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Often appears with: justice as a virtue · the passions and the emotions · courage and cowardice · marriage and betrothal · honor, shame, and reputation · friendship and loyalty · duty, conscience, and obligation · crime and punishment · reason and the intellect · will, choice, and freedom · fate, destiny, and necessity · temperance and self-mastery
Usually: argument (75) · detachment (65) · narrative (47) · exhortation (40) · injustice endured (38) · indignation (29) · censure (26) · lament (22) · betrayal (19) · temptation (14)
“What? it is hard long love so lightly to leave in a moment? Hard; yet abides this one duty, to do it: obey.” Gaius Valerius Catullus (translated by Robinson Ellis), The Poems and Fragments of Catullus · precept
“Those leaves They gathered, broad as Amazonian targe; And, with what skill they had, together sewed, To gird their waist; vain covering, if to hide Their guilt and dreaded shame!” John Milton, Paradise Lost · vivid
“Twenty years he wandered,—twenty years and more; and yet the hard rasping question kept gnawing within him, “What, in God’s name, am I on earth for?” W. E. B. Du Bois (William Edward Burghardt Du Bois), The Souls of Black Folk · insight
“To me who recognise it, its transformation makes no difference, for I will set it to rights at the first village where there is a blacksmith, and in such style that that helmet the god of smithies forged for the god of battles shall not surpass it or even come up to it.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote · insight
“The priest stood waiting for the answer of Luscinda, who for a long time withheld it; and just as I thought she was taking out the dagger to save her honour, or struggling for words to make some declaration of the truth on my behalf, I heard her say in a faint and feeble voice, ‘I will:’ Don Fernando said the same, and giving her the ring they stood linked by a knot that could never be loosed.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote · vivid
“Pure I came to him whom Heaven bestowed upon me, pure I shall leave him; and at the worst bathed in my own chaste blood and in the foul blood of the falsest friend that friendship ever saw in the world;” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote · precept
“Dear my lords, and all my kin and liegemen, go willingly to church and make plaint to the mighty God of your fears and need, for know full sure that death draweth nigh us.” Unknown (Middle High German epic tradition), The Nibelungenlied · precept
“Aforetime we were friends, but of this troth I now would fain be rid.” Unknown (Middle High German epic tradition), The Nibelungenlied · observation
“To this the brave Gernot answered: “It may not happen, that we ever ride to Etzel's land before they both be dead. Let us serve her faithfully, that maketh for our honor.” Unknown (Middle High German epic tradition), The Nibelungenlied · precept
“All things pall after a while—sleep, love, sweet song, and stately dance—still these are things of which a man would surely have his fill rather than of battle, whereas it is of battle that the Trojans are insatiate.” Homer, The Iliad · insight
“Weeping and wailing, care and other sorrow, I have enough, on even and on morrow," Quoth the Merchant, "and so have other mo” Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems · observation
“Were I unbounden, all so may I the, I woulde never eft come in the snare.” Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems · wit
The passage again frames Muhammad’s Qur’an as potentially deceptive while arguing for sincere motivation, then quotes Qur’anic descriptions of the afterlife, angels praising God, and the transition to the surah “The Spider,” said to be Meccan.
when they reach it, its gates shall be opened, and its keepers shall say to them, "All hail! virtuous have ye been: enter then in, to abide herein for ever." And they shall say, "Praise be to God, who hath made good to us His promise, and hath given to us the earth as our heritage, that we may dwell in Paradise wherever we please!" And goodly is the reward of those who travailed virtuously. And thou shalt see the A…
It teaches that only God reveals and judges, depicts death and angels extracting souls, describes natural signs like rain and creation, and denounces idolatrous attributions such as associating djinn or claiming a son for God.
thou mightest warn the mother-city and those who dwell round about it. They who believe in the next life will believe in It, and will keep strictly to their Prayers. But is any more wicked than he who deviseth a lie of God, or saith, "I have had a revelation," when nothing was revealed to him?25 And who saith, "I can bring down a book like that which God hath sent down"? But couldst thou see when the ungodly are in …
Odysseus describes Neoptolemus’s courage at Troy and the Trojan Horse episode, then narrates Achilles’s son’s prowess to the ghost, and turns to other dead, especially Ajax who remains angry about Achilles’s armor contest.
