‘Or again, if they think that they are themselves in fault, and are suffering no more than they deserve; for justice, ‘reciprocity’, or fair retaliation, excites no anger: and so they no longer think that the treatment they receive is in violation of their natural rights, and this, as we said, is essential to (or the notion of) anger’. ἦν ‘was—when we said it’: that is, in the definition II 2. 1. On προσῆκον, the appeal to nature as the basis of obligation, see note on μὴ προσήκοντος (on II 2. 1 at the end). ‘And therefore punishment should always be preceded by the (appropriate, τῷ) explanation (of the nature of the offence and the justice of the punishment); for even slaves are less vexed at being punished (when treated in this way)’. This is Muretus' interpretation, against Victorius. It is no doubt the natural and correct explanation. [‘Decet verbis castigare, antequam puniamus.’ Spengel.]
Commentary on the Rhetoric of Aristotle. Edward Meredith Cope. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1877.
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