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3.
[2]
It will make no difference whether we examine the
quality itself or the person that displays the quality. 3.
[3]
Now a person is thought to be great-souled if he claims much and deserves much; he who
claims much without deserving it is foolish, but no one of moral excellence is foolish or
senseless. The great-souled man is then as we have described. 3.
[4]
He who deserves little and claims
little is modest or temperate, but not great-souled, 3.
[5]
since to be great-souled involves greatness just as
handsomeness involves size: small people may be neat and well-made, but not handsome.
3.
[6]
He that claims much
but does not deserve much is vain; though not everybody who claims more than he deserves
is vain.1
3.
[7]
He that claims less than
he deserves is small-souled, whether his deserts be great or only moderate, or even though
he deserves little, if he claims still less. The most small-souled of all would seem to be
the man who claims less than he deserves when his deserts are great; for what would he
have done had he not deserved so much?3.
[8]
Though therefore in regard to the greatness of his claim the great-souled man is an
extreme,2 by reason of its
rightness he stands at the mean point, for he claims what he deserves; while the vain and
the small-souled err by excess and defect respectively.3.
[9]
If then the great-souled man claims and is worthy of great things and most of all the
greatest things, Greatness of Soul must be concerned with some one object especially.
3.
[10]
‘Worthy’ is a term of relation: it denotes having a claim to goods
external to oneself. Now the greatest external good we should assume to be the thing which
we offer as a tribute to the gods, and which is most coveted by men of high station, and
is the prize awarded for the noblest deeds;