People who get angry easily shouldn't take on serious, demanding work. Or at least they should quit before they get exhausted. Their minds shouldn't wrestle with hard problems. Instead, give them pleasant activities. Let them read poetry and interesting stories. Treat them with luxury and refinement. Pythagoras used to calm his troubled spirit by playing the lyre. Everyone knows that trumpets and horns irritate us, while certain melodies put us to sleep and soothe the mind. Green is good for tired eyes. Some colors are gentle on weak vision, while bright ones hurt. In the same way, cheerful activities soothe unhealthy minds. We must avoid courtrooms, legal arguments, trials, and anything else that makes our anger worse. We should also avoid physical exhaustion. It drains away everything that is calm and gentle in us, and stirs up bitterness.
Irascible men ought not to meddle with the more serious class of occupations, or, at any rate, ought to stop short of weariness in the pursuit of them; their mind ought not to be engaged upon hard subjects, but handed over to pleasing arts: let it be softened by reading poetry, and interested by legendary history: let it be treated with luxury and refinement. Pythagoras used to calm his troubled spirit by playing upon the lyre: and who does not know that trumpets and clarions are irritants, just as some airs are lullabies and soothe the mind? Green is good for wearied eyes, and some colours are grateful to weak sight, while the brightness of others is painful to it. In the same way cheerful pursuits soothe unhealthy minds. We must avoid law courts, pleadings, verdicts, and everything else that aggravates our fault, and we ought no less to avoid bodily weariness; for it exhausts all that is quiet and gentle in us, and rouses bitterness.