On Anger Chapter 12

Magna pars querellas manu fecit aut falsa suspicando aut levia adgravando. Saepe ad nos ira venit, saepius nos ad illam. Quae numquam arcessenda est ; etiam cum incidit, reiciatur. Nemo dicit sibi: " Hoc propter quod irascor aut feci aut fecisse potui " ; nemo animum facientis, sed ipsum aestimat factum. Atqui ille intuendus est, voluerit an inciderit, coactus sit an deceptus, odium secutus sit an praemium, sibi morem gesserit an manum alteri commodaverit. Aliquid aetas peccantis facit, aliquid fortuna, ut ferre aut pati aut humanum sit aut humile. Eo nos loco constituamus, quo ille est cui irascimur ; nunc facit nos iracundos iniqua nostri aestimatio et quae facere vellemus pati nolumus. Nemo se differt ; atqui maximum remedium irae dilatio est, ut primus eius fervor relanguescat et caligo quae premit mentem aut residat aut minus densa sit. Quaedam ex his, quae te praecipitem ferebant, hora, non tantum dies molliet, quaedam ex toto evanescent ; si nihil egerit petita advocatio, apparebit iam iudicium esse, non iram. Quidquid voles quale sit scire, tempori trade ; nihil diligenter in fluctu cernitur. Non potuit impetrare a se Plato tempus, cum servo suo irasceretur, sed ponere illum statim tunicam et praebere scapulas verberibus iussit sua manu ipse caesurus ; postquam intellexit irasci se, sicut sustulerat manum suspensam detinebat et stabat percussuro similis ; interrogatus deinde ab amico, qui forte intervenerat, quid ageret: " Exigo," inquit, " poenas ab homine iracundo." Velut stupens gestum illum saevituri deformem sapienti viro servabat, oblitus iam servi, quia alium quem potius castigaret invenerat. Itaque abstulit sibi in suos potestatem et ob peccatum quoddam commotior : " Tu," inquit, " Speusippe, servulum istum verberibus obiurga ; nam ego irascor. " Ob hoc non cecidit, propter quod alius cecidisset. " Irascor," inquit; "plus faciam quam oportet, libentius faciam ; non sit iste servus in eius potestate qui in sua non est." Aliquis vult irato committi ultionem, cum Plato sibi ipse imperium abrogaverit ? Nihil tibi liceat, dum irasceris. Quare ? Quia vis omnia licere.

A large part of mankind manufacture their own grievances either by entertaining unfounded suspicions or by exaggerating trifles. Anger often comes to us, but we often go to it. It ought never to be sent for: even when it falls in our way it ought to be flung aside. No one says to himself, “I myself have done or might have done this very thing which I am angry with another for doing.” No one considers the intention of the doer, but merely the thing done: yet we ought to think about him, and whether he did it intentionally or accidentally, under compulsion or under a mistake, whether he did it out of hatred for us, or to gain something for himself, whether he did it to please himself or to serve a friend. In some cases the age, in others the worldly fortunes of the culprit may render it humane or advantageous to bear with him and put up with what he has done. Let us put ourselves in the place of him with whom we are angry: at present an overweening conceit of our own importance makes us prone to anger, and we are quite willing to do to others what we cannot endure should be done to ourselves. No one will postpone his anger: yet delay is the best remedy for it, because it allows its first glow to subside, and gives time for the cloud which darkens the mind either to disperse or at any rate to become less dense. Of these wrongs which drive you frantic, some will grow lighter after an interval, not of a day, but even of an hour: some will vanish altogether. Even if you gain nothing by your adjournment, still what you do after it will appear to be the result of mature deliberation, not of anger. If you want to find out the truth about anything, commit the task to time: nothing can be accurately discerned at a time of disturbance. Plato, when angry with his slave, could not prevail upon himself to wait, but straightway ordered him to take off his shirt and present his shoulders to the blows which he meant to give him with his own hand: then, when he perceived that he was angry, he stopped the hand which he had raised in the air, and stood like one in act to strike. Being asked by a friend who happened to come in, what he was doing, he answered: “I am making an angry man expiate his crime.” He retained the posture of one about to give way to passion, as if struck with astonishment at its being so degrading to a philosopher, forgetting the slave, because he had found another still more deserving of punishment. He therefore denied himself the exercise of authority over his own household, and once, being rather angry at some fault, said, “Speusippus, will you please to correct that slave with stripes; for I am in a rage.” He would not strike him, for the very reason for which another man would have struck him. “I am in a rage,” said he; “I should beat him more than I ought: I should take more pleasure than I ought in doing so: let not that slave fall into the power of one who is not in his own power.” Can any one wish to grant the power of revenge to an angry man, when Plato himself gave up his own right to exercise it? While you are angry, you ought not to be allowed to do anything. “Why?” do you ask? Because when you are angry there is nothing that you do not wish to be allowed to do.

