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3.
[16]
Greatness of Soul seems therefore to be as it were a
crowning ornament of the virtues: it enhances their greatness, and it cannot exist without
them. Hence it is hard to be truly great souled,1 for greatness of soul is
impossible without moral nobility.3.
[17]
Honor and dishonor then are the objects with which the great-souled man is especially
concerned. Great honors accorded by persons of worth will afford him pleasure in a
moderate degree: he will feel he is receiving only what belongs to him, or even less, for
no honor can be adequate to the merits of perfect virtue, yet all the same he will deign
to accept their honors, because they have no greater tribute to offer him. Honor rendered
by common people and on trivial grounds he will utterly despise, for this is not what he
merits. He will also despise dishonor, for no dishonor can justly attach to him.
3.
[18]
The great-souled man
then, as has been said, is especially concerned with honor; but he will also observe due
measure in respect to wealth, power, and good and bad fortune in general, as they may
befall him; he will not rejoice overmuch in prosperity, nor grieve overmuch at adversity.
For he does not care much even about honor, which is the greatest of external goods2 （since power and
wealth are desirable only for the honor they bring, at least their possessors wish to be
honored for their sake）; he therefore to whom even honor is a small thing will be
indifferent to other things as well. Hence
great-souled men are thought to be haughty.3.
[19]
But it is thought that the gifts of fortune also conduce to greatness of soul; for the
high-born and those who are powerful or wealthy are esteemed worthy of honor, because they
are superior to their fellows, and that which is superior in something good is always held
in higher honor; so that even these gifts of fortune make men more great-souled, because
their possessors are honored by some people. 3.
[20]
But in reality only the good man ought to be honored, although he
that has both virtue and fortune is esteemed still more worthy of honor; whereas those who
possess the goods of fortune without virtue are not justified in claiming high worth, and
cannot correctly be styled great-souled, since true worth and greatness of soul cannot
exist without complete virtue. 3.
[21]
It is true that even those who merely possess the goods of fortune may
be haughty and insolent; because without virtue it is not easy to bear good fortune
becomingly,
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 19, translated by H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1934.
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