which has some resemblance to
the licentiousness of adults. Which of the two takes its name from the other is of no
importance for the present enquiry, but it would seem clear that the state which comes
later in life must be named from the one which comes earlier.
[
6]
The metaphor appears apt enough, since it is that which desires what is
disgraceful and whose appetites grow apace that needs chastisement or pruning,
1 and this description
applies in the fullest degree to desire, as it does to the child. For children, like
profligates, live at the prompting of desire; and the appetite for pleasure is strongest
in childhood, so that if it be not disciplined and made obedient to authority, it will
make great headway.
[
7]
In an irrational being the appetite
for pleasure is insatiable and undiscriminating, and the innate tendency is fostered by
active gratification; indeed, if such gratification be great and intense it actually
overpowers the reason. Hence our indulgences should be moderate and few, and never opposed
to principle—
[
8]
this is what we mean by
‘well-disciplined’ and ‘chastened—; and the
appetitive part of us should be ruled by principle, just as a boy should live in obedience
to his tutor.
[
9]
Hence in the temperate man the appetitive
element must be in harmony with principle. For (1) the aim of both
Temperance and principle is that which is noble; and (2) the temperate
man desires the right thing in the right way at the right time, which is what principle
ordains.
[
10]
Let this then be our account of Temperance.