Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
He that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city - It is much easier to subdue an enemy without than one within. There have been many kings who had conquered nations, and yet were slaves to their own passions. Alexander, who conquered the world, was a slave to intemperate anger, and in a fit of it slew Clytus, the best and most intimate of all his friends, and one whom he loved beyond all others.
The spirit of this maxim is so self-evident, that most nations have formed similar proverbs. The classical reader will remember the following in Hor., Odar. lib. ii., Od. 2: -
Latius regnes, avidum domando
Spiritum, quam si Libyam remotis
Gadibus jungas, et uterque Poenus
Serviat uni .
"By virtue' s precepts to control
The furious passions of the soul,
Is over wider realms to reign,
Unenvied monarch, than if Spain\\
You could to distant Libya join,
And both the Carthages were thine."
Francis.
And the following from Ovid is not less striking: -
Fortior est qui se, quam qui fortissima vincit
Moenia, nec virtus altius ire potest .
"He is more of a hero who has conquered himself, than he who has taken the best fortfied city."
Beyond this self-conquest the highest courage can not extend; nor did their philosophy teach any thing more sublime.
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