as I then was and go even for a short time to my father’s house, any one who tried to do him violence or supersede him would soon rue it.’ “‘I have heard nothing,’ I answered, ‘of Peleus, but I can tell you all about your son Neoptolemus, for I took him in my own ship from Scyros with the Achaeans. In our councils of war before Troy he was always first to speak, and his judgement was unerring. Nestor and I were the …
Du Bois explains how “double thoughts” and social classes force ethical paradoxes on Black Americans, producing either hypocrisy or radical revolt when prejudice and injustice crush rights and ideals.
with double thoughts, double duties, and double social classes, must give rise to double words and double ideals, and tempt the mind to pretence or revolt, to hypocrisy or radicalism. In some such doubtful words and phrases can one perhaps most clearly picture the peculiar ethical paradox that faces the Negro of to-day and is tingeing and changing his religious life. Feeling that his rights and his dearest ideals ar…
Du Bois begins the biography “Of Alexander Crummell,” describing how Crummell struggled with temptations of Hate, Despair, and Doubt, and how sympathy and education first eased the temptation of Hate.
mocking world which seemed to me at once so light and dark, so splendid and sordid. Fourscore years had he wandered in this same world of mine, within the Veil. He was born with the Missouri Compromise and lay a-dying amid the echoes of Manila and El Caney: stirring times for living, times dark to look back upon, darker to look forward to. The black-faced lad that paused over his mud and marbles seventy years ago sa…
Du Bois recounts Crummell’s years of wandering for a purpose, his struggles in New York, England, and West Africa, and his eventual return home triumphing over hate and despair through disciplined work.
his degree in ’53. Restless still, and unsatisfied, he turned toward Africa, and for long years, amid the spawn of the slave-smugglers, sought a new heaven and a new earth. So the man groped for light; all this was not Life,—it was the world-wandering of a soul in search of itself, the striving of one who vainly sought his place in the world, ever haunted by the shadow of a death that is more than death,—the passing…
After Judge Henderson shuts the school, the younger son wanders, flirts with Jennie, and later the older John, dismissed from the school, returns to find his sister attacked and kills the attacker in a stormy confrontation near the sea.
work. The white people of Altamaha are not spending their money on black folks to have their heads crammed with impudence and lies. Clear out! I’ll lock the door myself.” Up at the great pillared house the tall young son wandered aimlessly about after his father’s abrupt departure. In the house there was little to interest him; the books were old and stale, the local newspaper flat, and the women had retired with he…
After Jacob exits, Esau arrives and Isaac realizes he blessed Jacob by mistake; Esau weeps but receives only a prophecy of future dominance achieved through force and service.
And he knew him not, because his hands were rough as his brother Esau's hands and so he blessed him. And he asked him, art thou my son Esau? And he said: that I am. Then said he: bring me and let me eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought him, and he ate. And he brought him wine also, and he drank. And his father Isaac said unto him: come near and kiss me my son. And he went to him and ki…
Israel complains about lacking flesh and remembers Egypt’s foods, prompting God’s wrath and burning fire, then Moses intercedes as God grants the complainters a future supply of meat through shared leadership of elders.
And the people waxed unpatient, {complained} and it displeased the ears of the LORD. And when the LORD heard it he was wroth, and the fire of the LORD burnt among them and consumed the uttermost of the host. And the people cried unto Moses, and he made intercession unto the LORD and the fire quenched. And they called the name of the place Tabera because the fire of the LORD burnt among them. And the rascal people tha…
He argues slavery produced few betrayals among the enslaved, illustrates sorrow and care for wounded “young masters,” and describes enslaved tenderness toward former owners, even helping them after the war.
my stead and wear it for several days, till it was “broken in.” Until I had grown to be quite a youth this single garment was all that I wore. One may get the idea, from what I have said, that there was bitter feeling toward the white people on the part of my race, because of the fact that most of the white population was away fighting in a war which would result in keeping the Negro in slavery if the South was succ…
Volumnia and Marcius’s wife and children throw themselves at Marcius’s feet, urging him to ignore injuries; Marcius relents after being told it was a “victory” for Rome that destroys his own future.
but if the Volscians happen to be defeated under your conduct, then the world will say, that, to satisfy a revengeful humor, you brought misery on your friends and patrons." Marcius listened to his mother while she spoke, without answering her a word; and Volumnia, seeing him stand mute also for a long time after she had ceased, resumed: "O my son," said she, "what is the meaning of this silence? Is it a duty to p…
Sancho laughs when Don Quixote calls the barber’s basin a helmet, and Don Quixote proposes having it repaired by a blacksmith while discussing past mockery, protection from stones, and what to do with the abandoned “dapple-grey steed.”
