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

Seneca — The Senator

"Sure," you say, "anger is powerful and destructive. So tell me how to cure it." But as I mentioned in my earlier books, Aristotle defends anger. He says we shouldn't get rid of it completely. He calls it the driving force of virtue. He argues that without anger, our minds become defenseless and too lazy to attempt great things. So I need to prove how ugly and savage anger really is. I need to show you clearly what a monstrous thing it is when one person rages against another. Look at the frantic violence — how someone rushes to destroy both himself and his enemy, tearing down the very things that his own downfall will share.

Seneca — The Senator Original

“No doubt,” you say, “anger is very powerful and ruinous: point out, therefore, how it may be cured.” Yet, as I stated in my former books, Aristotle stands forth in defence of anger, and forbids it to be uprooted, saying that it is the spur of virtue, and that when it is taken away, our minds become weaponless, and slow to attempt great exploits. It is therefore essential to prove its unseemliness and ferocity, and to place distinctly before our eyes how monstrous a thing it is that one man should rage against another, with what frantic violence he rushes to destroy alike himself and his foe, and overthrows those very things whose fall he himself must share.