Seneca's First Motions

Aristotle would see a man who never grew angry for any reason as cold or impassive. Such a man would fall short of moderation, just as the easily angered man exceeds it. Neither man would be virtuous to some extent. Seneca can avoid this result by insisting that anger is in itself excessive because it is a loss of reason on his behalf. If justice motivates us, we have every chance of imposing just punishments. Whereas if anger is our motive, we will wind up acting like pisa.