καὶ τὰ ἴδια] Things or qualities, special and peculiar, not shared by the rest of the world in general, such as personal gifts, graces, or accomplishments: anything that distinguishes a man from the mass. Of the three kinds of ἴδια distinguished in Top. A 5, 102 a 18—30 (ἴδιον proper, the fourth predicable, proprium), these are ἴδια ἁπλῶς; the second, are not absolutely and at all times ἴδια, but only at particular times, under particular circumstances of time, ποτέ; the third class, to which those here spoken of belong, are ‘relative’ ἴδια, ἴδια πρός τι, special and peculiar, i. e., in this case, to a few men as compared with the rest. ἃ μηδεὶς (ἄλλος ἔχει）] This is only a particular case of the preceding: in that the advantage is shared by few, in this the possessor stands alone. Anything excessively rare or unique, as a coin, a tulip, a piece of china, a book, may acquire a special value from this circumstance. Comp. Magn. Mor. B 7, 1205 b 29, τὸ γὰρ ἐν πᾶσιν εἶναι καὶ πᾶσι κοινὸν οὐκ ἀγαθόν. This feeling is characteristic of ambition, τὸ δὴ τοιοῦτον ἐπὶ φιλοτιμοῦ μᾶλλον καὶ φιλοτιμίας οἰκεῖόν ἐστιν: ὁ γὰρ φιλοτιμός ἐστιν ὁ μόνος βουλόμενος ἔχειν καὶ τῷ τοιούτῳ τῶν ἄλλων ὑπερέχειν. περιττά] ‘things that are singular, preeminent, specially distinguished’ amongst their fellows or congeners, or among things of the same sort, ‘for by this they obtain greater credit’. περιττός is ‘odd1, singular, striking, remarkable’. From περί, ‘over and above’, ‘exceeding’, (Homer, περὶ δ᾽ ἄλλων φασὶ γενέσθαι, περὶ μὲν Δαναῶν,) the derivative περιττός passes into the metaphorical sense of surpassing, preeminent, standing out from the rest, out of the common way, extraordinary. This signification of the word will be found illustrated in the Lexicons. Add to these, as marked examples of some of its various significations, Eur. Hippol. 437, 445, 948. Ar. Pol. II 6, 1265 a 10, in the well-known passage on Plato's style, Ib. VIII (V) 10, 1312 a 27, πράξεως περιττῆς (extraordinary, signal) καὶ δἰ ἣν ὀνομαστοὶ γίγνονται καὶ γνώριμοι τοῖς ἄλλοις, ib. II 8 init. of Hippodamus of Miletus, that he became περιττότερος ‘rather odd, eccentric, extravagant’, in his dress and habits. Top. Z 4, 141 b 13, ἀκριβὴς καὶ περιττὴ διάνοια. Metaph. I 2, 1053 b 3, of Protagoras' dictum, (πάντων μέτρον ἄνθρωπος), οὐθὲν δὴ λέγων περιττὸν φαίνεταί τι λέγειν, Rhet. II 15, 3, Probl. XXX 1 init. περιττοί (‘distinguished’ in any art or science) φαίνονται μελαγχολικοὶ ὄντες. (Waitz, on Top. Γ 2, 118 a 6, illustrates other senses of the word in Aristotle.) Of excellence of style, Dion. de Comp. Verb. c. 3, bis, sub init. et sub fin. From περί again, in the sense of ‘over and above, exceeding’, comes περιττός as applied to an ‘odd’ number; the supposition on which the name is based being, that the ἄρτιος ἀριθμός, or even number, was the primary number—2 was in fact considered as the first arithmetical number, I being the principle of unity—the odd number is an addition to or excess over the other, the next step in advance. The three kinds of good just enumerated are all repeated in c. 9. 25, 26, under the head of καλόν. As ‘goods’ they are in fact all of them of the specially ‘questionable’ sort', ἀμφισβητήσιμα; supr. § 17. τὰ ἁρμόττοντα] ‘suitable, appropriate’, specially applicable or belonging to them. τὰ προσήκοντα κατὰ γένος καὶ δύναμιν] ‘things that naturally belong to them, or are due to them in respect of birth and power’. ὧν ἐλλείπειν οἴονται] ἐλλείπειν with genitive, ‘to come short of, be deficient in’. ‘And anything men think wanting to them, as appropriate, or suitable to their condition’ (a second case of τὰ ἁρμόττοντα), ‘however trifling’, (they regard as a good, and eagerly pursue it): ‘for none the less for that (διὰ τὸ μικρὰ εἶναι) do they choose (deliberately purpose) to do it’; i. e. to do things, to act, so as to attain their end. So Victorius, who illustrates the topic by Hor. Sat. II 6, 8, O si angulus ille proximus accedat qui nunc denormat agellum. If this is right, as I suppose it is, προαιροῦνται πράττειν is carelessly written for ζητοῦσιν or ἐπιθυμοῦσιν, or ἐφίενται, or some verb that would imply the object of action, and not the mere action itself.
1 ‘Odd’ in early English is sometimes employed by a similar metaphorical application to denote superiority to others, striking excellence. ‘For our tyme the odde man to performe all three perfitlie,...is in my poor opinion Joannes Sturmius’. Ascham, Scholemaster, p. 113 (Mayor's ed.). Richardson has omitted to notice this use of ‘odd’ in his Dictionary.
Commentary on the Rhetoric of Aristotle. Edward Meredith Cope. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1877.
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