On Anger Chapter 30

Quanto melius est initia ipsa perspicere quam levia sint, quam innoxia! Quod accidere vides animalibus mutis, idem in homine deprendes ; frivolis turbamur et inanibus. Taurum color rubicundus excitat, ad umbram aspis exsurgit, ursos leonesque mappa proritat ; omnia, quae natura fera ac rabida sunt, consternantur ad vana. Idem inquietis et stolidis ingeniis evenit. Rerum suspicione feriuntur, adeo quidem, ut interdum iniurias vocent modica beneficia, in quibus frequentissima, certe acerbissima iracundiae materia est. Carissimis enim irascimur, quod minora nobis praestiterint quam mente conceperimus quamque alii tulerint, cum utriusque rei paratum remedium sit. Magis alteri indulsit ; nostra nos sine comparatione delectent. Numquam erit felix, quem torquebit felicior. Minus habeo quam speravi ; sed fortasse plus speravi quam debui. Haec pars maxime metuenda est, hinc perniciosissimae irae nascuntur et sanctissima quaeque invasurae. Divum Iulium plures amici confecerunt quam inimici, quorum non expleverat spes inexplebiles. Voluit quidem ille - neque enim quisquam liberalius victoria usus est, ex qua nihil sibi vindicavit nisi dispensandi potestatem, - sed quemadmodum sufficere tam improbis desideriis posset, cum tantum omnes concupiscerent, quantum unus poterat ? Vidit itaque strictis circa sellam suam gladiis commilitones suos, Cimbrum Tillium, acerrimum paulo ante partium defensorem, aliosque post Pompeium demum Pompeianos. Haec res sua in reges arma convertit fidissimosque eo compulit, ut de morte eorum cogitarent, pro quibus et ante quos mori votum habuerant.

How much better is it to observe how trifling, how inoffensive are the first beginnings of anger? You will see that men are subject to the same influences as dumb animals: we are put out by trumpery, futile matters. Bulls are excited by red colour, the asp raises its head at a shadow, bears or lions are irritated at the shaking of a rag, and all creatures who are naturally fierce and wild are alarmed at trifles. The same thing befalls men both of restless and of sluggish disposition; they are seized by suspicions, sometimes to such an extent that they call slight benefits injuries: and these form the most common and certainly the most bitter subject for anger: for we become angry with our dearest friends for having bestowed less upon us than we expected, and less than others have received from them: yet there is a remedy at hand for both these grievances. Has he favoured our rival more than ourselves? then let us enjoy what we have without making any comparisons. A man will never be well off to whom it is a torture to see any one better off than himself. Have I less than I hoped for? well, perhaps I hoped for more than I ought. This it is against which we ought to be especially on our guard: from hence arises the most destructive anger, sparing nothing, not even the holiest. The Emperor Julius was not stabbed by so many enemies as by friends whose insatiable hopes he had not satisfied. He was willing enough to do so, for no one ever made a more generous use of victory, of whose fruits he kept nothing for himself save the power of distributing them; but how could he glut such unconscionable appetites, when each man coveted as much as any one man could possess? This was why he saw his fellow-soldiers standing round his chair with drawn swords, Tillius Cimber, though he had a short time before been the keenest defender of his party, and others who only became Pompeians after Pompeius was dead. This it is which has turned the arms of kings against them, and made their trustiest followers meditate the death of him for whom and before whom they once would have been glad to die.

La couleur rouge irrite le taureau ; l’aspic se dresse à la vue d’une ombre ; une étoffe blanche provoque la rage des ours et des lions. Tout être farouche et irascible par nature se trouble aux plus vaines apparences. Voilà ce qui arrive aux esprits inquiets et peu éclairés : ils se frappent de choses imaginaires, à tel point qui parfois ils taxent d’injures de modiques bienfaits ; et telle est la source la plus féconde ou du moins la plus amère de nos rancunes. Oui, l’on en veut aux gens qu’on chérit le plus, s’ils ont moins fait pour nous que nous ne l’avions espéré, moins qu’ils n’ont fait pour d’autres, tandis que dans les deux cas le remède est bien simple : il a plus accordé à un autre ? jouis de ton lot sans faire de comparaison ; il ne sera jamais heureux, celui que torture la vue d’un plus heureux que lui. J’ai moins que je n’attendais ? mais peut-être attendais-je plus que je ne devais. Voilà l’écueil qu’il faut surtout craindre : de là naissent des haines mortelles et capables des plus sacriléges attentats. Le divin Jules fut assassiné bien moins par des ennemis que par des amis, dont il n’avait point rassasié les prétentions irrassasiables. Il l’eût voulu sans doute ; car jamais homme n’usa plus libéralement de la victoire, dont il ne s’attribua rien que le droit d’en dispenser les fruits. Mais comment suffire à des exigences si démesurées, quand tous voulaient avoir tout ce qu’un seul pouvait posséder ? Voilà pourquoi César vit brandir autour de sa chaise curule les poignards de ses compagnons d’armes, de la Tullius Cimber, naguère son plus forcené partisan, et de tant d’autres, qui avaient attendu la mort de Pompée pour se faire Pompéiens.