“I am laughing,” said he, “to think of the great head the pagan must have had who owned this helmet, for it looks exactly like a regular barber’s basin.” “Dost thou know what I suspect, Sancho?” said Don Quixote; “that this wonderful piece of this enchanted helmet must by some strange accident have come into the hands of someone who was unable to recognise or realise its value, and who, not knowing what he did, and …
Cardenio explains that after Luscinda is bound in marriage, he emerges, tries to act out righteous vengeance, but instead flees the city on horseback, cursing Luscinda and Don Fernando in the dark.
him, but that the details he mentioned interested them greatly, being of a kind by no means to be omitted and deserving of the same attention as the main story. “To proceed, then,” continued Cardenio: “all being assembled in the hall, the priest of the parish came in and as he took the pair by the hand to perform the requisite ceremony, at the words, ‘Will you, Señora Luscinda, take Señor Don Fernando, here present,…
Camilla, alone with Leonela’s delay, delivers a monologue about prudence and vengeance; she declares she came pure and will leave pure, intending to execute the plan once Lothario arrives.
I am to die; but it must be after full vengeance upon him who has brought me here to weep over audacity that no fault of mine gave birth to.” Leonela required much pressing before she would go to summon Lothario, but at last she went, and while awaiting her return Camilla continued, as if speaking to herself, “Good God! would it not have been more prudent to have repulsed Lothario, as I have done many a time before,…
Camilla rebukes Lothario as a traitor, frames herself as punishing her own supposed encouragement, and attacks him with the dagger while claiming to seek revenge and death to satisfy justice.
lesser prize acted in opposition to what I owe to my station and the holy laws of true friendship, now broken and violated by me through that powerful enemy, love.” “If thou dost confess that,” returned Camilla, “mortal enemy of all that rightly deserves to be loved, with what face dost thou dare to come before one whom thou knowest to be the mirror wherein he is reflected on whom thou shouldst look to see how unwor…
Dorothea prevents Don Fernando from drawing his sword in anger at Cardenio, begging him to let the lovers live peacefully since Heaven has arranged what has happened.
said, “Yes, my dear lord, you are the true master of this your slave, even though adverse fate interpose again, and fresh dangers threaten this life that hangs on yours.” A strange sight was this for Don Fernando and those that stood around, filled with surprise at an incident so unlooked for. Dorothea fancied that Don Fernando changed colour and looked as though he meant to take vengeance on Cardenio, for she obser…
Count Rollanz reports Engelier’s death to Oliver and Oliver vows vengeance, as further Saracen knights attack and are slain in succession during the clash between Frankish and pagan forces.
CXIX Swift through the field Turpin the Archbishop passed; Such shaven-crown has never else sung Mass Who with his limbs such prowess might compass; To th'pagan said "God send thee all that's bad! One thou hast slain for whom my heart is sad." So his good horse forth at his bidding ran, He's struck him then on his shield Toledan, Until he flings him dead on the green grass. CXX From the other part w…
The passage compares Siegfried’s murder (Gutthorm while asleep in bed versus Hagen while Siegfried drinks), describes Kriemhild’s refusal to return to the Netherlands, and summarizes how the Nibelungenlied expands the Nibelung destruction with vivid character contrasts like Hagen’s stoicism.
except her wounded pride. In the "Nibelungenlied", too, she disappears from view after Siegfried's death, whereas in the Norse tradition she ascends his funeral pyre and dies at his side. The circumstances of Siegfried's death are likewise totally different in the two versions. In the Norse, as we have seen, he is murdered while asleep in bed, by Gunnar's younger brother Gutthorm. In our poem he is killed by Hagen, …
Kriemhild hears from her mother Uta that her dream will bring loss, yet she swears off love until marriage; later the falcon-hero husband fulfills the dream and her revenge kills many kin.
her mother unfolded to her. How sorely did she avenge this upon her nearest kin, who slew him after! Through his dying alone there fell full many a mother's son. ENDNOTES: (1) "Nibelungenlied", the lay of the Nibelungs. The ordinary etymology of this name is 'children of the mist' ("Nebelkinder", O.N. "Niflungar"), and it is thought to have belonged originally to the dwarfs. Piper, I, 5…
Prince Gere plans to tell Kriemhild that Etzel has the favor of many knights, contrasting Hagen’s fear that she will seek revenge and describing how Burgundy intends to handle the proposal without open hatred.
