previous next
nor do we call men profligate who feel excessive pain for the loss of fortune or friends. [3]

Temperance therefore has to do with the pleasures of the body. But not with all even of these; for men who delight in the pleasures of the eye, in colors, forms and paintings, are not termed either temperate or profligate, although it would be held that these things also can be enjoyed in the right manner, or too much, or too little. [4] Similarly with the objects of hearing: no one would term profligate those who take an excessive pleasure in music, or the theater, nor temperate those who enjoy them as is right. [5] Nor yet does Temperance apply to enjoyment of the sense of smell, unless accidentally1; we do not call those who are fond of the scent of fruit or robes or incense profligate, though we may be inclined so to style those who love perfumes and the smell of savory dishes, for the profligate take pleasure in these odors because they remind them of the objects of their desires. [6] One may notice that other persons too like the smell of food when they are hungry; but to delight in things of this kind is a mark of the profligate, since they are the things on which the profligate's desires are set.2 [7]

Nor do the lower animals derive any pleasure from these senses, except accidentally.3 Hounds do not take pleasure in scenting hares, but in eating them; the scent merely made them aware of the hare.

1 i.e., by association.

2 The text here is doubtful, and possibly the whole of 10.6 is an interpolation.

3 i.e., by association.

load focus Greek (J. Bywater)
hide Places (automatically extracted)

View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.

Download Pleiades ancient places geospacial dataset for this text.

hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: