I get frustrated with people when I go outside these days (especially when I go looking for flour). I think anxiety has ways of making its presence felt even if (or maybe especially if) I’m not attending to it. Now, normally I find reading Galen pretty frustrating as well, but these bits are helpful reminders of the necessity of empathy.

“Whoever wants to become a good person, let them keep this in mind: that they are, necessarily, very much unaware of their own errors.”

ὅστις οὖν βούλεται καλὸς κἀγαθὸς γενέσθαι, τοῦτο ἐννοησάτω, ὡς ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστιν αὐτὸν ἀγνοεῖν πολλὰ τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτημάτων.

Galen, On the Affections and Errors of the Soul, 1.2, 5.5 K.

“We have, as Aesop used to say, two bags hanging from our necks, one, in front, full of the wrongs of others, one, behind, full of our own, and for this reason we always see the wrongs of others, while we are incapable of seeing our own.”

δύο γάρ, ὡς Αἴσωπος ἔλεγε, πήρας ἐξήμμεθα τοῦ τραχήλου τῶν μὲν ἀλλοτρίων τὴν πρόσω, τῶν ἰδίων δὲ τὴν ὀπίσω, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὰ μὲν ἀλλότρια βλέπομεν ἀεί, τῶν δ' οἰκείων ἀθέατοι καθεστήκαμεν.

Galen, On the Affections and Errors of the Soul, 1.2, 5.6 K.

“It’s normal for pretty much everyone to hate those who speak the truth.”

ἅπασιν ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ἀνθρώποις ἔθος εἶναι μισεῖν τοὺς τἀληθῆ λέγοντας.

Galen, On the Affections and Errors of the Soul, 1.3, 5.10 K.

“And indeed, we should consider the one who reveals each of our offenses our deliverer and our greatest friend. Even if it appears to you that they criticize you falsely, still, the right thing to do is to show yourself to be free from anger. For, in the first place, it’s possible that they can see your mistakes better than you can, just as you, too, can see theirs; and in the second case, because, even if they should criticize you falsely, they will have awoken you to a more accurate examination of what you are doing.”

καὶ μέντοι καὶ [τὸν] σωτῆρα ἐκεῖνον | καὶ φίλον μέγιστον ἡγεῖσθαι τὸν μηνύσαντα τῶν πλημμελουμένων ἕκαστα· εἶθ' ὅτι, κἂν ψευδῶς σοι φαίνηταί ποτ' ἐγκαλέσας, ἀόργητον προσήκει φαίνεσθαι, πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι δύνατόν ἐστιν ἐκεῖνον σοῦ βέλτιον ὁρᾶν ἕκαστον ὧν ἁμαρτάνων τυγχάνεις, ὥσπερ καί σε τῶν ἐκείνου τι, δεύτερον ὅτι κἂν ἐπηρεάσῃ ποτὲ ψευδῶς, ἀλλ' οὖν ἐπήγειρέ σε πρὸς ἀκριβεστέραν ἐπίσκεψιν, ὧν πράττεις.

Galen, On the Affections and Errors of the Soul, 1.5, 5.24–5 K.