[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":442},["ShallowReactive",2],{"stoic-topic-anger-llm_tag-all-relevance":3},{"id":4,"slug":5,"name":6,"shortDescription":7,"intro":8,"synthesis":9,"method":10,"runId":11,"passages":12},3,"anger","Anger & Provocation","Anger and irritation: their causes, their cost, and how to remain unprovoked. Includes bearing with other people's faults, insults, and offences.","Seneca wrote three books against anger, and the case he makes is absolute: it is not a passion to be moderated but one to be refused outright. Anger, in the Stoic analysis, is a judgement - that you have been wronged, and that something must be done about it - and like any judgement it can be examined before you act on it.\n\nMarcus works the same ground from the other direction, mostly by rehearsing reasons not to be surprised by other people. They act badly out of ignorance of what is good. You will meet such people today. You are sometimes one of them.","The interesting disagreement here is with Aristotle, who held that the right amount of anger at the right time is part of a good character. Seneca argues that this concedes too much: anger cannot be kept on a leash, since it is fast, self-justifying, and does not consult you about proportion once it is loose.\n\nWhat the Stoics offer in its place is not passivity. You can still correct someone, punish a wrong, or oppose a cruelty - just without the internal state that makes you worse at all three.","llm_tag",15,[13,30,45,53,61,69,77,85,96,104,112,120,128,136,144,152,160,168,176,184,192,200,208,216,224,232,240,248,256,264,272,280,288,296,309,320,328,336,344,354,362,370,378,386,394,402,410,418,426,434],{"sectionId":14,"sectionLabel":15,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":18,"relevanceNote":19,"work":20,"author":24,"readingUrl":29},2416,"1.04",5,"llm_1_5","I shall omit the other varieties of anger, which the Greeks distinguish by various names, because we have no distinctive words for them in our language, although we call men bitter and harsh, and also peevish, frantic, clamorous, surly and fierce: all of which are different forms of irascibility.","Passage systematically classifies and distinguishes different forms of anger and irascibility.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},197,"On Anger","on-anger",{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},208,"Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger","Seneca","seneca","/seneca/on-anger/1.04",{"sectionId":31,"sectionLabel":32,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":33,"relevanceNote":34,"work":35,"author":39,"readingUrl":44},709,"5.28","What will anger profit you?","The passage is entirely about anger: whether to feel it, why it is futile, and how to respond rationally to offensive behaviour.",{"id":36,"name":37,"urlSlug":38},2,"The Meditations","meditations",{"id":40,"name":41,"shortName":42,"urlSlug":43},217,"Marcus Aurelius Antoninus","Marcus Aurelius","aurelius","/aurelius/meditations/5.28",{"sectionId":46,"sectionLabel":47,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":48,"relevanceNote":49,"work":50,"author":51,"readingUrl":52},2508,"3.39","We have now succeeded, my Novatus, in properly regulating our own minds: they either do not feel anger or are above it: let us next see how we may soothe the wrath of others, for we do not only wish to be whole, but to heal.","The entire passage is centrally about managing anger in others, from diagnosing its stages to employing remedies.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.39",{"sectionId":54,"sectionLabel":55,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":56,"relevanceNote":57,"work":58,"author":59,"readingUrl":60},2490,"3.21","Here one of the white horses which drew the royal chariot was washed away, and his loss moved the king to such violent rage, that he swore to reduce the river which had carried off his royal retinue to so low an ebb that even women should walk across it and trample upon it.","The passage is centrally about Cyrus's violent rage over a lost horse and its destructive consequences, illustrating the irrational nature of anger.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.21",{"sectionId":62,"sectionLabel":63,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":64,"relevanceNote":65,"work":66,"author":67,"readingUrl":68},2455,"2.22","Now we ought to fight against the first causes of evil: the cause of anger is the belief that we are injured; this belief, therefore, should not be lightly entertained.","The passage is centrally concerned with the causes and prevention of anger, including how to resist it and avoid acting rashly.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/2.22",{"sectionId":70,"sectionLabel":71,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":72,"relevanceNote":73,"work":74,"author":75,"readingUrl":76},2450,"2.17","Let the wise man be moderate, and when things have to be done somewhat briskly, let him call force, not anger, to his aid.","The passage is centrally and explicitly about anger: whether it aids effective action, whether a wise person should rely on it, and the distinction between genuine anger and strategic pretence of it.