Plain
Seneca — The Senator

If you look at what anger accomplishes and the damage it causes, no disease has cost humanity more. You'll see mass murders and poisonings. You'll see people accusing each other back and forth. You'll see cities destroyed and entire populations wiped out. You'll see rulers sold into slavery at auctions. You'll see torches thrown onto roofs and fires that don't stay within city walls but spread across whole regions with the flames of war. Look at the ruins of the most famous cities — you can barely tell where they once stood. Anger destroyed them. Look at deserts that stretch for miles with no one living there. Anger made them empty wastelands. Think of all the leaders that history remembers for their terrible fates. Anger stabbed one in his bed. It struck down another even though he was a guest under sacred protection. It tore another apart right in the courthouse, in front of a crowded forum. It made one die by his own son's murderous hand. It made another have his royal throat cut by a slave. It made another stretch out his limbs on a cross. And so far I'm only talking about individual cases.

On Anger, Book 1, Section 2 Book 1 · 4 of 69
Facing Hardship Human Nature
Seneca — The Senator Original

Next, if you choose to view its results and the mischief that it does, no plague has cost the human race more dear: you will see slaughterings and poisonings, accusations and counter-accusations, sacking of cities, ruin of whole peoples, the persons of princes sold into slavery by auction, torches applied to roofs, and fires not merely confined within city-walls but making whole tracts of country glow with hostile flame. See the foundations of the most celebrated cities hardly now to be discerned; they were ruined by anger. See deserts extending for many miles without an inhabitant: they have been desolated by anger. See all the chiefs whom tradition mentions as instances of ill fate; anger stabbed one of them in his bed, struck down another, though he was protected by the sacred rights of hospitality, tore another to pieces in the very home of the laws and in sight of the crowded forum, bade one shed his own blood by the parricide hand of his son, another to have his royal throat cut by the hand of a slave, another to stretch out his limbs on the cross: and hitherto I am speaking merely of individual cases.

On Anger, Book 1, Section 2 Book 1 · 4 of 69
Seneca — The Senator

You can't decide whether this vice is more evil or more disgusting. Other vices can be hidden and nursed in private. But anger shows itself openly. It appears on your face. The stronger it gets, the more clearly it boils over. Haven't you seen how animals give warning signs before they attack? Their whole bodies abandon their usual calm look and stir up their savagery. Boars foam at the mouth and sharpen their teeth on trees. Bulls toss their horns in the air and kick sand with their hooves. Lions growl. Angry snakes puff up their necks. Mad dogs look menacing. There's no animal so naturally hateful and poisonous that doesn't show even more fierceness when anger takes hold. I know that other passions can hardly be hidden either. Lust, fear, and boldness all give signs of their presence. You can spot them coming. No strong passion leaves the face unchanged. So what's the difference between these and anger? The other passions are visible. But anger is unmistakable.

On Anger, Book 1, Section 1 Book 1 · 3 of 69
Human Nature Calm Your Mind
Seneca — The Senator Original

You cannot tell whether this vice is more execrable or more disgusting. Other vices can be concealed and cherished in secret; anger shows itself openly and appears in the countenance, and the greater it is, the more plainly it boils forth. Do you not see how in all animals certain signs appear before they proceed to mischief, and how their entire bodies put off their usual quiet appearance and stir up their ferocity? Boars foam at the mouth and sharpen their teeth by rubbing them against trees, bulls toss their horns in the air and scatter the sand with blows of their feet, lions growl, the necks of enraged snakes swell, mad dogs have a sullen look—there is no animal so hateful and venomous by nature that it does not, when seized by anger, show additional fierceness. I know well that the other passions, can hardly be concealed, and that lust, fear, and boldness give signs of their presence and may be discovered beforehand, for there is no one of the stronger passions that does not affect the countenance: what then is the difference between them and anger? Why, that the other passions are visible, but that this is conspicuous.

On Anger, Book 1, Section 1 Book 1 · 3 of 69
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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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