Do you have the instincts of a wild animal? Do you feel driven to get revenge when someone hurts you? When is a horse miserable? When it loses its natural abilities. Not when it can't crow like a rooster, but when it can't run. When is a dog miserable? Not when it can't fly, but when it can't hunt. A person becomes unhappy the same way. Not because he can't strangle lions or hug statues — he wasn't born with those powers anyway. He becomes unhappy when he loses his honesty and trustworthiness. People should gather around such a person and mourn for the tragedy that has befallen him.
Have you the disposition of a wild beast, have you the disposition of revenge for an injury? When is a horse wretched? When he is deprived of his natural faculties, not when he cannot crow like a cock, but when he cannot run. When is a dog wretched? Not when he cannot fly, but when he cannot track his game. Is then a man also unhappy in this way, not because he cannot strangle lions or embrace statues, for he did not come into the world in the possession of certain powers from nature for this purpose, but because he has lost his probity and his fidelity? People ought to meet and lament such a man for the misfortunes into which he has fallen;