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WE ought then to restrain every movement of anger and moderate it under
the direction of discretion, that we may not by blind rage be hurried into
that which is condemned by Solomon: "The wicked man expends all his anger,
but the wise man dispenses it bit by bit," i.e., a fool is inflamed by
the passion of his anger to avenge himself; but a wise man, by the ripeness
of his counsel and moderation little by little diminishes it, and gets rid
of it. Something of the same kind too is this which is said by the Apostle:
"Not avenging yourselves, dearly beloved: but give place to wrath,"
i.e., do not under the compulsion of wrath proceed to vengeance, but give
place to wrath, i.e., do not let your hearts be confined in the straits of
impatience and cowardice so that, when a fierce storm of passion rises, you
cannot endure it; but be ye enlarged in your hearts, receiving the adverse
waves of anger in the wide gulf of that love which "suffereth all things,
beareth all things;" and so your mind will be enlarged with wide long-
suffering and patience, and will have within it safe recesses of counsel,
in which the foul smoke of anger will be received and be diffused and
forthwith vanish away; or else the passage may be taken in this way: we
give place to wrath, as often as we yield with humble and tranquil mind to
the passion of another, and bow to the impatience of the passionate, as if
we admitted that we deserved any kind of wrong. But those who twist the
meaning of the perfection of which the Apostle speaks so as to make out
that those give place to anger, who go away from a man in a rage, seem to
me not to cut off but rather to foment the incitement to quarrelling, for
unless a neighbour's wrath is overcome at once by amends being humbly made,
a man provokes rather than avoids it by his flight. And there is something
like this that Solomon says: "Be not hasty in thy spirit to be wroth, for
anger reposes in the bosom of fools;" and: "Be not quick to rush into a
quarrel, lest thou repent thereof at the last" For he does not blame a
hasty exhibition of quarrelling and anger in such a way as to praise a
tardy one. In the same way too must this be taken: "A fool declares his
anger in the very same hour, but a prudent man hides his shame." For he
does not lay it down that a shameful outburst of anger ought to be hidden
by wise men in such a way that while he blames a speedy outburst of anger
he fails to forbid a tardy one, as certainly, if owing to human weakness it
does burst forth, he means that it should be hidden for this reason, that
while for the moment it is wisely covered up, it may be destroyed forever.
For the nature of anger is such that when it is given room it languishes
and perishes, but if openly exhibited, it burns more and more. The hearts
then should be enlarged and opened wide, lest they be confined in the
narrow straits of cowardice, and be filled with the swelling surge of
wrath, and so we become unable to receive what the prophet calls the
"exceeding broad" commandment of God in our narrow heart, or to say with
the prophet: "I have run the way of thy commandments for thou hast enlarged
my heart." For that long-suffering is wisdom we are taught by very clear
passages of Scripture: for "a man who is long-suffering is great in
prudence; but a coward is very foolish." And therefore Scripture says of
him who to his credit asked the gift of wisdom from the Lord: "God gave
Solomon wisdom and prudence exceeding much, and largeness of heart as the
sand of the sea for multitude."
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