‘And those who are not inclined to evil-speaking’, (those who are constitute a topic of ὀργή, c. 2. 13,) ‘and don't know (don't notice) what is bad in their neighbours, nor in themselves, but only what is good (all their good points); for this is the conduct of the good man’. Comp. Plat. Theaet. 173 D, of the wise man, εὖ δὲ ἢ κακῶς τι γέγονεν ἐν πόλει, ἤ τί τῳ κακόν ἐστιν ἐκ προγόνων γεγονὸς ἢ πρὸς ἀνδρῶν ἢ γυναικῶν, μᾶλλον αὐτὸν λέληθεν ἢ οἱ θαλάττης λεγόμενοι χόες. An indisposition to evil-speaking is also a characteristic of the μεγαλόψυχος, Eth. N. IV 9, 1125 a 8, διόπερ οὐδὲ κακολόγος, οὐδὲ τῶν ἐχθρῶν. (This is from no wish to avoid offence, but because he is so supremely indifferent to all others, that he abstains from blaming, as from praising, them.)
Commentary on the Rhetoric of Aristotle. Edward Meredith Cope. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1877.
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