Now, Novatus, let's try to do what you really want to do — drive anger out of our minds, or at least control it and hold back its urges. Sometimes we can do this openly, without hiding it, when we're only dealing with a mild case of this problem. Other times we have to work secretly, when our anger is burning hot and any obstacle we put in its way just makes it worse and causes it to flare up even more.
We will now, my Novatus, attempt to do that which you so especially long to do, that is, to drive out anger from our minds, or at all events to curb it and restrain its impulses. This may sometimes be done openly and without concealment, when we are only suffering from a slight attack of this mischief, and at other times it must be done secretly, when our anger is excessively hot, and when every obstacle thrown in its way increases it and makes it blaze higher.