[102]
The appetites, moreover, must be made to obey
[p. 105]
the reins of reason and neither allowed to run ahead
of it nor from listlessness or indolence to lag behind;
but people should enjoy calm of soul and be free
from every sort of passion. As a result strength1
of character and self-control will shine forth in all
their lustre. For when appetites overstep their
bounds and, galloping away, so to speak, whether
in desire or aversion, are not well held in hand
by reason, they clearly overleap all bound and
measure; for they throw obedience off and leave
it behind and refuse to obey the reins of reason,
to which they are subject by Nature's laws. And
not only minds but bodies as well are disordered by
such appetites. We need only to look at the faces
of men in a rage or under the influence of some
passion or fear or beside themselves with extravagant
joy: in every instance their features, voices, motions,
attitudes undergo a change.
1 Self-control in (1) passions.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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