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[6arg] That shame drives the blood outward, while fear checks it.


IN the Problems of the philosopher Aristotle is the following passage: 1 “Why do men who are ashamed turn red and those who fear grow pale; although these emotions are similar? Because the blood of those who feel shame flows from the heart to all parts of the body, and therefore comes to the surface; but the blood of those who fear rushes to the heart, and consequently leaves all the other parts of the body.”

When I had read this at Athens with our friend [p. 367] Taurus and had asked him what he thought about that reason which had been assigned, he answered: “He has told us properly and truly what happens when the blood is diffused or concentrated, but he has not told us why this takes place. For the question may still be asked why it is that shame diffuses the blood and fear contracts it, when shame is a kind of fear and is defined by the philosophers as 'the fear of just censure.' For they say: αἰσχύνη ἐστὶν φόβος δικαίου ψόγου.

1 Frag. 243, Rose.

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