NoDictionaries   Text notes for  
... complectitur uxorem, et paululum adversus praesentem fortitudinem mollitus rogat...

adverus praesentem fortitudinem mollitus; "becoming gentle/mild in contrast to his present fortitude/firmness." "[A]dversus" is here a preposition. One text has "formidinem," referring to Paulina, Seneca's wife.