On Anger Chapter 34

Cedo nunc, persequere cetera, cibos, potiones horumque causa paratas in ambitionem munditias, verba contumeliosa, motus corporum parum honorificos, contumacia iumenta et pigra mancipia, et suspiciones et interpretationes malignas vocis alienae, quibus efficitur, ut inter iniurias naturae numeretur sermo homini datus. Crede mihi, levia sunt propter quae non leviter excandescimus, qualia quae pueros in rixam et iurgium concitant. Nihil ex is, quae tam tristes agimus, senum est, nihil magnum. Inde, inquam, vobis ira et insania est, quod exigua magno aestimatis. Auferre hic mihi hereditatem voluit; hic me diu in spem supremam captatis criminatus est; hic scortum meum concupivit. Quod vinculum amoris esse debebat, seditionis atque odi causa est, idem velle. Iter angustum rixas transeuntium concitat, diffusa et late patens via ne populos quidem collidit. Ista quae appetitis, quia exigua sunt nec possunt ad alterum nisi alteri erepta transferri, eadem affectantibus pugnas et iurgia excitant.

Come now, let us enumerate the other causes of anger: they are food, drink, and the showy apparatus connected with them, words, insults, disrespectful movements of the body, suspicions, obstinate cattle, lazy slaves, and spiteful construction put upon other men’s words, so that even the gift of language to mankind becomes reckoned among the wrongs of nature. Believe me, the things which cause us such great heat are trifles, the sort of things that children fight and squabble over: there is nothing serious, nothing important in all that we do with such gloomy faces. It is, I repeat, the setting a great value on trifles that is the cause of your anger and madness. This man wanted to rob me of my inheritance, that one has brought a charge against me before persons whom I had long courted with great expectations, that one has coveted my mistress. A wish for the same things, which ought to have been a bond of friendship, becomes a source of quarrels and hatred. A narrow path causes quarrels among those who pass up and down it; a wide and broadly spread road may be used by whole tribes without jostling. Those objects of desire of yours cause strife and disputes among those who covet the same things, because they are petty, and cannot be given to one man without being taken away from another.

Voyons maintenant : parcours les autres causes de colère, le manger, le boire, et jusque dans ces choses des rivalités d’ambition, les recherches du costume, les mots piquants, les insultes, les attitudes peu respectueuses, les soupçons, l’indocilité d’une bête de somme, la paresse d’un esclave, l’interprétation maligne des propos d’autrui, qui ferait juger la parole comme un présent funeste de la nature. Crois-moi, ce sont choses légères qui nous fâchent si grièvement : les luttes et les querelles d’enfants n’ont pas de motifs plus frivoles. Dans tout ce que nous faisons avec une si triste gravité, rien de sérieux, rien de grand. Votre colère, encore une fois, votre folie vient de ce que vous faites trop grand cas de petites choses. « Tel a voulu m’enlever un héritage ; tel qui m’avait longtemps capté par l’espoir de son testament s’est fait mon accusateur ; tel a voulu séduire ma concubine. » Ce qui devait être un nœud d’amitié, la communauté de vouloir, devient un ferment de discorde et de haine.