husband, that Sir Siegfried be dead. If this be so, then shall she wear a crown before Etzel's knights, would ye but permit her. This my sovran bade me say." Then spake the mighty king, full courteous was his mood: "And she care to do this, she shall hear my pleasure. This will I make known to you in these three days. Why should I refuse King Etzel before I've learned her wish?" Meanwhile men bade purvey good easem…
Kriemhild confronts Hagen over Siegfried’s death, Hagen openly admits his role, and the would-be attackers avoid violence because Folker and Hagen seem too formidable, leading to the group’s reluctant dispersal to court.
Quoth she: "Now hear, ye knights, how he denieth no whit of my wrongs. Men of Etzel, I care not what hap to him from this cause." The proud warriors all gazed at one another. Had any began the fight, it would have come about that men must have given the honors to the two comrades, for they had oft wrought wonders in the fray. What the Huns had weened to do must now needs be left undone through fear. Then spake one …
After Kriemhild’s men fail to attack because Hagen and Folker guard the door, Folker warns the watchers they are being threatened, and the queen responds by making another vengeful plan to have the heroes perish.
before they be ware of us. Then will helmets be dislodged by the swords in the hands of us twain. They will be sent back to Kriemhild in evil plight." One of the Hunnish warriors (full soon that happed) marked that the door was guarded. How quickly then he spake: "That which we have in mind may not now come to pass. I see the fiddler stand on guard. On his head he weareth a glittering helmet, shining and hard, stron…
As Rudeger marches out with helmet and swords, Giselher and the minstrel interpret the signs, then Rudeger publicly declares he must fight the Nibelungs; Gunther and Gernot urge him to turn back, but he insists Kriemhild’s oath releases him from mercy.
father walk with his helm upon his head, how might he know what he meant thereby, save that it portended good? Therefore the noble prince waxed passing merry of mood. "Now well is me of such kinsmen," spake Knight Giselher, "whom we have won upon this journey; from my wife we shall reap much profit here. Lief it is to me, that this betrothal hath taken place." "I know not whence ye take your comfort," spake then th…
Further fighting erupts: Hildebrand clashes with Hagen, Wolfhart duels Folker, and both sides suffer deaths; Dietrich’s warriors join the fray, then Hildebrand and Folker are killed, and Hagen vows fierce vengeance.
"Had he slain the whole world with his one hand, I'll smite him, and he come within my reach, so that he may never sing the answer to my song." At this the men of Berne waxed passing wroth of mood. Wolfhart, a doughty knight and a good, snatched up his shield. Like a wild lion he ran to meet him, swiftly followed by all his friends. But howsoever great the strides he took towards the hall, yet did old Hildebrand ove…
Quoting Thomas Carlyle, Engels describes industrial work as gambling—alternating luxury and starvation—then argues that workers’ revolt shows they reject degradation, even as it can lead to licentiousness.
(*i.e*., the bourgeoisie) get possession of. Yet such a life is demoralising beyond all others. What Carlyle says of the cotton spinners is true of all English industrial workers: {117a} "Their trade, now in plethoric prosperity, anon extenuated into inanition and 'short time,' is of the nature of gambling; they live by it like gamblers, now in luxurious superfluity, now in starvation. Black, mutinous disco…
The voluntary beggar claims he fled rich crowds due to disgust, then Zarathustra countermands him by saying his rage is misfit and praises softer, gentler instincts, before sending the beggar toward Zarathustra’s cave.
“And why is it not with the rich?” asked Zarathustra temptingly, while he kept back the kine which sniffed familiarly at the peaceful one. “Why dost thou tempt me?” answered the other. “Thou knowest it thyself better even than I. What was it drove me to the poorest, O Zarathustra? Was it not my disgust at the richest? —At the culprits of riches, with cold eyes and rank thoughts, who pick up profit out of all kinds …
The Phoenix tale reaches the point where Meleager, angry at his mother Althaea, initially refuses to fight, then joins only when his wife describes the horrors of a captured city, and the Aetolians fail to reward him.
