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1.
[16]
This is why we approve the saying of Bias, ‘Office will
show a man’; for in office one is brought into relation with others and becomes
a member of a community.1.
[17]
The same reason, namely that it involves relationship with someone else, accounts for the
view1 that Justice alone
of the virtues is ‘the good of others,’ because it does what is for
the advantage of another, either a ruler or an associate. 1.
[18]
As then the worst man is he who practises vice
towards his friends as well as in regard to himself, so the best is not he who practises
virtue in regard to himself but he who practises it towards others; for that is a
difficult task.1.
[19]
Justice in this sense then is not a part of Virtue, but the whole of Virtue; and its
opposite Injustice is not a part of Vice but the whole of Vice 1.
[20]
(the distinction between
Virtue and Justice in this sense being clear from what has been said: they are the same
quality of mind, but their essence is different2; what as displayed in relation to others is Justice, as being simply a
disposition of a certain kind is Virtue).2.
What we are investigating, however, is the Justice which is a part of Virtue, since we
hold that there is such a thing as Justice in this sense; and similarly we are
investigating Injustice in the particular sense. 2.
[2]
The existence of the latter is proved by the
following considerations: (1) When a man displays the other
vices—for instance, throws away his shield, from Cowardice, or uses abusive
language, from Bad Temper, or refuses to assist a friend with money, from
Meanness—though he acts unjustly, he is not taking more than his share of
anything; whereas
1 Put into the mouth of the sophist Thrasymachus in Plato's Plat. Rep. 343c.
2 Cf. 6.8.1.