On Virtues and Vices

1249. Things that are honourable are praiseworthy, and things that are shameful are blameworthy. Of honourable things the virtues are the leaders, and of shameful things the vices. Praiseworthy too are the causes of the virtues, and what accompanies the virtues, and what arises from them, and their works; blameworthy are their opposites. If the soul is taken, following Plato, as having three parts, then the virtue of the reasoning part is practical wisdom; the virtues of the spirited part are gentleness and courage; the virtues of the appetitive part are temperance and self-control; and the virtues of the soul as a whole are justice, liberality, and greatness of soul. The vice of the reasoning part is folly; the vices of the spirited part are irascibility and cowardice; the vices of the appetitive part are licentiousness and lack of self-control; and the vices of the soul as a whole are injustice, illiberality, and smallness of soul.

Practical wisdom is the virtue of the reasoning part, which prepares the means toward happiness. Gentleness is the virtue of the spirited part, by which men become hard to move to anger. Courage is the virtue of the spirited part, by which they are hard to dismay by fears that concern death. Temperance is the virtue of the appetitive part, by which they cease to crave the enjoyment of base pleasures. Self-control is the virtue of the appetitive part, by which they restrain with reason the appetite that strives after base pleasures. Justice is the virtue of the soul that distributes to each according to merit. Liberality is the virtue of the soul that spends freely upon honourable ends. Greatness of soul is the virtue of the soul by which a man is able to bear good fortune and ill fortune, honour and dishonour.

Folly is the vice of the reasoning part, the cause of living badly. Irascibility is the vice of the spirited part, by which men are easily moved to anger. Cowardice is the vice of the spirited part, by which they are dismayed by fears, and most of all by those that concern death. Licentiousness is the vice of the appetitive part, by which they choose base pleasures. Lack of self-control is the vice of the appetitive part, by which, through unreason, they let themselves be swept along by appetite as it drives them toward the enjoyment of base pleasures. Injustice is a vice of the soul, by which men become grasping for more than their due. Illiberality is a vice of the soul, by which they reach after gain from every quarter. Smallness of soul is a vice of the soul, by which they are unable to bear good fortune and ill fortune, honour and dishonour.

It belongs to practical wisdom to deliberate well; to judge what is good and bad and all the things in life to be chosen and to be avoided; to make good use of all the goods one has; to associate rightly with others; to discern the right occasions; to deal shrewdly both in word and in deed; and to have experience of all things that are useful. Memory, experience, and shrewdness either belong to practical wisdom, each of them, or accompany it; or some of them are, as it were, joint causes of practical wisdom — as experience and memory are — while others are, as it were, parts of it, such as good counsel and quickness of mind. It belongs to gentleness to be able to bear accusations and slights with moderation; not to rush quickly to take revenge; not to be easily stirred to anger, but to be free of bitterness in character and free of contentiousness, keeping a calm and steady state in the soul. It belongs to courage to be hard to dismay by fears that concern death; to be of good cheer in danger; to be daring before perils; to choose rather to die nobly than to be saved shamefully; and to be the cause of victory. It belongs to courage, further, to toil and to endure and to choose to play the man. Accompanying courage are boldness, good spirit, confidence, daring, and also love of toil and endurance. It belongs to temperance not to marvel at the enjoyment of bodily pleasures; to feel no craving for any enjoyment of shameful pleasure; to fear disorder, and also even a just impunity; and to keep one's life in order, alike in small things and in great. Accompanying temperance are orderliness, decorum, modesty, and caution. It belongs to self-control to be able to restrain with reason the appetite that strives toward base enjoyments and pleasures; to endure; and to bear up under natural want and pain. It belongs to justice to distribute to each according to merit; to preserve the customs of one's fathers and the institutions; to preserve the written laws; to speak the truth where one's own interest is at stake; and to keep one's agreements. The first of the forms of justice is that toward the gods, then that toward the lesser divinities, then that toward fatherland and parents, then that toward the departed; among these is piety, which is either a part of justice or a thing that goes along with it. There follow upon justice holiness, truth, faith, and hatred of wickedness. It belongs to liberality to be ready to give money for praiseworthy ends; to be lavish in spending on what is needful; to be ready to help where one's interest is at stake; and not to take from where one ought not. The liberal man is also clean in his dress and in his house, and given to providing things that are beyond mere need, things fine and offering pleasant enjoyment apart from profit, and to keeping animals that have something distinctive or wonderful about them. There follow upon liberality of character a certain ease, good breeding, kindness to others, and being compassionate, fond of one's friends, fond of guests, and fond of beauty. It belongs to greatness of soul to bear nobly both good fortune and ill fortune, honour and dishonour; to marvel at neither luxury nor flattering attention nor power nor victories in the contests, but to have a certain depth and magnitude of soul. The man of great soul is neither one who sets a high value on living nor one who clings to life. He is simple in character and noble, able to suffer wrong, and not given to revenge. There follow upon greatness of soul simplicity and truthfulness.

