196 l/-94
Of things indifferent, they say that some are preferred and some
rejected; preferred are those which have value, rejected are those which
have disvalue. They say that one sort of value is a contribution to the
life in agreement, which applies to every good; but another sort is a
certain intermediate potential or usefulness which contributes to the life
according to nature, as much as to say, just that [value] which wealth
and health bring forward for [promoting] the life according to nature. And
another sense of value is the appraiser's value, which a man experienced in
the facts would set, as when one says that wheat is exchanged for barley
with a mule thrown in.
- Preferred things are those which also have value; for example,
among things of the soul, natural ability, skill, [moral] progress and
similar things; among bodily things life, health, strength, good condition,
soundness, beauty and the like; among external things wealth, reputation,
noble birth, and similar things. Rejected are, among things of the soul,
natural inability, lack of skill and similar things; among bodily things
death, disease, weakness, bad condition, being maimed, ugliness and
similar things; among external things poverty, lack of reputation, low
birth and the like. Those things which are in neither category are neither
preferred nor rejected. - Again, of preferred things, some are preferred for themselves,
some because of other things, and some both for themselves and because
of other things. For themselves, natural ability, [moral] progress and
similar things; because of other things, wealth, noble birth, and similar
things; for themselves and because of other things, strength, good percep-
tual abilities, soundness. [Those which are preferred] for themselves
[are preferred] because they are according to nature; [those which are
preferred] because of other things, [are preferred] because they produce
a significant amount of utility; the same applies to the rejected conversely.
Again, an appropriate [action], they say, is that which, when done,
admits of a reasonable defence, such as what is consistent in life, and
this extends also to plants and animals. For appropriate [actions] are
observable in these too. - The appropriate was first so named by Zeno and the term is
derived from [the expression] "extending [or applying] to certain people".
It is an action congenial to arrangements which are according to nature.
For of actions performed according to impulse [i.e., voluntarily], some
are appropriate and some inappropriate <and some are neither appropriate
nor inappropriate>.
Appropriate [actions], then, are those which reason constrains [us] to
do, such as honouring our parents, brothers, fatherland, and spending
time with friends. Inappropriate are those which reason constrains [us]