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/2.17",{"sectionId":78,"sectionLabel":79,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":80,"relevanceNote":81,"work":82,"author":83,"readingUrl":84},2439,"2.06","To rejoice and be glad is the proper and natural function of virtue: it is as much beneath her dignity to be angry, as to mourn: now, sorrow is the companion of anger, and all anger ends in sorrow, either from remorse or from failure.","The passage is centrally about whether virtue should or should not be angry, and argues that anger is beneath virtue's dignity and ends in sorrow.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/2.06",{"sectionId":86,"sectionLabel":87,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":88,"relevanceNote":89,"work":90,"author":94,"readingUrl":95},2607,"1.17","So deplorable is the weakness of men's minds when reason no longer guides them.","The passage is centrally about uncontrolled anger and rage as a weakness of the mind, with multiple examples of people being enraged by insults and ridicule.",{"id":91,"name":92,"urlSlug":93},201,"On the Firmness of a Wise Man","on-the-firmness-of-a-wise-man",{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-the-firmness-of-a-wise-man/1.17",{"sectionId":97,"sectionLabel":98,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":99,"relevanceNote":100,"work":101,"author":102,"readingUrl":103},2425,"1.13","But it is not expedient that anger should be increased: therefore it is not expedient that it should exist at all, for that which grows bad by increase cannot be a good thing.","The passage directly and extensively argues that anger is not a good thing and should not exist, refuting claims of its utility.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/1.13",{"sectionId":105,"sectionLabel":106,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":107,"relevanceNote":108,"work":109,"author":110,"readingUrl":111},992,"10.30","When you run against some one's wrong behaviour, go on at once to reflect what similar wrong act of your own there is; for instance, to esteem money or pleasure or glory as goods, and so on with each kind.","The entire passage is a direct method for overcoming anger when encountering others' wrongdoing.",{"id":36,"name":37,"urlSlug":38},{"id":40,"name":41,"shortName":42,"urlSlug":43},"/aurelius/meditations/10.30",{"sectionId":113,"sectionLabel":114,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":115,"relevanceNote":116,"work":117,"author":118,"readingUrl":119},2486,"3.17","So ferocious in their anger were those kings who had no learning, no tincture of polite literature: now I will show you King Alexander (the Great), fresh from the lap of Aristotle, who with his own hand while at table stabbed Clitus, his dearest friend, who had been brought up with him, because he did not flatter him enough, and was too slow in transforming himself from a free man and a Macedonian into a Persian slave.","The passage opens with and is primarily concerned with the ferocious anger of kings, exemplified by Alexander's violent murder of his friend Clitus in an uncontrolled rage.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.17",{"sectionId":121,"sectionLabel":122,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":123,"relevanceNote":124,"work":125,"author":126,"readingUrl":127},2601,"1.11","Besides this, as most insults proceed from those who are haughty and arrogant and bear their prosperity ill, he has something wherewith to repel this haughty passion, namely, that noblest of all the virtues, magnanimity, which passes over everything of that kind as like unreal apparitions in dreams and visions of the night, which have nothing in them substantial or true.","The passage is centrally and explicitly about how to remain unprovoked by insults and scornful remarks, and how to bear them without anger or offense.",{"id":91,"name":92,"urlSlug":93},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-the-firmness-of-a-wise-man/1.11",{"sectionId":129,"sectionLabel":130,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":131,"relevanceNote":132,"work":133,"author":134,"readingUrl":135},798,"7.22","It is a property of man to love even those who stumble.","The passage is centrally about overcoming anger and irritation toward those who wrong us by cultivating love and understanding for the fallen.",{"id":36,"name":37,"urlSlug":38},{"id":40,"name":41,"shortName":42,"urlSlug":43},"/aurelius/meditations/7.22",{"sectionId":137,"sectionLabel":138,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":139,"relevanceNote":140,"work":141,"author":142,"readingUrl":143},2446,"2.13","Anger ought to be removed from our minds: even those who say that it ought to be kept low admit this to some extent: let it be got rid of altogether; there is nothing to be gained by it.","The passage is centrally and repeatedly about anger: its removal, the false claim it is useful or unavoidable, and why it should be eliminated entirely.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/2.13",{"sectionId":145,"sectionLabel":146,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":147,"relevanceNote":148,"work":149,"author":150,"readingUrl":151},2433,"1.21","There is therefore nothing great or noble in anger, even when it seems to be powerful and to contemn both gods and men alike.","The passage opens by directly denying that anger produces greatness of mind, and the entire opening argument centers on anger.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/1.21",{"sectionId":153,"sectionLabel":154,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":155,"relevanceNote":156,"work":157,"author":158,"readingUrl":159},2438,"2.05","This evil takes its rise from anger; for anger, after it has by long use and indulgence made a man forget mercy, and driven all feelings of human fellowship from his mind, passes finally into cruelty.","Passage explicitly explores anger's transformation into cruelty through indulgence and habituation, contrasting true anger with ferocity.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/2.05",{"sectionId":161,"sectionLabel":162,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":163,"relevanceNote":164,"work":165,"author":166,"readingUrl":167},2479,"3.10","Just as the signs of storms and rain come before the storms themselves, so there are certain forerunners of anger, love, and all the storms which torment our minds.","Centrally about anger: its causes, forerunners, and how to detect and prevent it before it takes hold.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.10",{"sectionId":169,"sectionLabel":170,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":171,"relevanceNote":172,"work":173,"author":174,"readingUrl":175},2453,"2.20","All these, however, are but the beginning and causes of anger.","The passage is centrally about anger—its natural causes, physical and psychological preconditions, and practical remedies for managing it.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/2.20",{"sectionId":177,"sectionLabel":178,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":179,"relevanceNote":180,"work":181,"author":182,"readingUrl":183},2473,"3.04","By Hercules, no wild beast, neither when tortured by hunger, or with a weapon struck through its vitals, not even when it gathers its last breath to bite its slayer, looks so shocking as a man raging with anger.","The passage is entirely focused on anger: its physical manifestations, destructive power, enslaving nature, and its mistaken valorization.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.04",{"sectionId":185,"sectionLabel":186,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":187,"relevanceNote":188,"work":189,"author":190,"readingUrl":191},2506,"3.37","Would you then be angry with a chained house-dog?","The passage is centrally about anger and provocation: how to avoid it, why particular situations (seating, insults, slights) should not provoke anger, with repeated examples and direct advice.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.37",{"sectionId":193,"sectionLabel":194,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":195,"relevanceNote":196,"work":197,"author":198,"readingUrl":199},2442,"2.09","The wise man will never cease to be angry, if he once begins, so full is every place of vices and crimes.","The entire passage centers on the problem of anger in response to widespread moral corruption, culminating in whether the wise man should rage at human wickedness.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/2.09",{"sectionId":201,"sectionLabel":202,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":203,"relevanceNote":204,"work":205,"author":206,"readingUrl":207},2463,"2.30","Who but an unjust person can be angry with what is done under compulsion?","Passage is centrally about managing anger through understanding the circumstances and character of the offender; anger is the explicit focus throughout.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/2.30",{"sectionId":209,"sectionLabel":210,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":211,"relevanceNote":212,"work":213,"author":214,"readingUrl":215},2451,"2.18","These, I imagine, are two-fold: the one class preventing our becoming angry, the other preventing our doing wrong when we are angry.","The passage is entirely about remedies for anger—preventing it and managing it when it arises.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/2.18",{"sectionId":217,"sectionLabel":218,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":219,"relevanceNote":220,"work":221,"author":222,"readingUrl":223},2456,"2.23","I praise Alexander's doing this all the more because he was above all men prone to anger; but the rarer moderation is among kings, the more it deserves to be praised.","The passage is fundamentally about managing anger: the tyrannicide story shows anger's destructive power, and the Alexander and Caesar examples praise mastery over anger.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/2.23",{"sectionId":225,"sectionLabel":226,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":227,"relevanceNote":228,"work":229,"author":230,"readingUrl":231},841,"7.65","See that you do not feel to the inhuman what they feel to mankind.","Directly addresses not responding to provocation and inhumane treatment in kind, core anger management.",{"id":36,"name":37,"urlSlug":38},{"id":40,"name":41,"shortName":42,"urlSlug":43},"/aurelius/meditations/7.65",{"sectionId":233,"sectionLabel":234,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":235,"relevanceNote":236,"work":237,"author":238,"readingUrl":239},2480,"3.11","There are many ways in which anger may be checked; most things may be turned into jest.","The passage is centrally and explicitly about anger: its causes, how to check it, how to remain unprovoked, and bearing with offences and insults.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.11",{"sectionId":241,"sectionLabel":242,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":243,"relevanceNote":244,"work":245,"author":246,"readingUrl":247},2458,"2.25","Another consequence of this will be, that we shall not be exasperated by the slightest and most contemptible trifles.","Passage is explicitly and centrally about avoiding exasperation and anger from trifles, and the folly of being provoked by small things.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/2.25",{"sectionId":249,"sectionLabel":250,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":251,"relevanceNote":252,"work":253,"author":254,"readingUrl":255},2496,"3.27","Revenge takes up much time, and throws itself in the way of many injuries while it is smarting under one.","The passage is centrally about anger, revenge, and how to overcome these destructive emotions through reason and kindness rather than retaliation.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.27",{"sectionId":257,"sectionLabel":258,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":259,"relevanceNote":260,"work":261,"author":262,"readingUrl":263},2478,"3.09","We must avoid law courts, pleadings, verdicts, and everything else that aggravates our fault, and we ought no less to avoid bodily weariness; for it exhausts all that is quiet and gentle in us, and rouses bitterness.","The passage is centrally about managing anger and irritability in irascible men, offering practical advice to avoid triggers and practices that exacerbate it.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.09",{"sectionId":265,"sectionLabel":266,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":267,"relevanceNote":268,"work":269,"author":270,"readingUrl":271},2509,"3.40","He shall pay for what he has done; be well assured of that: when you are able you shall return it to him with interest.\" To reprove a man when he is angry is to add to his anger by being angry oneself.","The passage directly addresses how anger functions, its causes, and how to respond to an angry person without inflaming anger further.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.40",{"sectionId":273,"sectionLabel":274,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":275,"relevanceNote":276,"work":277,"author":278,"readingUrl":279},2434,"2.01","The question before us is whether anger arises from deliberate choice or from impulse, that is, whether it acts of its own accord or like the greater part of those passions which spring up within us without our knowledge.","The entire passage is an explicit and detailed investigation of anger's nature, its origins, and whether it arises from deliberate choice or impulse.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/2.01",{"sectionId":281,"sectionLabel":282,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":283,"relevanceNote":284,"work":285,"author":286,"readingUrl":287},2426,"1.14","By this reasoning, the better a man is, the more irascible he will be: yet will he not rather be more tranquil, more free from passions, and hating no one: indeed, what reason has he for hating sinners, since it is error that leads them into such crimes? now it does not become a sensible man to hate the erring, since if so he will hate himself: let him think how many things he does contrary to good morals, how much of what he has done stands in need of pardon, and he will soon become angry with himself also, for no righteous judge pronounces a different judgment in his own case and in that of others.","The passage directly challenges the necessity of anger toward wrongdoers and argues for freedom from anger through understanding error and self-knowledge.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/1.14",{"sectionId":289,"sectionLabel":290,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":291,"relevanceNote":292,"work":293,"author":294,"readingUrl":295},2489,"3.20","Rage still drove the king madly forwards, until after he had lost one part of his army and eaten another he began to fear that he also might be called upon to draw the lot for his life; then at last he gave the order for retreat.","Centrally about Cambyses' rage driving destructive cruelty and irrational decisions; anger is the engine of the atrocities described.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.20",{"sectionId":297,"sectionLabel":98,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":298,"relevanceNote":299,"work":300,"author":304,"readingUrl":308},2863,"But when you have asked for warm water and the slave has not heard, or if he did hear has brought only tepid water, or he is not even found to be in the house, then not to be vexed or to burst with passion, is not this acceptable to the gods?⁠—How then shall a man endure such persons as this slave?","Directly addresses anger and vexation: how to remain unprovoked when a slave brings tepid water or fails to serve—explicitly about not bursting with passion at provocation.",{"id":301,"name":302,"urlSlug":303},209,"Discourses","discourses",{"id":305,"name":306,"shortName":306,"urlSlug":307},218,"Epictetus","epictetus","/epictetus/discourses/1.13",{"sectionId":310,"sectionLabel":311,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":312,"relevanceNote":313,"work":314,"author":318,"readingUrl":319},2404,"7.30","What is the use of abuse, or of complaints? why do you overwhelm him with reproaches? why do you set him free from his obligation? even if he be ungrateful he owes you nothing after this.","Directly addresses anger and reproach in response to ingratitude, their counterproductive effects, and how to remain unprovoked when wronged.",{"id":315,"name":316,"urlSlug":317},195,"On Benefits","on-benefits",{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-benefits/7.30",{"sectionId":321,"sectionLabel":322,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":323,"relevanceNote":324,"work":325,"author":326,"readingUrl":327},2503,"3.34","Come now, let us enumerate the other causes of anger: they are food, drink, and the showy apparatus connected with them, words, insults, disrespectful movements of the body, suspicions, obstinate cattle, lazy slaves, and spiteful construction put upon other men's words, so that even the gift of language to mankind becomes reckoned among the wrongs of nature.","The passage directly enumerates causes of anger and analyzes its roots.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.34",{"sectionId":329,"sectionLabel":330,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":331,"relevanceNote":332,"work":333,"author":334,"readingUrl":335},2427,"1.15","The sinner ought, therefore, to be corrected both by warning and by force, both by gentle and harsh means, and may be made a better man both towards himself and others by chastisement, but not by anger: for who is angry with the patient whose wounds he is tending ?","The passage is centrally about anger and correction: it repeatedly insists that chastisement and punishment should be administered without anger, presenting anger as incompatible with proper judgment and reform.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/1.15",{"sectionId":337,"sectionLabel":338,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":339,"relevanceNote":340,"work":341,"author":342,"readingUrl":343},737,"6.20","In the field a player may have scratched us with his nails or given us a blow with his head, in a rage, yet we do not label him for that or hit back or suspect him afterwards of designs against us.","Centrally about not retaliating when struck in anger and avoiding enmity despite provocation",{"id":36,"name":37,"urlSlug":38},{"id":40,"name":41,"shortName":42,"urlSlug":43},"/aurelius/meditations/6.20",{"sectionId":345,"sectionLabel":87,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":346,"relevanceNote":347,"work":348,"author":352,"readingUrl":353},2529,"We are not angry with diseases, but apply remedies to them: but this also is a disease of the mind, and requires soothing medicine and a physician who is anything but angry with his patient.","Anger is the central topic: the passage explicitly addresses anger as a disease of the mind requiring compassionate treatment rather than harsh response; treating people as a good physician treats disease, not with anger.",{"id":349,"name":350,"urlSlug":351},198,"On Clemency","on-clemency",{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-clemency/1.17",{"sectionId":355,"sectionLabel":356,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":357,"relevanceNote":358,"work":359,"author":360,"readingUrl":361},2498,"3.29","If a prisoner of war, who has suddenly been reduced to the condition of a slave, still retains some remnants of liberty, and does not run nimbly to perform foul and toilsome tasks, if, having grown slothful by long rest, he cannot run fast enough to keep pace with his master's horse or carriage, if sleep overpowers him when weary with many days and nights of watching, if he refuses to undertake farm work, or does not do it heartily when brought away from the idleness of city service and put to hard labour, we ought to make a distinction between whether a man cannot or will not do it: we should pardon many slaves, if we began to judge them before we began to be angry with them: as it is, however, we obey our first impulse, and then, although we may prove to have been excited about mere trifles, yet we continue to be angry, lest we should seem to have begun to be angry without cause; and, most unjust of all, the injustice of our anger makes us persist in it all the more; for we nurse it and inflame it, as though to be violently angry proved our anger to be just.","The passage is centrally about the causes and costs of anger, how we become angry without just cause, and how we persist in it irrationally.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.29",{"sectionId":363,"sectionLabel":364,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":365,"relevanceNote":366,"work":367,"author":368,"readingUrl":369},2448,"2.15","\"That you may be sure,\" says our opponent, \"that anger has in it something noble, pray look at the free nations, such as the Germans and Scythians, who are especially prone to anger.\" The reason of this is that stout and daring intellects are liable to anger before they are tamed by discipline; for some passions engraft themselves upon the better class of dispositions only, just as good land, even when waste, grows strong brushwood, and the trees are tall which stand upon a fertile soil.","The passage is centrally about anger, examining whether it contains nobility and how it relates to natural temperament and discipline.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/2.15",{"sectionId":371,"sectionLabel":372,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":373,"relevanceNote":374,"work":375,"author":376,"readingUrl":377},2491,"3.22","These should be regarded as examples to be avoided, and what I am about to relate, on the contrary, to be followed, being examples of gentle and lenient conduct in men who both had reasons for anger and power to avenge themselves.","The passage is centrally about controlling anger and responding with gentleness despite provocation; Antigonus exemplifies bearing insults, mocking, and evil speech without retaliation.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.22",{"sectionId":379,"sectionLabel":380,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":381,"relevanceNote":382,"work":383,"author":384,"readingUrl":385},2501,"3.32","Let different qualities in different people keep us from quarrelling with them: let us fear to be angry with some, feel ashamed of being angry with others, and disdain to be angry with others.","The passage is centrally and explicitly about anger management, restraint, and preventing angry reactions—its causes, costs, and how to remain unprovoked.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.32",{"sectionId":387,"sectionLabel":388,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":389,"relevanceNote":390,"work":391,"author":392,"readingUrl":393},2510,"3.41","There is, then, nothing useful in that hideous and destructive passion of anger, but on the contrary, every kind of evil, fire and sword.","The passage is centrally about anger—its destructive nature, its lack of utility, and how to overcome it through peace of mind.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.41",{"sectionId":395,"sectionLabel":396,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":397,"relevanceNote":398,"work":399,"author":400,"readingUrl":401},2421,"1.09","In the next place, anger has nothing useful in itself, and does not rouse up the mind to warlike deeds: for a virtue, being self-sufficient, never needs the assistance of a vice: whenever it needs an impetuous effort, it does not become angry, but rises to the occasion, and excites or soothes itself as far as it deems requisite, just as the machines which hurl darts may be twisted to a greater or lesser degree of tension at the manager's pleasure.","The passage directly and centrally argues that anger has no useful purpose, explicitly rejecting its value in virtue and action.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/1.09",{"sectionId":403,"sectionLabel":404,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":405,"relevanceNote":406,"work":407,"author":408,"readingUrl":409},2511,"3.42","Let us not moderate anger, but get rid of it altogether: what can moderation have to do with an evil habit?","The passage is entirely devoted to eradicating anger and explaining why it is irrational.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/3.42",{"sectionId":411,"sectionLabel":412,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":413,"relevanceNote":414,"work":415,"author":416,"readingUrl":417},2449,"2.16","Anger is of use to lions, timidity to stags, boldness to hawks, flight to doves.","The passage centrally examines anger's use and propriety: whether it benefits humans as it may benefit certain animals, rejecting anger as a virtue for mankind.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/2.16",{"sectionId":419,"sectionLabel":420,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":421,"relevanceNote":422,"work":423,"author":424,"readingUrl":425},2417,"1.05","Who, then, can be more ignorant of nature than he who classes this cruel and hurtful vice as belonging to her best and most polished work?","The passage is centrally about whether anger accords with human nature and is worth entertaining; it argues that anger is contrary to our gentle, social nature.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/1.05",{"sectionId":427,"sectionLabel":428,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":429,"relevanceNote":430,"work":431,"author":432,"readingUrl":433},2419,"1.07","May it not be that, although anger be not natural, it may be right to adopt it, because it often proves useful?","The entire passage centers on whether anger should be banished or controlled, debating its utility and dangers",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/1.07",{"sectionId":435,"sectionLabel":436,"score":16,"scoreScale":17,"pullQuote":437,"relevanceNote":438,"work":439,"author":440,"readingUrl":441},2436,"2.03","Anger is that which goes beyond reason and carries her away with it: wherefore the first confusion of a man's mind when struck by what seems an injury is no more anger than the apparent injury itself: it is the subsequent mad rush, which not only receives the impression of the apparent injury, but acts upon it as true, that is anger, being an exciting of the mind to revenge, which proceeds from choice and deliberate resolve.","The passage is fundamentally about anger: its nature, how it differs from mere emotional impulse, and that it requires the mind's deliberate choice to act.",{"id":21,"name":22,"urlSlug":23},{"id":25,"name":26,"shortName":27,"urlSlug":28},"/seneca/on-anger/2.03",1785969084135]