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1233a]
[1]
But there is left here the man who is the
opposite of both of these, who being worthy of great things claims
them as his desert,
1 and is of such a character as to
deem himself worthy
2: he is
praiseworthy, and he is in the middle between the two. Since, therefore, greatness
of spirit is the best disposition in relation to the choice and the
employment of honor and of the other good things that are esteemed,
and not in relation to useful things, and since we assign this to the
great-spirited man, and since also at the same time the middle state
is most praiseworthy, it is clear that even greatness of spirit must
be a middle state. And
of the opposites as shown in our diagram, the one in the direction of
deeming oneself worthy of great goods when one is not worthy is vanity
(for the sort of men that fancy themselves worthy of great things
though they are not we call vain), and the one that is concerned with
not deeming oneself worthy of great things when one is worthy of them
is smallness of spirit (for if a man does not think himself worthy of
anything great although he possesses qualities which would justly make
him considered worthy of it, he is thought small-spirited); so that it
follows that greatness of spirit is a middle state between vanity and
smallness of spirit. But
the fourth of the persons in our classification is neither entirely
reprehensible nor is he great spirited, as he is concerned with
nothing possessing greatness, for he neither is nor thinks himself
worthy of great things; owing to which he is not the opposite of the
man of great spirit.
[20]
Yet
thinking oneself worthy of small things when one is worthy of small
things might be thought the opposite of thinking oneself worthy of
great ones when one is worthy of great ones; but he is not opposite to the
great-spirited man because he is not blameworthy either, for his
character is as reason bids, and in nature he is the same as the
great-spirited man, for both claim as their desert the things that
they are worthy of. And
he might become great-spirited, for he will claim the things that he
is worthy of; whereas the small-spirited man, who when great goods
corresponding to his worth are available does not think himself worthy
of them—what would he have done if his deserts were small?
For either he would have conceitedly thought himself worthy of great
things, or of still less.
3 Hence
nobody would call a man small-spirited for not claiming to hold office
and submitting to authority if he is a resident alien, but one would
do so if he were of noble birth and attached great importance to
office.
The Magnificent Man also (except in a case
when we are using the term metaphorically) is not concerned with any
and every action and purposive choice, but with expenditure. Without
expenditure there is no magnificence, for it is what is appropriate in
ornament, and ornament does not result from any chance expenditure,
but consists in going beyond the merely necessary. Therefore the magnificent man
is the man who purposively chooses the appropriate greatness in great
expenditure, and who even on the occasion of a pleasure4 of this nature aims at this
sort of moderation. There
is no name denoting the man who likes spending to excess and
inappropriately; however the persons whom some people call tasteless
and swaggering have a certain affinity to him.5
