This chapter examines Philodemus' diatribe On Anger, a principal piece of On the Passions and an important contribution to the philosophical literature on that subject. The first section supplies some semantic and historical context for Philodemus' discussion. The next section presents the methodological objections raised by Timasagoras, one of Philodemus' professional rivals, and shows how Philodemus responds to them. The chapter then discusses how Philodemus accounts for the nature and symptoms of anger, the beliefs, and feelings that it involves, and its consequences. The next section after that is devoted to Philodemus' refutation of certain Peripatetics whom, rightly or wrongly, he takes to encourage one to lose one's temper. In addition, this section discusses the case of people who give the appearance of irascibility without really being irascible. The chpater then deals with the issue of whether anger is a good or a bad thing. Finally it examines whether the sage experiences no less anger than the common man. It discusses three arguments in the form of (translit. epilogismos, pl. epilogismoi) to the effect that the sage feels as much anger as the common man, and then another three arguments whereby Philodemus rebuts the epilogismoi of his opponents.
Keywords: Philodemus, On Anger, anger, temper, On the Passions, epilogismoi