Souvent la colère vient à nous ; plus souvent nous l’allons chercher, nous qui, loin de l’attirer jamais, devrions, quand elle survient, la repousser. Nul ne se dit : « Cette chose qui m’indigne, je l’ai faite, ou j’ai été prêt à la faire. » Nul ne juge l’intention de l’auteur, mais l’acte tout seul : pourtant il faudrait voir s’il l’a commis volontairement ou par mégarde, par contrainte ou par erreur ; s’il a écouté la haine ou l’intérêt ; s’il a suivi sa passion, ou prêté les mains à celle d’autrui. L’âge de l’offenseur plaide pour lui, ou son rang : tolérons alors par humanité, ou souffrons par respect. Mettons-nous à la place de l’homme contre lequel nous nous fâchons : notre susceptibilité vient parfois d’un injuste amour-propre qui voudrait faire aux autres ce que lui-même ne veut pas subir. On n’attend pas pour éclater ; et néanmoins le grand remède de la colère c’est le temps , qui amortit le premier feu : alors le brouillard qui offusque la raison se dissipe ou du moins s’éclaircit. Une partie des motifs qui t’emportaient si fort s’atténuera dans l’espace d’une heure, je ne dis pas même d’un jour ; le reste s’évanouira tout à fait. Si c’est en vain que tu auras pris délai , tu prouveras que c’est la justice qui a prononcé, non la colère. Tout ce que tu veux sainement apprécier, abandonne-le au temps : le flux et reflux du présent ne laisse rien voir avec netteté. Platon n’avait pu obtenir de lui-même de différer le châtiment d’un esclave qui l’avait irrité ; il lui ordonna d’ôter sur-le-champ sa tunique et de présenter son dos aux verges : il voulait le battre de sa main. Ensuite, se sentant hors de sang-froid, il retint son bras levé et suspendu dans l’attitude d’un homme qui va frapper. Un ami qui survint lui demanda ce qu’il faisait : « Je châtie un homme emporté, » dit Platon ; et comme paralysé il gardait cette contenance menaçante, ignoble pour un sage, car sa pensée était déjà loin de l’esclave : il en avait trouvé un autre plus digne de punition. Il abdiqua donc ses droits de maître ; et trop ému pour une peccadille, il dit à Speusippe : « Châtie ce valet comme il le mérite ; car pour moi, je suis en colère. » Il s’abstint de frapper par le même motif qui eût poussé tout autre à le faire. « Je ne suis plus à moi, pensa-t-il, j’irais trop loin : j’y mettrais de la passion : ne laissons pas cet esclave à la merci d’un maître qui ne se maîtrise plus. » Voudrait-on confier la vengeance à des mains irritées ; quand Platon lui-même s’en est interdit l’exercice ? Ne te permets rien dans la colère ; pourquoi ? parce que tu voudrais tout te permettre. Lutte contre toi-même : qui ne peut la vaincre, est à demi vaincu par elle. Tant qu’elle est cachée, tant que nous ne lui donnons pas issue, étouffons ses symptômes ; et tenons-la, autant qu’il se peut, invisible et voilée.