[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
obedient and subject to the ruling principle, it will go to great lengths;
for in an irrational being the desire for pleasure is insatiable even if it
tries every source of gratification, and the exercise of appetite increases
its innate force, and if appetites are strong and violent they even expel
the power of calculation. Hence they should be moderate and few, and
should in no way oppose the rational principle and this is what we call
an obedient and chastened state and as the child should live according
to the direction of his tutor, so the appetitive element should live accord-
ing to rational principle. Hence the appetitive element in a temperate
man should harmonize with the rational principle; for the noble is the
mark at which both aim, and the temperate man craves for the things be
ought, as he ought, as when he ought; and when he ought; and this is
what rational principle directs.
Here we conclude our account of temperance.
BOOK IV
1
Let us speak next of liberality. It seems to be the mean with regard to
wealth; for the liberal man is praised not in respect of military matters,
nor of those in respect of which the temrate man is praised, nor of judi-
cial decisions, but with regard to the giving and taking of wealth, and
especially in respect of giving. Now by wealth we mean all the things
whose value is measured by money. Further, prodigality and meanness
are excesses and defects with regard to wealth; and meanness we al-
ways impute to those who care more than they ought for wealth, but we
sometimes apply the word prodigality in a complex sense; for we call
those men prodigals who are incontinent and spend money on self-in-
dulgence. Hence also they are thought the poorest characters; for they
combine more vices than one. Therefore the application of the word to
them is not its proper use; for a prodigal means a man who has a single
evil quality, that of wasting his substance; since a prodigal is one who is
being ruined by his own fault, and the wasting of substance is thought to
be a sort of ruining of oneself, life being held to depend on possession of
substance.
This, then, is the sense in which we take the word prodigality .
Now the things that have a use may be used either well or badly; and
riches is a useful thing; and everything is used best by the man who has
54/Aristotle
the virtue concerned with it; riches, therefore, will be used best by the
man who has the virtue concerned with wealth; and this is the liberal
man. Now spending and giving seem to be the using of wealth; taking
and keeping rather the possession of it. Hence it is more the mark of the
liberal man to give to the right people than to take from the right sources
and not to take from the wrong. For it is more characteristic of virtue to
do good than to have good done to one, and more characteristic to do
what is noble than not to do what is base; and it is not hard to see that
giving implies doing good and doing what is noble, and taking implies
having good done to one or not acting basely. And gratitude is felt to-
wards him who gives, not towards him who does not take, and praise
also is bestowed more on him. It is easier, also, not to take than to give;
for men are apter to give away their own too little than to take what is
another s. Givers, too, are called liberal; but those who do not take are
not praised for liberality but rather for justice; while those who take are
hardly praised at all. And the liberal are almost the most loved of all
virtuous characters, since they are useful; and this depends on their
giving.
Now virtuous actions are noble and done for the sake of the noble.
Therefore the liberal man, like other virtuous men, will give for the sake
of the noble, and rightly; for he will give to the right people, the right
amounts, and at the right time, with all the other qualifications that
accompany right giving; and that too with pleasure or without pain; for
that which is virtuous is pleasant or free from pain-least of all will it be
painful. But he who gives to the wrong people or not for the sake of the
noble but for some other cause, will be called not liberal but by some
other name. Nor is he liberal who gives with pain; for he would prefer
the wealth to the noble act, and this is not characteristic of a liberal man.
But no more will the liberal man take from wrong sources; for such
taking is not characteristic of the man who sets no store by wealth. Nor
will he be a ready asker; for it is not characteristic of a man who confers
benefits to accept them lightly. But he will take from the right sources,
e.g., from his own possessions, not as something noble but as a neces-
sity, that he may have something to give. Nor will he neglect his own
property, since he wishes by means of this to help others. And he will
refrain from giving to anybody and everybody, that he may have some-
thing to give to the right people, at the right time, and where it is noble
to do so. It is highly characteristic of a liberal man also to go to excess
in giving, so that he leaves too little for himself; for it is the nature of a
Nicomachean Ethics/55
liberal man not to look to himself. The term liberality is used relatively
to a man s substance; for liberality resides not in the multitude of the
gifts but in the state of character of the giver, and this is relative to the
giver s substance. There is therefore nothing to prevent the man who
gives less from being the more liberal man, if he has less to give those
are thought to be more liberal who have not made their wealth but inher-
ited it; for in the first place they have no experience of want, and sec-
ondly all men are fonder of their own productions, as are parents and
poets. It is not easy for the liberal man to be rich, since he is not apt
either at taking or at keeping, but at giving away, and does not value
wealth for its own sake but as a means to giving. Hence comes the
charge that is brought against fortune, that those who deserve riches
most get it least. But it is not unreasonable that it should turn out so; for
he cannot have wealth, any more than anything else, if he does not take
pains to have it. Yet he will not give to the wrong people nor at the
wrong time, and so on; for he would no longer be acting in accordance
with liberality, and if he spent on these objects he would have nothing to
spend on the right objects. For, as has been said, he is liberal who spends
according to his substance and on the right objects; and he who exceeds
is prodigal. Hence we do not call despots prodigal; for it is thought not
easy for them to give and spend beyond the amount of their possessions.
Liberality, then, being a mean with regard to giving and taking of wealth,
the liberal man will both give and spend the right amounts and on the
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]