De reprimenda ira
The Danger of Anger
Anger creates a foothold for the devil and obscures the light of Christ in the heart.
For because a person so often takes revenge on another through anger, the Apostle therefore forbids us to sin through anger, saying: Be angry, and do not sin. Don't let the sun go down on your anger. Do not give the devil a place. So you see, most gentle king, that whoever seeks revenge against a brother out of anger makes room for the devil in his heart; and as far as it lies within him, he also brings about the setting of the Sun, who is Christ.1 And rightly so: by the sun, Christ is meant, and by the darkness, the devil. For the sun and darkness cannot dwell together in one human heart: when light dwells there, the darkness is driven out; when darkness remains, the light is shut out.2 For sweetness cannot dwell with bitterness, or fog with light, or fighting with peace, or a storm with calm. So put away anger, most gentle king, with the Lord's help, and do not take revenge out of anger.
The Weight of Royal Authority
Scriptural warnings against anger are especially critical for kings, whose wrath carries unique power and consequence.
Pay careful attention to what Paul's warning tells us. For he says: But now you too must put away all anger, indignation, and malice.✦ James also says, 'A person's anger doesn't produce the righteousness of God.' Solomon says, 'Envy and a hot temper shorten our days, and fretting brings on old age before its time.'3 .4 Our Lord himself—the adornment and glory of his whole Church, preacher and teacher, example and pattern, creator, governor, and ruler—completely turns us away from anger against a brother, saying, 'Everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.' So kings above all must take care not to carry their anger through into action. For the anger of an ordinary person isn't the same as the anger of a king.5 It is written of a king's anger: A king's anger is like the roar of a lion. And again: A king's anger is a messenger of death. So the stronger a king's anger is for taking vengeance, the more tempered and careful it must be among the most faithful kings.
The Royal Way of Patience
The king is exhorted to replace anger with brotherly love and patience to ensure a just and peaceful reign.
But you, most gentle king, if you want to run this Royal Way that we are writing about and climb happily up to the royal homeland above, be gentle and most mild; and if anger bursts out, rein it in; if it seizes the mind, soothe it; if it rises in the spirit, hold it down; if the fury of anger strikes the soul, let brotherly love restrain it, let brotherly kindness temper the anger, let brotherly charity temper the hostility, let brotherly love soften the indignation.6 For anger is a great vice: through anger wisdom is lost, justice is abandoned, the bond of love is dissolved, the harmony of peace is broken, and the law of truth is forfeited. Driven by the goads of anger, the body trembles, the tongue stammers, the face catches fire, the heart pounds and shudders, and the troubled eyes go dim. So then, king, so that these things do not happen to you, rein in your anger and arrange everything with patience; for your word is full of power, and no one can resist it.✦ Arrange what needs arranging with peace, and rule what needs ruling with calm, so that you both govern the kingdom well and justly, and rejoice forever as the possessor of your soul.
Read the original Latin
Nam quia solet homo homini per iram reddere vindictam, ideo peccare per iram nos Apostolus prohibet dicens: Irascimini et nolite peccare. Sol non occidat super iracundiam vestram. Nolite locum dare diabolo. Vides ergo, mitissime rex, quia qui per iram in fratrem expetit vindictam, in corde suo diabolo facit locum; et vero Soli, qui est Christus, quantum in semetipso est, facit occasum. Recte etenim per solem Christus, et per tenebras diabolus intelligitur. Neque enim possunt in uno hominis pectusculo sol et tenebrae pariter commorari: habitante etenim luce fugantur tenebrae, commorantibus tenebris excluditur lux. Neque enim commorari potest cum amaritudine dulcedo, aut cum lumine caligo, aut cum pace pugna, aut cum tranquillitate tempestas. Depone ergo, mitissime rex, auxiliante Domino, iram, et noli per iram reddere vindictam.
Attende diligenter quid Pauli nos admonentis dicat sententia. Ait enim: Nunc autem deponite et vos omnem iram, indignationem et malitiam. Jacobus quoque dicit: Ira enim viri justitiam Dei non operatur. Salomon ait: Zelus et iracundia minuunt dies, et ante tempus adducet senectam cogitatus. . Ipse quoque Dominus noster, totius Ecclesiae suae ornamentum et decus, praedicator et doctor, exemplum et forma, creator, gubernator et rector, ab ira nos fratris omnino removens, ait: Omnis qui irascitur fratri suo, reus erit judicio. Cavendum est ergo maxime regibus ad effectum suam perducere iram. Neque enim aequalis est cujuslibet hominis cum ira regis.
De ira regis scriptum est: Sicut fremitus leonis, ita ira regis. Et iterum: Ira regis nuntius mortis. Ergo quantum validior est ira regis ad reddendum vindictam, tantum a fidelissimis regibus temperata debet esse et cauta.
Tu vero, mitissime rex, si vis per hanc quam scribimus Regiam currere Viam, et ad superam feliciter regiamque scandere patriam, mansuetus atque mitissimus esto; et si proruperit iracundia, restringe illam; si praeoccupaverit mentem, mitiga eam; si emerserit animo, comprime illam; si iracundiae furor pulsaverit animum, fraternus amor comprimat illam, fraterna dulcedo temperet iracundiam, fraterna charitas temperet animositatem, fraterna dilectio mitiget indignationem. Grande enim vitium est iracundia: per iram sapientia perditur, per iram justitia relinquitur, per iram societas amoris dissolvitur, per iram pacis concordia rumpitur, per iram lex veritatis amittitur; iracundiae stimulis agitatum corpus tremit, lingua balbutit, vultus ignescit, cor palpitans tremulat, et oculi turbati caligant. Haec ergo, rex, ne tibi contingant, refrenata ira, omnia dispone cum patientia; sermo enim tuus potestate plenus est, cui nemo resistere potest. Ergo cum pace dispone quae disponenda sunt, et cum tranquillitate rege quae regenda sunt, ut et regnum bene et juste gubernes, et animae tuae possessor in aeternum laeteris.
Scripture echoes
Notes
- 1 ↩Soli / occasum continues the sun-metaphor of Eph 4:26: angry revenge is read as, so far as the person can manage it, forcing Christ's light to set in the heart.
- 2 ↩pectusculo is a diminutive of pectus ('little breast/heart'); rendered as 'human heart' for natural modern English without losing the intimate interior sense.
- 3 ↩zelus rendered as envy (context of vice with iracundia); cogitatus as fretting/anxious brooding, the subject of singular adducet.
- 4 ↩Source sentence is only a bare period; likely a segmentation artifact with no recoverable Latin content.
- 5 ↩Ellipsis understood: aequalis supplies comparison of anger (ira) between any person and a king, as the following section on a king's anger confirms.
- 6 ↩amor, charitas, and dilectio are rendered as love/charity per lexeme policy; dulcedo as kindness (sweetness of affection) to keep the fraternal series distinct without flattening charitas.
Via Regia (The Royal Road) companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit