We should also ask whether those whose cruelty knows no limits — who delight in spilling human blood — are actually angry when they kill people who have done them no harm. People like Apollodorus or Phalaris. This isn't anger. It's savagery. It doesn't hurt because it has been hurt. It's even willing to be hurt, as long as it gets to hurt others. It doesn't want to beat and torture bodies to get revenge. It does it for pleasure. So what should we make of this? This evil does grow from anger. When anger becomes a habit and gets fed constantly, it makes a person forget mercy. It drives out all sense of human fellowship. Finally, it turns into cruelty. These men laugh, celebrate, and enjoy themselves greatly. They look nothing like angry men — because cruelty has become their form of entertainment.
We must also enquire whether those whose cruelty knows no bounds, and who delight in shedding human blood, are angry when they kill people from whom they have received no injury, and who they themselves do not think have done them any injury; such as were Apollodorus or Phalaris. This is not anger, it is ferocity: for it does not do hurt because it has received injury: but is even willing to receive injury, provided it may do hurt. It does not long to inflict stripes and mangle bodies to avenge its wrongs, but for its own pleasure. What then are we to say? This evil takes its rise from anger; for anger, after it has by long use and indulgence made a man forget mercy, and driven all feelings of human fellowship from his mind, passes finally into cruelty. Such men therefore laugh, rejoice, enjoy themselves greatly, and are as unlike as possible in countenance to angry men, since cruelty is their relaxation.