubled at it. For friends are to be entertained by good-nature, by smiles, and by a hospitable welcome; not by knitting brows, or by striking horror and trembling into those that serve.

We must also accustom ourselves to the use of any cups indifferently, and not to use one rather than another, as some are wont to single some one cup out of many (as they say Marius used to do) or else a drinking-horn, and to drink out of none but that; and they do the same with oil-glasses and brushes, affecting one above all the rest, and when any one of these chances to be broken or lost, then they take it heinously, and punish severely those that did it. And therefore he that is prone to be angry should refrain from such things as are rare and curiously wrought, such as cups and seals and precious stones; for such things distract a man by their loss more than cheap and ordinary things are apt to do. Wherefore when Nero had made an octagonal tent, a wonderful spectacle for cost and beauty, Seneca said to him: You have proved yourself to be a poor man; for if you chance to lose this, you cannot tell where to get such another. And indeed it so fell out that the ship was sunk, and this tent was lost with it. But Nero, remembering the words of Seneca, bore the loss of it with greater moderation.

But this contentedness in other matters doth make a man good-tempered and gentle towards his servants; and if towards servants, then doubtless towards friends and subjects also. We see also that newly bought servants enquire concerning him that bought them, not whether he be superstitious or envious, but whether he be an angry man or not; and that universally, neither men can endure their wives, though chaste, nor women their husbands, though kind, if they be ill-tempered withal; nor friends the conversation of one another. And so neither wedlock nor friendship with anger is to be endured; but if anger be away, even drunkenness itself is counted a light matter. For the ferule of Bacchus is a sufficient chastiser of a drunken man, if the addition of anger do not change the God of wine from Lyaeus and Choraeus (the looser of cares and the leader of dances) to the savage and furious deity. And Anticyra (with its hellebore) is of itself able to cure simple madness; but madness mixed with anger furnishes matter for tragedies and dismal stories.

Notes on the current edition

Περὶ ἀοπγησίας

1. Kock. 3 p. 472

2. οὔτε διὰ] οὐδὲ διὰ?

3. οὐδʼ Stegmannus: οὔτε

4. διὰ] ἐκ Abreschius

5. προσκρουμάτων Salmasius: ἢ προσκρουσμάτων

6. ἀρξαμένους R: ἀρξάμενον

7. πολλὰ χολουμένους] πόλλ’ ἀχθομένους? cf. p. 468 e; sed nunc praefero vulgatam

8. Hom. υ 392

Plutarch De cohibenda ira 13

ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs

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ΦΟΥΝΔ.

Current edition Perseus

FUNDANUS.

FUNDANUS.

FUNDANUS.

FUNDANUS.

FUNDANUS.

FUNDANUS.

FUNDANUS.

Notes on the current edition

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