many a man did it stretch upon his funeral pyre. On this the goddess set the Curetes and the Aetolians fighting furiously about the head and skin of the boar. “So long as Meleager was in the field things went badly with the Curetes, and for all their numbers they could not hold their ground under the city walls; but in the course of time Meleager was angered as even a wise man will sometimes be. He…
After Agamemnon kills Iphidamas and strips his armor, Coon and his brother defend him as fellow sons of Antenor, but Agamemnon wounds and kills Coon too, then withdraws wounded for agony.
and goats mixed, from the countless flocks of which he was possessed. Agamemnon son of Atreus then despoiled him, and carried off his armour into the host of the Achaeans. When noble Coon, Antenor’s eldest son, saw this, sore indeed were his eyes at the sight of his fallen brother. Unseen by Agamemnon he got beside him, spear in hand, and wounded him in the middle of his arm below the elbow, the po…
Menelaus and Helenus exchange missile attacks: Menelaus wounds Helenus’s hand, then kills Pisander in a duel, boasting that Trojan fighting will end in destruction and shame.
those who were fighting on the Achaean side took charge of it as it rolled at his feet, but the eyes of Deipyrus were closed in the darkness of death. On this Menelaus was grieved, and made menacingly towards Helenus, brandishing his spear; but Helenus drew his bow, and the two attacked one another at one and the same moment, the one with his spear, and the other with his bow and arrow. The son of …
He presents cases where courage and cruelty provoke opposite reactions—Phyton’s defiance softens Dionysius, while Alexander’s rage destroys Betis and the defenders of Thebes—then concludes human judgment is unstable.
in his trial, but broke up the court and departed, the whole assembly highly commending the high courage of this personage.--[Plutarch, How far a Man may praise Himself, c. 5.] Dionysius the elder, after having, by a tedious siege and through exceeding great difficulties, taken the city of Reggio, and in it the governor Phyton, a very gallant man, who had made so obstinate a defence, was resolved to make him a tragi…
Turning to psychology, Montaigne argues that when true objects for passion are missing, the soul expends anger on substitutes, illustrated by Montaigne’s gout sufferer, animal revenge, and examples of people blaming or striking what is near.
THAT THE SOUL EXPENDS ITS PASSIONS UPON FALSE OBJECTS, WHERE THE TRUE ARE WANTING A gentleman of my country, marvellously tormented with the gout, being importuned by his physicians totally to abstain from all manner of salt meats, was wont pleasantly to reply, that in the extremity of his fits he must needs have something to quarrel with, and that railing at and cursing, one while the Bologna sausages, and another …
He claims his memory flaws have helped him avoid ambition and excessive talk, while also sparing him from remembering injuries too bitterly.
never do it. And it should be enough, methinks, that I feel the misery and inconvenience of it, without branding me with malice, a vice so contrary to my humour. However, I derive these comforts from my infirmity: first, that it is an evil from which principally I have found reason to correct a worse, that would easily enough have grown upon me, namely, ambition; the defect being intolerable in those who take upon t…
The chorus compares fear and passion in human hearts, recounts crimes of women such as Althaea, Scylla, and those in Lemnos, and argues that justice ultimately returns and punishes wrongdoing through time.
and ruin fell? Yea, how the loveless love that doth possess The woman, even as the lioness, Doth rend and wrest apart, with eager strife, The link of wedded life? Let him be the witness, whose thought is not borne on light wings thro’ the air, But abideth with knowledge, what thing was wrought by Althea’s despair; For she marr’d the life-grace of her son, with ill counsel rekindled the flame That was quenched as it …
Continuing from Adams' 17 June 1780 letter, he records the severe rhetoric after Governor Hutchinson’s death, prays for an end to global calamities, and calls for moral integrity during the Revolution’s violent events.
war with America. Examples are necessary. It is to be hoped that all will not escape into the grave without a previous appearance either on a gibbet or a scaffold." Governor Bernard, I am told, died last fall. I wish that, with these primary instruments of the calamities that now distress almost all the world, the evils themselves may come to an end. For although they will undoubtedly end in the welfare of mankind, …
When offended by shameless or faithless wrongdoers, he says to accept that such people must exist, respond with mildness and teaching, and then recognize that the harm is only in one’s own mind.
