![]() ![]() ![]() Now, each of these lines of conduct may be pursued either with an ulterior object or without one. ![]() ![]() We have already spoken of the characters that are displayed in social intercourse in the matter of pleasure and pain let us now go on to speak in like manner of those who show themselves truthful or untruthful in what they say and do, and in the pretensions they put forward.įirst of all, then, the boaster seems to be fond of pretending to things that men esteem, though he has them not, or not to such extent as he pretends the ironical man, on the other hand, seems to disclaim what he has, or to depreciate it while he who observes the mean, being a man who is “always himself” (αὐθέκαστός τις), is truthful in word and deed, confessing the simple facts about himself, and neither exaggerating nor diminishing them. It will be as well to examine these qualities also for we shall know more about human character, when we have gone through each of its forms and we shall be more fully assured that the virtues are modes of observing the mean, when we have surveyed them all and found that this is the case with every one of them. The moderation which lies between boastfulness and irony (which virtue also lacks a name) seems to display itself in almost the same field. Book 4: The Several Moral Virtues and Vices-Continued. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |