On Anger, Book 3, Section 30 — In Plain English

Seneca — The Senator

Do I have less than I hoped for? Well, maybe I hoped for more than I should have. This is what we need to watch out for most carefully. This kind of thinking creates the most dangerous anger — the kind that destroys everything, even what should be sacred. Emperor Julius Caesar wasn't killed by his enemies so much as by friends whose endless greed he couldn't satisfy. He wanted to satisfy them. No one ever shared the rewards of victory more generously. He kept nothing for himself except the right to give things away. But how could he feed such greedy appetites when each person wanted as much as any one person could possibly have? That's why he found his fellow soldiers standing around his chair with swords drawn. Tillius Cimber was there — the same man who had recently been his strongest supporter. Others were there too, people who only joined Pompey's side after Pompey was already dead. This is what turns soldiers against their kings. It makes the most loyal followers plot to kill the very person they once would have gladly died for.

Seneca — The Senator Original

Have I less than I hoped for? well, perhaps I hoped for more than I ought. This it is against which we ought to be especially on our guard: from hence arises the most destructive anger, sparing nothing, not even the holiest. The Emperor Julius was not stabbed by so many enemies as by friends whose insatiable hopes he had not satisfied. He was willing enough to do so, for no one ever made a more generous use of victory, of whose fruits he kept nothing for himself save the power of distributing them; but how could he glut such unconscionable appetites, when each man coveted as much as any one man could possess? This was why he saw his fellow-soldiers standing round his chair with drawn swords, Tillius Cimber, though he had a short time before been the keenest defender of his party, and others who only became Pompeians after Pompeius was dead. This it is which has turned the arms of kings against them, and made their trustiest followers meditate the death of him for whom and before whom[11] they once would have been glad to die.