nature, is a principle of all schools of philosophy; but to be intent only on that which thou art now doing and on the instrument by which thou dost it. 42. When thou art offended with any man’s shameless conduct, immediately ask thyself, Is it possible, then, that shameless men should not be in the world? It is not possible. Do not, then, require what is impossible. For this man also is one of those shameless men w…
He warns that opponents who block one’s right reasoning cannot divert one from proper action, yet one must also remain gentle, resisting both fear and anger to preserve one’s benevolence.
the time of thy death free from perturbations, nobly, and obedient to thy own daemon [to the god that is within thee] (II. 13, 17; III. 5, 6; XI. 12). 4. I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others. If then a god or a wise teacher should present himself to a man and bid him to think of …
It summarizes Marcus Aurelius’s teaching to love mankind, follow God, and forgive injuries: anger can be natural, but revenge must be rejected in favor of pity and reflection.
upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away” (II. 1). Further he says: “Take pleasure in one thing, and rest in it in passing from one social act to another social act, thinking of God” (VI. 7). Again: “Love mankind. Follow God” (VI. 31). It is the characteristic of the rational soul for a man to love his neighbor (XI…
It stresses forgiveness and love of enemies, arguing that anger can be natural and socially useful but revenge must not be practiced, because wrongdoers act from ignorance.
[A] See viii. 52; and Persius iii. 66 Further he says: "Take pleasure in one thing and rest in it in passing from one social act to another social act, thinking of God" (vi. 7). Again: "Love mankind. Follow God" (vii. 31). It is the characteristic of the rational soul for a man to love his neighbor (xi. 1). Antoninus teaches in various passages the forgiveness of injuries, and we know that he also practised what he …
Marcus Aurelius commands turning anger inward, accepting that men are compelled, reflecting on how all people die, and practicing simplicity and goodness so no one can truthfully claim you are insincere.
thy anger, if this consideration also is added, that the man is compelled: for what else could he do? or, if thou art able, take away from him the compulsion. 31. When thou hast seen Satyron[A] the Socratic,+ think of either Eutyches or Hymen, and when thou hast seen Euphrates, think of Eutychion or Silvanus, and when thou hast seen Alciphron think of Tropaeophorus, and when thou hast seen Xenophon, think of Crito[B…
Marcus explains how to treat indifferent things as harmless by controlling judgments, studying the origins and transformations of things, and showing how to handle offenses against you by analyzing your relation to others, their motives, and your own faults.
to nature, seek what is conformable to thy own nature, and strive towards this, even if it bring no reputation; for every man is allowed to seek his own good. 17. Consider whence each thing is come, and of what it consists, + and into what it changes, and what kind of a thing it will be when it has changed, and that it will sustain no harm. 18. [If any have offended against thee, consider first]: What is my relatio…
Marcus Aurelius advises calming genuine kindness toward violent men, gently admonishing without reproach, and insists his “nine rules” keep one unangered, unmoved by passion, and socially restrained.
is brought on us by the anger and vexation caused by such acts than by the acts themselves, at which we are angry and vexed (iv. 39, 49; vii. 24). Ninth, consider that a good disposition is invincible if it be genuine, and not an affected smile and acting a part. For what will the most violent man do to thee, if thou continuest to be of a kind disposition towards him, and if, as opportunity offers, thou gently admon…
The author contrasts the Meditations’ private, sincere tone with public confession, describing Marcus’s virtues of courtesy, gentleness to offenders, and aiming to overcome anger and evil affection.
best. 'Verily it is a misery to live upon the earth,' says the Christian; few and evil are the days of man's life, which passeth away suddenly as a shadow. But there is one great difference between the two books we are considering. The *Imitation* is addressed to others, the *Meditations* by the writer to himself. We learn nothing from the *Imitation* of the author's own life, except in so far as he may be assumed t…
Marcus Aurelius argues that the soul’s misuse occurs when it accepts only what is pleasant, and then specifies wrongdoing: grief at worldly events, hostile desires, being mastered by pleasure or pain, lying, and acting without rational relation to the common good.
is the use that may be made of those things, if that which is true and serious in them, be received as well as that which is sweet and pleasing. XIV. A man's soul doth wrong and disrespect itself first and especially, when as much as in itself lies it becomes an aposteme, and as it were an excrescency of the world, for to be grieved and displeased with anything that happens in the world, is direct apostacy from the …
He instructs living free from letting pain or pleasure vary the “chief commanding part,” living with the Gods through a contented soul, and correcting anger by admonishing the offender rather than raging.
VI. Let this be thy only joy, and thy only comfort, from one sociable kind action without intermission to pass unto another, God being ever in thy mind. VII. The rational commanding part, as it alone can stir up and turn itself; so it maketh both itself to be, and everything that happeneth, to appear unto itself, as it will itself. VIII. According to the nature of the universe all things particular are determined, …
Marcus Aurelius advises imagining what is “possible and proper” for others as also possible for oneself, then gives palestra-incident examples to stay calm, avoid suspicion, and respond with gentle restraint.
by thee cannot, or not without much difficulty be effected; but whatsoever in general thou canst Conceive possible and proper unto any man, think that very possible unto thee also. XIX. Suppose that at the palestra somebody hath all to-torn thee with his nails, and hath broken thy head. Well, thou art wounded. Yet thou dost not exclaim; thou art not offended with him. Thou dost not suspect him for it afterwards, as …
He argues that anger is removed by reasoning: other people’s actions result from ignorance and self-opinion, one’s own faults mirror theirs, and meekness is stronger than rage, with a warning against tyrannical intolerance.
it be for thy credit or no, use all possible speed for the attainment of it: for no man ought to be blamed, for seeking his own good and happiness. XVI. Of everything thou must consider from whence it came, of what things it doth consist, and into what it will be changed: what will be the nature of it, or what it will be like unto when it is changed; and that it can suffer no hurt by this change. And as for other me…
Johnson condemns revenge as driven by pride and indignity, insists on Christian duties to forgive, and warns that self-judging retaliation leads to endless feud and misery.
Thaletis Ingenium, dulcique senex vicinus Hymetto, Qui partem adceptae saeva inter vincla Cicutoe Adcusatori nollet dare.---- ----------------Quippe minuti Semper et infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas Ultio. JUV. Sat. xiii. 180. BUT O! REVENGE IS SWEET. Thus think the crowd; who, eager to engage, Take quickly fire, and kindle into rage. Not so mild Thales nor Chrysippus thought, Nor that good man, who drank th…
He adds that forgiveness must be early and wise because resentment grows with repeated injuries; delayed vengeance traps people in misery and error, and forgiveness is required for being forgiven.
and glutted his pride with the fancied supplications of humbled enmity, will not easily open his bosom to amity and reconciliation, or indulge the gentle sentiments of benevolence and peace. It is easiest to forgive, while there is yet little to be forgiven. A single injury may be soon dismissed from the memory; but a long succession of ill offices by degrees associates itself with every idea; a long contest involv…
The editor AS PER advises against bitter resentment over minor social slights, citing Pythagoras’ rule that friends should not be hated for small faults and recommending overlooking vanity as punishment by neglect.
in which he and I were on the level, and had often, in the moment of reflection, been doubtful, whether he should lose much by changing his condition for mine. I began now to be afraid lest his pride should, by silence and submission be emboldened to insults that could not easily be borne, and therefore coolly considered, how I should repress it without such bitterness of reproof as I was yet unwilling to use. But h…
After God’s glory restores Heaven’s face, the rebels rally with envy and aim for final battle, but the Son tells the saints to stand and watch while he personally brings vengeance and decides the fight by his strength.
They, hardened more by what might most reclaim, Grieving to see his glory, at the sight Took envy; and, aspiring to his highth, Stood re-embattled fierce, by force or fraud Weening to prosper, and at length prevail Against God and Messiah, or to fall In universal ruin last; and now To final battle drew, disdaining flight, Or faint retreat; when the great Son of God To all his host on either hand thus spake. Stand sti…
Adam and Eve decide to cover themselves with sewn fig leaves, then struggle internally with anger, mistrust, and discord, and begin blaming each other for the transgression.
Which leaves us naked thus, of honour void, Of innocence, of faith, of purity, Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained, And in our faces evident the signs Of foul concupiscence; whence evil store; Even shame, the last of evils; of the first Be sure then.—How shall I behold the face Henceforth of God or Angel, erst with joy And rapture so oft beheld? Those heavenly shapes Will dazzle now this earthly with their bl…
He extends malice to self-directed envy-like impulses: people may seek affliction from the sting of comparison, and he distinguishes envy (desire to be superior) from malice (desire to cause others’ evil).