It belongs to folly to judge matters badly; to deliberate badly; to associate badly with others; to make bad use of the goods one has; and to hold false opinions about what is honourable and good in life. There follow upon folly inexperience, ignorance, lack of self-control, awkwardness, and forgetfulness. There are three kinds of irascibility: quickness to anger, bitterness, and sullenness. It belongs to the irascible man to be unable to bear either small slights or small losses; to be given to chastising and avenging; and to be easily stirred to anger by any deed or word that comes his way. There follow upon irascibility a temper that is easily provoked and changeable, bitter speech, being pained over little things, and suffering all this quickly and on the slightest occasion. It belongs to cowardice to be easily moved by any chance fears, and most of all by those concerning death and bodily injuries, and to suppose that it is better to be saved in any way whatever than to die nobly. There follow upon cowardice softness, unmanliness, shrinking from toil, and love of life. There is also in it a certain caution and an uncontentious character. It belongs to licentiousness to choose the enjoyment of harmful and shameful pleasures; to suppose that those who live in such pleasures are the happiest; to be fond of laughter, fond of mockery, and fond of jesting; and to be loose in word and in deed. There follow upon licentiousness disorder, shamelessness, unseemliness, luxury, idleness, negligence, indifference, and dissoluteness. It belongs to lack of self-control to choose the enjoyment of pleasures even when reason forbids; to do so even while supposing it better not to share in them, yet sharing in them no less; and to think that one ought to do what is honourable and beneficial, yet to draw back from these on account of pleasures. There follow upon lack of self-control softness and remorse, and most of the same things as follow upon licentiousness.

There are three kinds of injustice: impiety, greed, and insolence. Impiety is wrongdoing concerning the gods and the lesser divinities, or also concerning the departed, and concerning parents and fatherland. Greed has to do with contracts, choosing for oneself more than is one's due. Insolence is that by which men procure pleasures for themselves while bringing others into reproach; whence Evenus says of it:

". . . which, gaining nothing, all the same does wrong."

It belongs to injustice to transgress the customs of one's fathers and the institutions; to disobey the laws and the rulers; to lie; to swear falsely; and to break one's agreements and pledges. There follow upon injustice malicious accusation, boastfulness, pretended kindness, malice, and craftiness. There are three kinds of illiberality: base love of gain, stinginess, and miserliness. Base love of gain is that by which men seek to profit from every quarter and value gain above their good name. Stinginess is that by which they will spend nothing of their money on what is needful. Miserliness is that by which they do spend, but in small amounts and badly, and are harmed all the more by not laying out their funds at the right time. It belongs to illiberality to value money above all things, to count nothing a reproach that brings gain, and to lead a life that is menial, slavish, and sordid, foreign to honour and to freedom. There follow upon illiberality pettiness, sullenness and smallness of soul, lowness, want of measure, ignobility, and hatred of mankind. It belongs to smallness of soul to be able to bear neither honour nor dishonour, neither good fortune nor ill fortune, but, when honoured, to grow vain; when a little fortunate, to be lifted up; and to be unable to bear even the slightest dishonour; to judge a single failure a great ruin and misfortune; and to lament and chafe at everything. The man of small soul is, moreover, the sort to call every slight an outrage and a dishonour, even those that arise from ignorance or forgetfulness. There follow upon smallness of soul pettiness, querulousness, despondency, and lowness.

In general, it belongs to virtue to make the disposition of the soul worthy, employing calm and ordered movements, in harmony throughout all its parts; and for this reason a worthy disposition of the soul seems to be a model of a good civic order. It belongs to virtue also to do good to those who deserve it; to love the good; to be neither given to punishing nor to revenge, but gracious, kindly, and forgiving. There follow upon virtue goodness, fairness, reasonableness, and good hope. And further such qualities as being fond of one's home and of one's friends, fond of comrades, fond of guests, kind to mankind, and fond of beauty; all of which are among the things that are praised. And to vice belong the opposite qualities.