NICOMACHEANETHICS(BOOKIV) 189
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1124 b5neither is possible without perfect virtue. Their good fortune notwithstanding, such
people become haughty and arrogant, for without virtue it is not easy to bear the gifts of
fortune gracefully. Unable to bear them and considering themselves superior, they look
down upon others, while they themselves do whatever they please. They imitate the high-
minded man wherever they can, but they are not really like him. Thus, they look down
upon others, but they do not act in conformity with excellence. A high-minded person is
justified in looking down upon others for he has the right opinion of them, but the com-
mon run of people do so without rhyme or reason.
A high-minded man does not take small risks and, since there are only a few
things which he honors, he is not even fond of risks. But he will face great risks, and
in the midst of them he will not spare his life, aware that life at any cost is not worth
having. He is the kind of man who will do good, but who is ashamed to accept a good
turn, because the former marks a man as superior, the latter as inferior. Moreover, he
will requite good with a greater good, for in this way he will not only repay the original
benefactor but put him in his debt at the same time by making him the recipient of an
added benefit. The high-minded also seem to remember the good turns they have done,
but not those they have received. For the recipient is inferior to the benefactor, whereas
a high-minded man wishes to be superior. They listen with pleasure to what good they
have done, but with displeasure to what good they have received. That is apparently
why Thetis does not mention the good turns she had done to Zeus,* and why the
Spartans did not mention theirs to the Athenians, but only the good they had received.
It is, further, typical of a high-minded man not to ask for any favors, or only reluctantly,
but to offer aid readily. He will show his stature in his relations with men of emi-
nence and fortune, but will be unassuming toward those of moderate means. For to be
superior to the former is difficult and dignified, but superiority over the latter is easy.
Furthermore, there is nothing ignoble in asserting one’s dignity among the great, but to
do so among the lower classes is just as crude as to assert one’s strength against an
invalid. He will not go in for pursuits that the common people value, nor for those in
which the first place belongs to others. He is slow to act and procrastinates, except when
some great honor or achievement is at stake. His actions are few, but they are great
and distinguished. He must be open in hate and open in love, for to hide one’s feelings
and to care more for the opinion of others than for truth is a sign of timidity. He speaks
and acts openly: since he looks down upon others his speech is free and truthful, except
when he deliberately depreciates himself in addressing the common run of people.
He cannot adjust his life to another, except a friend, for to do so is slavish. That is, [by
the way,] why all flatterers are servile and people from the lower classes are flatterers.
He is not given to admiration, for nothing is great to him. He bears no grudges, for it is
not typical of a high-minded man to have a long memory, especially for wrongs, but
rather to overlook them. He is not a gossip, for he will talk neither about himself nor
about others, since he is not interested in hearing himself praised or others run down.
Nor again is he given to praise; and for the same reason he does not speak evil of others,
not even of his enemies, except to scorn them. When he encounters misfortunes that are
unavoidable or insignificant, he will not lament and ask for help. That kind of attitude
belongs to someone who takes such matters seriously. He is a person who will rather
possess beautiful and profitless objects than objects which are profitable and useful, for
they mark him more as self-sufficient.
10152025301125 a51015*The reference is to Thetis’ intercession with Zeus to help avenge the wrong done her son Achilles by
Agamemnon.