Crimes of passion. Marcus Aurelius 2.10

Anger and grief are better motives for wrongdoing than desire. All these motives should be restrained by reason (logos), Marcus thinks, but the mistakes that come from the former are less pernicious than those arising from the latter. This hierarchy in assessing crimes of passion is not purely theoretical, for Marcus; remember that he would have seen and ruled on serious legal cases, as a Roman magistrate, in addition to making decisions in private life—with friends and family, and alone. <Greek>.

Φιλοσόφως ὁ Θεόφραστος ἐν τῇ συγκρίσει τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, ὡς ἄν τις κοινότερον τὰ τοιαῦτα συγκρίνειε, φησὶ βαρύτερα εἶναι τὰ κατ’ ἐπιθυμίαν πλημμελούμενα τῶν κατὰ θυμόν. ὁ γὰρ θυμούμενος μετά τινος λύπης καὶ λεληθυίας συστολῆς φαίνεται τὸν λόγον ἀποστρεφόμενος· ὁ δὲ κατ’ ἐπιθυμίαν ἁμαρτάνων, ὑφ’ ἡδονῆς ἡττώμενος ἀκολαστότερός πως φαίνεται καὶ θηλύτερος ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις. ὀρθῶς οὖν καὶ φιλοσοφίας ἀξίως ἔφη μείζονος ἐγκλήματος ἔχεσθαι τὸ μεθ’ ἡδονῆς ἁμαρτανόμενον ἤπερ τὸ μετὰ λύπης· ὅλως τε ὁ μὲν προηδικημένῳ μᾶλλον ἔοικε καὶ διὰ λύπης ἠναγκασμένῳ θυμωθῆναι· ὁ δὲ αὐτόθεν πρὸς τὸ ἀδικεῖν ὥρμηται, φερόμενος ἐπὶ τὸ πρᾶξαί τι κατ’ ἐπιθυμίαν.

In his comparison of different kinds of mistakes, Theophrastus (†) offers a philosophical judgment that anyone might approve when he says that discordant desire leads us into deeper error than the will. For a willful person shows some grief and unconscious remorse as he turns away from reason, but the sinner conquered by desire surrenders himself entirely to pleasure, yielding more of himself to his mistakes. So Theophrastus is right to say that philosophy brings a stronger case against sins of pleasure than sins of grief or anger: an angry person who acts willfully out of anguish seems likely to have been forced, driven to error by some prior injustice; but the criminal of desire sets forth on his own to do wrong, carried to this action by nothing but his own unmotivated passion.

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(†) Theophrastus (c. 371-287 BCE) came from the island of Lesbos to study philosophy in Athens, first with Plato at the Academy, then with Aristotle at the Lyceum, where he took over as master when the latter died (323 BCE). He delivered many oral teachings and wrote many books, most memorably on the subject of botany (Enquiry into Plants, On the Causes of Plants), though his ethical writings (Moral Characters) were also well received by posterity.