when we enjoy nothing at present equal to them. The comparison being the same, as when we reflect on the sentiments of others, must be attended with the same effects. Nay a person may extend this malice against himself, even to his present fortune, and carry it so far as designedly to seek affliction, and encrease his pains and sorrows. This may happen upon two occasions. First, Upon the distress and misfortune of a…
Hume argues that anger and hatred are natural and not always vicious, but become most detested when they turn to cruelty or inhumanity, which makes a person’s character harmful in social relations.
person, whose grief upon the loss of a friend were excessive, would be esteemed upon that account. His tenderness bestows a merit, as it does a pleasure, on his melancholy. We are not, however, to imagine, that all the angry passions are vicious, though they are disagreeable. There is a certain indulgence due to human nature in this respect. Anger and hatred are passions inherent in Our very frame and constitutions.…
He links weak or excessive passions to dulness, giddiness, and madness, explaining rage and melancholy as disorders of pride, jealousy, revenge, or dejection, and notes how mass passion amplifies collective violence.
Melancholy Dejection, subjects a man to causelesse fears; which is a Madnesse commonly called MELANCHOLY, apparent also in divers manners; as in haunting of solitudes, and graves; in superstitious behaviour; and in fearing some one, some another particular thing. In summe, all Passions that produce strange and unusuall behaviour, are called by the generall name of Madnesse. But of the severall kinds of Madnesse, he …
Althaea, after learning her slain brothers are taken, mourns then turns to vengeance: she brings out a fatal brand from the Fates’ fire, hesitates between motherly love and revenge, and burns it.
his brother, and fearing his brother’s fate, long to be in doubt; but a second time warmed his weapon, reeking with the former slaughter, in the blood of the brother. Althæa was carrying gifts to the temples of the Gods, her son being victorious, when she beheld her slain brothers carried off {from the field}: uttering a shriek, she filled the city with her sad lamentations, and assumed black garments in exchange fo…
Emerson criticizes prayers that seek private commodities or beg instead of recognizing unity with God, urging true prayer as attentive action; he also condemns regrets and passive sympathy, praising self-reliant perseverance and citing Zoroaster and theatrical example.
in all the offices and relations of men; in their religion; in their education; in their pursuits; their modes of living; their association; in their property; in their speculative views. 1. In what prayers do men allow themselves! That which they call a holy office is not so much as brave and manly. Prayer looks abroad and asks for some foreign addition to come through some foreign virtue, and loses itself in endle…
She then describes her fourth husband as a reveller with a paramour, and says she retaliated with jealousy by making him feel punishment and anguish rather than harming her body.
as is a rose, But I will keep it for your owen tooth. Ye be to blame, by God, I say you sooth.” Such manner wordes hadde we on hand. Now will I speaken of my fourth husband. My fourthe husband was a revellour; This is to say, he had a paramour, And I was young and full of ragerie,* *wantonness Stubborn and strong, and jolly as a pie.* *magpie Then could I dance to a harp…
She tells how, after earlier husbands’ deaths and her marriage to clerk Jenkin, her young lust and stubborn independence lead to repeated conflict when he forbids her pleasures and teaches harsh proverbs about keeping a wife.
That made me that I coulde not withdraw My chamber of Venus from a good fellaw. [Yet have I Marte’s mark upon my face, And also in another privy place. For God so wisly* be my salvation, *certainly I loved never by discretion, But ever follow’d mine own appetite, All* were he short, or long, or black, or white, *whether I took no keep,* so that he liked me, …
The Merchant laments his “shrew” wife and contrasts her cruelty with Griselda’s patience, then offers to tell his own tale, prompted by the Host’s request.
THE PROLOGUE.<l> “Weeping and wailing, care and other sorrow, I have enough, on even and on morrow,” Quoth the Merchant, “and so have other mo’, That wedded be; I trow* that it be so; *believe For well I wot it fareth so by me. I have a wife, the worste that may be, For though the fiend to her y-coupled were, She would him overmatch, I dare well swear. Why should I you rehearse in special He…
The tale continues with the suitor’s departure, the narrator’s grief, and the explanation that her love was naturally drawn to novelty, abandoning her after a day-like separation.
allowed Keeping the boundes of my worship ever; And never had I thing *so lefe, or lever,* *so dear, or dearer* As him, God wot, nor never shall no mo’. “This lasted longer than a year or two, That I supposed of him naught but good. But finally, thus at the last it stood, That fortune woulde that he muste twin* *depart, separate Out of that place which that I was in. Whe’er* me was woe, it is no quest…