The Nicomachean Ethics — trans. F. H. Peters (1881)

17 And on each occasion he will provide what is suitable— which is not the same for gods as for men, for a temple as for a tomb — and in his expenditure every detail will be great after its kind, great expenditure on a great occasion being the most magnificent, and then in a less degree that which is great for the occasion, whatever it be.

p. 112

Again, the greatness of the result is not the same 18 as the greatness of the expense ; e.g. the most beautiful ball or the most beautiful bottle that can be got is a magnificent present for a child, though its price is something small and mean.

And so it is characteristic of the magnificent man 19 to do magnificently that which he does, of whatever kind it be ; for such work cannot easily be surpassed, and the result is proportionate to the expense.

This, then, is the character of the magnificent man. 20

The man who exceeds (whom we call vulgar) exceeds, as we said, in spending improperly. He spends great sums on little objects, and makes an unseemly display ; e.g. if he is entertaining the members of his club, he will give them a wedding feast ; if he provides the chorus for a comedy, he will bring his company on the stage all dressed in purple, as they do at Megara. And all this he will do from no desire for what is noble or beautiful, but merely to display his wealth, because he hopes thereby to gain admiration, spending little where he should spend much, and much where he should spend little.

But the mean man will fall short on every occa- 21 sion, and, even when he spends very large sums, will spoil the beauty of his work by niggardliness in a trifle, never doing anything without thinking twice about it, and considering how it can be done at the least possible cost, bemoaning even that, and thinking he is doing everything on a needlessly large scale.

Both these characters, then, are vicious, but they do not bring reproach, because they are neither injurious to others nor very offensive in themselves.

p. 113

1 3. High-mindedness would seem from its very of highname (/ityaXo^/^uXta) to have to do with great things ; let us first ascertain what these are.

■2 It will make no difierence whether we consider the quality itself, or the man who exhibits the quality.

3 By a high-minded man we seem to mean one who claims much and deserves much : for he who claims much without deserving it is a fool ; but the possessor

4 of a virtue is never foolish or silly. The man we have described, then, is high-minded.

He who deserves little and claims little is tem-

5 perat^ [or modest], but not high-minded : for highmindedness [or greatness of soul] implies greatness, just as beauty implies stature ; small men may be neat and well proportioned, but cannot be called beautiful.

6 He who claims much without deserving it is vain (though not every one who claims more than he deserves is vain).

7 He who claims less than he deserves is littleminded, whether his deserts be great or moderate, or whether they be small and he claims still less : but this little-mindedness is most conspicuous in him whose deserts are great ; for what would he do if his deserts were less than they are ?

8 The high-minded man, then, in respect of the greatness of his deserts occupies an extreme position, but in that he behaves as he ought, observes the mean ; for he claims that which he deserves, while all the others claim too much or too little.

9 But now if he deserves much and claims much, and most of aU deserves and claims the greatest

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114 NIOOMACHEAN ETHICS OF ARISTOTLE. [Bk. IV.

things, there will be one thing with which he will be especially concerned. For desert has reference to 1( external good things. Now, the greatest of external good things we may assume to be that which we render to the Gods as their due, and that which people in high stations most desire, and which is the prize appointed for the noblest deeds. But the thing that answers to this description is honour, which, we may safely say, is the greatest of all external goods. Honours and dishonours, therefore, are the field in which the high-minded man behaves as he ought.

And indeed we may see, without going about to if" prove it, that honour is what high-minded men are concerned with; for it is honour that great men claim and deserve.