‘Victory and honour are noble and praiseworthy things; for they are desirable though unproductive (see c. 5. 7, note infra § 26), and manifest (are signs of) an excess, superiority, higher degree, of virtue’, i.e. a higher degree than the virtues which they crown would attain without them: a man may be good without them; with them he must be better. Comp. Eth. N. IV 8 init. οἱ γὰρ εὐγενεῖς ἀξιοῦνται τιμῆς καὶ οἱ δυναστεύοντες ἢ οἱ πλουτοῦντες: ἐν ὑπεροχῇ γάρ, τὸ δ᾽ ἀγαθῷ ὑπερέχον πᾶν ἐντιμότερον. Comp. infra § 39. μνημονευτά] ‘things to be, capable of being, or that deserve to be, remembered’; as εὐμνημόνευτα (infra) is ‘easy to be remembered’. μνημονεύματα, which Victorius adopts upon the superior authority of MSS, is monumenta, memorials, elogia, et quae memoriam alicuius ornant. He does not seem to have observed, what Bekker, who prefers the former, doubtless did, though he does not say so, that μᾶλλον can be construed with the adjective μνημονευτά, but hardly, or not so well, with the substantive μνημονεύματα. ἃ μὴ ζῶντι ἕπεται] ‘things that outlast life, that follow a man beyond the grave’, as posthumous fame. οἷς τιμὴ ἀκολουθεῖ] Honour itself, especially as contrasted with profit (supra § 16), imparts a praiseworthy character as the prize of action, and is itself καλόν and a thing to be praised (§ 25, supra). It must therefore convey this in some measure to everything, particularly actions, by which it is attended upon or accompanied. τὰ περιττά] (see note on 6. 28) are καλά as well as ἀγαθά. They are thus illustrated by Schrader. ‘Quae aliis sui generis praestant. Gellius I XIII P. Crassus Mucianus traditur quinque habuisse rerum bonarum maxima et praecipua, quod esset ditissimus, quod nobilissimus, quod eloquentissimus, quod iuris consultissimus, quod Pontifex Maximus. Velleius (de Pompeio), II 53, Vir in id evectus super quod ascendi non potest.’ τὰ μόνῳ ὑπάρχοντα] τὰ ἴδια καὶ ἃ μηδείς, 6. 28. The difference between the two lies in this, that the topic of 6. 28 denotes positive good, as excellences, accomplishments, personal or intellectual advantages, which are peculiar to a man, and shared by no one else; here they rather refer to peculiar actions, or qualities that can be manifested in action, which are more easily remembered, and therefore more the objects of praise, and in this sense καλλίω: ἐκ πράξεων ὁ ἔπαινος, § 32. ‘In bibliotheca, quae prima in urbe ab Asinio Pollione publicata est, unius M. Varronis viventis posita imago est, Plin. VII 30. L. Metello tribuit populus Romanus quod nunquam ulli alii ab condito aevo ut quoties in senatum iret curru veheretur ad curiam. Plin. VII 43.’ Schrader. I have quoted these instances because from Schrader's point of view they very well illustrate the topic. But I believe they are not exactly what Aristotle had in his mind when he wrote the words. These are not exactly subjects of ‘praise’, which the topics of this chapter deal with, exclusively or more immediately. τὰ περιττά and τὰ μόνῳ ὑπάρχοντα are to be taken together, the latter being a step higher in degree than the former. τὰ περιττά are distinguished and exceptional (as Schrader puts it) excellences, qualities, achievements. τὰ μόνῳ ὑπάρχοντα are a step beyond, ‘unique’.
Commentary on the Rhetoric of Aristotle. Edward Meredith Cope. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1877.
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