Early modern anger management: Seneca, ovid, and lieven de meyere's de ira libri tres (Antwerp, 1694)

Anger's power to reduce men to the level of beasts is a familiar theme in Western thought and literature. The notion that music and poetry can mitigate irrational rage is exemplified in the myth of Orpheus, who tames the savage beasts and the powers of Hell with his song. But can poetry really be a remedy or preventative against anger? And what if that poetry is read, rather than sung? This paper explores both explicit and implicit responses to those questions in an unjustly forgotten Latin poem 'On Anger' by Louvain Jesuit, theologian, and controversialist, Lieven de Meyere (1655-1730).