210 l/-95
choice for the sake of nothing else are worth choosing for their own
sakes, while those [which are subject to reasonable choice] because they
produce other things are said [to be worth choosing] in the instrumen-
tal sense.
Si. And every good is worth choosing; for it is pleasing, and approved
of and praiseworthy. And every bad thing is worth avoiding. For the
good, in so far as it stimulates reasonable choice, is worth choosing; and
in so far as it is subject to choice without suspicion, it is pleasing ...
[There is a lacuna here.] ... and, moreover, in so far as one would
reasonably suppose that it is one of the products of virtue, <it is praise-
worthy>.
Sk. Again, of good things some consist in motion and some consist in
a state. For such things as joy, good spirits and temperate conversation
consist in motion, while such things as a well-ordered quietude, undis-
turbed rest and a manly attention consist in a state. Of things which
consist in a state, some also consist in a condition, such as the virtues;
others are only in a state, such as the above-mentioned. Not only the
virtues consist in a condition, but also the crafts which are transformed
in the virtuous man by his virtue and so become unchangeable; for they
become quasi-virtues. And they say that the so-called practices are also
among the goods which consist in a condition, such as love of music,
love of letters, love of geometry, and the like. For there is a method
which selects those elements in such crafts which are congenial to virtue
by referring them to the goal of life.
- Again, of good things, some are [things which exist] in themselves
and some are relative dispositions. Knowledge, just action, and similar
things are [things which exist] in themselves. Honour, good will, friend-
ship andare relative. And knowledge is a grasp which is
secure and unchangeable by argument; another definition: knowledge is a
complex system of grasps of this sort, such as knowledge of the particulars,
which is, in the virtuous man, rational; another definition: a complex
system of craftsmanlike knowledge, which provides its own stability,
which is what the virtues are like; another definition: a condition receptive
of presentations which is unchangeable by argument, which they say
consists in a tension and power [of the soul]. Friendship is a community
of life. Agreement is a sharing of opinions about things relevant to life.
Within friendship, familiarity is friendship with people who are well
known to you; habituation is friendship with people you have become
accustomed to; companionship is friendship by choice, such as that with
one's contemporaries; guest-friendship is friendship with foreigners; there
is also a kind of family friendship between relatives; and an erotic friend-
ship based on sexual love. And painlessness and organization are the