Page:Eight chapters of Maimonides on ethics.djvu/81

Rh and so forth. This is what the rabbis hinted at, in their man and the saint. Wise men cling to the exact middle course, but “the early saints were accustomed to deviate in their characteristics from the middle course towards either one or the other extreme, now making one characteristic tend towards the extreme of deficiency, and now another towards that of excess. This is doing ‘more than the strict letter of the law demands’.” In regard to the two characteristics, pride and anger, M. states, in some instances, the Aristotelian view which considers the medium course the virtue, only to depart from it at other times, and, following the Bible and Talmud, considers the extreme the virtue. Thus, in this chapter, pride is the one extreme, self-abasement  the other, and humility, the mean, is the virtue; anger  is the excess, insensibility to shame and disgrace  the deficiency, and mildness , the mean, is the virtue. In H. Deot, I, 4, the medium course, likewise, in respect to anger, is designated as the virtue. Man should not be insensible to anger, although he should give vent to his wrath only at great provocation. In his Commentary on Abot, IV, 4 (Rawicz, Commentar, pp. 78—80), and in H. Deot, II, 3, M. asserts, however, that excessive humility and complete absence of anger are the virtues, and not the medium course. The passage in Deot is as follows, “There are, however, some dispositions in regard to which it is wrong to pursue even a middle course, but the contrary extreme is to be embraced, as, for instance, in respect to pride. One does not follow the proper path by merely being humble. Man should be very humble and extremely meek. To this end, Scripture says of Moses, our master, that he was ‘very humble’ (Num. XII, 3), and not that he was simply humble. Therefore, the sages command us, ‘Be thou very humble’ (Abot, IV, 4), and say, furthermore, that all who are proud-hearted deny an important principle of our faith, for Scripture says, ‘Thy heart will become uplifted, and thou wilt forget the Lord thy God’ (Deut. VIII, 14), and they also say, ‘he who is presumptuous, even to a slight degree deserves excommunication’. In like manner, anger is a very bad characteristic; one should go to the opposite extreme and school himself to be without wrath, even as regards a matter at which it might seem proper to show anger....... The Rabbis of old said, ‘Whoever allows himself to be carried away by his wrath is like a worshipper of idols’ (Nedarim, 22a). FuthermoreFurthermore [sic], they said, ‘If a wise man becomes angry, his wisdom forsakes him; if a prophet, his inspiration departs from him’ (Pesaḥim, 66b), and, ‘Those that abandon themselves to their angry passions do not deserve to live’ (Pesaḥim 113b). Therefore, they recommend total absence of anger, so that a man may thus train himself never to feel it, even at those things which naturally would provoke one to wrath. The proper course to pursue, and the way of the righteous, is that ‘they are insulted, but do not insult; they hear themselves reviled, and