Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
H. Rackham, Ed.

hence those races appear to be the bravest among which cowards are degraded and brave men held in honor. [2] It is this citizen courage which inspires the heroes portrayed by Homer, like Diomede and Hector: “ Polydamas will be the first to flout me;¹

” and Diomede says “ Hector will make his boast at Troy hereafter:
“By me was Tydeus' son . . .”²

” [3]

This type of courage most closely resembles the one described before, because it is prompted by a virtue, namely the sense of shame,³ and by the desire for something noble, namely honor, and the wish to avoid the disgrace of being reproached. [4]

The courage of troops forced into battle by their officers may be classed as of the same type, though they are inferior inasmuch as their motive is not a sense of shame but fear, and the desire to avoid not disgrace but pain. Their masters compel them to be brave, after Hector's fashion: “ Let me see any skulking off the field—
He shall not save his carcase from the dogs!⁴

” [5]

The same is done by commanders who draw up their troops in front of them and beat them if they give ground,