On Anger, Book 3, Section 2 — In Plain English

Seneca — The Senator

Anger strikes at every stage of life. No group of people is safe from it. Some nations have avoided luxury because they were poor. Some escaped laziness through their active, wandering ways. People with simple customs who live in the countryside don't know about trickery and fraud and all the evils that come from courtrooms. But there is no race that doesn't feel anger. It has the same power over Greeks and barbarians alike. It ruins law-abiding people just as much as those who live by force alone. Finally, other passions grab hold of individuals. Anger is the only one that can possess an entire nation. No whole people ever fell madly in love with one woman. No nation ever set all its heart on money and profit. Ambition attacks individuals one by one. But wild rage is the only passion that can take over entire nations.

Seneca — The Senator Original

It passes over no time of life; no race of men is exempt from it: some nations have been saved from the knowledge of luxury by the blessing of poverty; some through their active and wandering habits have escaped from sloth; those whose manners are unpolished and whose life is rustic know not chicanery and fraud and all the evils to which the courts of law give birth: but there is no race which is not excited by anger, which is equally powerful with Greeks and barbarians, and is just as ruinous among law-abiding folk as among those whose only law is that of the stronger. Finally, the other passions seize upon individuals; anger is the only one which sometimes possesses a whole state. No entire people ever fell madly in love with a woman, nor did any nation ever set its affections altogether upon gain and profit. Ambition attacks single individuals; ungovernable rage is the only passion that affects nations.