“Therefore, perish strife both from among gods and men, and anger, wherein even a righteous man will harden his heart - which rises up in the soul of a man like smoke, and the taste thereof is sweeter than drops of honey.”
~ The Iliad - Book XVIII (Samuel Butler Translation. p131 / v102)
In Book 18 of The Iliad, there is this passage about anger - “and anger, wherein even a righteous man will harden his heart - which rises up in the soul of a man like smoke, and the taste thereof is sweeter than drops of honey.” It says even a good person can become hardened when angry; it darkens a person’s soul like smoke.
I was surprised by the imagery that anger can taste sweeter than honey. It is said that a person can be blinded by anger and do things they almost always regret. Anger is sometimes described as a latent emotion that one can dissipate by doing heavy exercises, running, or even meditation. But can someone like being in a state of anger? Is there some hormone release like dopamine that some people could crave to go back to that state?