word fruge, the best thing which the earth produces; nequitia is derived (though this is perhaps rather more strained; still, let us try it; we shall only be thought to have been trifling if there is nothing in what we say) from the fact of everything being to no purpose (nequicquam) in such a man; from which circumstance he is called also Nihil, nothing. Whoever is frugal, then, or, if it is more agreeable to you, whoever is moderate and temperate, such a one must of course be consistent; whoever is consistent, must be quiet; the quiet man must be free from all perturbation, therefore from grief likewise: and these are the properties of a wise man; therefore a wise man must be free from grief.
IX. So that Dionysius of Heraclea is right when, upon this complaint of Achilles in Homer,
Well hast thou spoke, but at the tyrant's name
My rage rekindles, and my soul's in flame:
"Tis just resentment, and becomes the brave,
Disgraced, dishonor'd like the vilest slave[1]—
he reasons thus: Is the hand as it should be, when it is affected with a swelling? or is it possible for any other member of the body, when swollen or enlarged, to be in any other than a disordered state? Must not the mind, then, when it is puffed up, or distended, be out of order? But the mind of a wise man is always free from every kind of disorder: it never swells, never is puffed up; but the mind when in anger is in a different state. A wise man, therefore, is never angry; for when he is angry, he lusts after something; for whoever is angry naturally has a longing desire to give all the pain he can to the person who he thinks has injured him; and whoever has this earnest desire must necessarily be much pleased with the accomplishment of his wishes; hence he is delighted with his neighbor's misery; and as a wise man is not capable of such feelings as these, he is therefore not capable of anger. But should a wise man be subject to grief, he may like--
- ↑ The Greek is,
Ἀλλά μοι οἰδάνεται κραδίν χόλῳ ὁπποτ' έκείνον
Μνήσομαι ός μ' ἀσύφηλον ἐν Ἀργείοισιν ἔρέξεν.—II.ix.642.I have given Pope's translation in the text.
