On Anger, Book 2, Section 15 — In Plain English

Seneca — The Senator

"To prove that anger has something noble in it," says our opponent, "just look at free nations like the Germans and Scythians. They're especially quick to anger." The reason is simple: strong and bold minds are prone to anger before they learn discipline. Some emotions only attach themselves to better types of people. It's like good soil — even when it's wild, it grows thick bushes and tall trees. Bold personalities naturally produce irritability. They're hot and fiery, with nothing weak or small about them. But their energy goes in the wrong direction. This happens to everyone who relies only on natural gifts without training. Unless they learn control, their courage turns into recklessness and dangerous daring.

Seneca — The Senator Original

“That you may be sure,” says our opponent, “that anger has in it something noble, pray look at the free nations, such as the Germans and Scythians, who are especially prone to anger.” The reason of this is that stout and daring intellects are liable to anger before they are tamed by discipline; for some passions engraft themselves upon the better class of dispositions only, just as good land, even when waste, grows strong brushwood, and the trees are tall which stand upon a fertile soil. In like manner, dispositions which are naturally bold produce irritability, and, being hot and fiery, have no mean or trivial qualities, but their energy is misdirected, as happens with all those who without training come to the front by their natural advantages alone, whose minds, unless they be brought under control, degenerate from a courageous temper into habits of rashness and reckless daring.