- Source
- Aristotle. Aristotelis Ars Rhetorica. Ross, William David, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press,1959 (printing).
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0086.tlg038.humanitext-grc2:2.12.1-2.12.16
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
The author defines emotions, habits, ages, and fortunes as the foundation for analyzing character, and then discusses the character of the young, focusing on their strong desires, love for honor and victory, trustful and hopeful nature, and tendency to do everything in excess.
τὰ δὲ ἤθη ποῖοί τινες κατὰ τὰ πάθη καὶ τὰς ἕξεις καὶ τὰς ἡλικίας καὶ τὰς τύχας, διέλθωμεν μετὰ ταῦτα.
Let us next discuss what characters are like with respect to emotions, habits, ages, and fortunes.
λέγω δὲ πάθη μὲν ὀργὴν ἐπιθυμίαν καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα περὶ ὧν εἰρήκαμεν, ἕξεις δὲ ἀρετὰς καὶ κακίας, εἴρηται δὲ περὶ τούτων πρότερον, καὶ ποῖα προαιροῦνται ἕκαστοι, καὶ ποίων πρακτικοί1 ἡλικίαι δέ εἰσι νεότης καὶ ἀκμὴ καὶ γῆρας. τύχην δὲ λέγω εὐγένειαν καὶ πλοῦτον καὶ δυνάμεις καὶ τἀναντία τούτοις καὶ ὅλως εὐτυχίαν καὶ δυστυχίαν.
By emotions I mean anger, desire, and suchlike things of which we have spoken, and by habits, virtues and vices; but concerning these, and what kind of things each class chooses and is practiced in, has been spoken of before; and ages are youth, prime of life, and old age. By fortune I mean noble birth, wealth, powers, and their opposites, and in general, good fortune and bad fortune.
οἱ μὲν οὖν νέοι τὰ ἤθη εἰσὶν ἐπιθυμητικοί, καὶ οἷοι ποιεῖν ὧν ἂν ἐπιθυμήσωσι. καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸ σῶμα ἐπιθυμιῶν μάλιστα ἀκολουθητικοί εἰσι τῇ περὶ τὰ ἀφροδίσια2 καὶ ἀκρατεῖς ταύτης, εὐμετάβολοι δὲ καὶ ἁψίκοροι πρὸς τὰς ἐπιθυμίας, καὶ σφόδρα μὲν ἐπιθυμοῦσι ταχέως δὲ παύονται (ὀξεῖαι γὰρ αἱ βουλήσεις καὶ οὐ μεγάλαι, ὥσπερ αἱ τῶν καμνόντων δίψαι καὶ πεῖναι), καὶ θυμικοὶ καὶ ὀξύθυμοι καὶ οἷοι ἀκολουθεῖν τῇ ὀργῇ. καὶ ἥττους εἰσὶ τοῦ θυμοῦ· διὰ γὰρ φιλοτιμίαν οὐκ ἀνέχονται ὀλιγωρούμενοι, ἀλλʼ ἀγανακτοῦσιν ἂν οἴωνται ἀδικεῖσθαι.
Now, the young are in their characters prone to desire, and such as to do whatever they desire. And of the bodily desires, they are especially followers of that concerning sex, and are incontinent in this. And they are changeable and fickle in their desires, and though they desire passionately, they quickly cease (for their impulses are sharp but not great, like the hunger and thirst of the sick). And they are passionate and hot-tempered, and such as to follow their anger. And they are defeated by their anger; for through love of honor they cannot bear to be slighted, but are indignant if they think they are wronged.
καὶ φιλότιμοι μέν εἰσιν, μᾶλλον δὲ φιλόνικοι (ὑπεροχῆς γὰρ ἐπιθυμεῖ ἡ νεότης, ἡ δὲ νίκη ὑπεροχή τις), καὶ ἄμφω ταῦτα μᾶλλον ἢ φιλοχρήματοι (φιλοχρήματοι δὲ ἥκιστα διὰ τὸ μήπω ἐνδείας πεπειρᾶσθαι, ὥσπερ τὸ Πιττακοῦ ἔχει ἀπόφθεγμα εἰς Ἀμφιάραον), καὶ οὐ κακοήθεις ἀλλʼ εὐήθεις διὰ τὸ μήπω τεθεωρηκέναι πολλὰς πονηρίας, καὶ εὔπιστοι διὰ τὸ μήπω πολλὰ ἐξηπατῆσθαι, καὶ εὐέλπιδες· ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ οἰνωμένοι, οὕτω διάθερμοί εἰσιν οἱ νέοι ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως· ἅμα δὲ καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ πολλὰ ἀποτετυχηκέναι. καὶ ζῶσι τὰ πλεῖστα ἐλπίδι· ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐλπὶς τοῦ μέλλοντός ἐστιν ἡ δὲ μνήμη τοῦ παροιχομένου, τοῖς δὲ νέοις τὸ μὲν μέλλον πολὺ τὸ δὲ παρεληλυθὸς βραχύ· τῇ γὰρ πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ3 μεμνῆσθαι μὲν οὐδὲν οἷόν τε, ἐλπίζειν δὲ πάντα. καὶ εὐεξαπάτητοί εἰσι διὰ τὸ εἰρημένον (ἑλπίζουσι γὰρ ῥᾳδίως), καὶ ἀνδρειότεροι (θυμώδεις γὰρ καὶ εὐέλπιδες, ὧν τὸ μὲν μὴ φοβεῖσθαι τὸ δὲ θαρρεῖν ποιεῖ· οὔτε γὰρ ὀργιζόμενος οὐδεὶς φοβεῖται, τό τε ἐλπίζειν ἀγαθόν τι θαρραλέον ἐστίν), καὶ αἰσχυντηλοί (οὐ γάρ πω καλὰ ἕτερα ὑπολαμβάνουσιν, ἀλλὰ πεπαίδευνται ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου μόνον), καὶ μεγαλόψυχοι (οὐ γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ βίου πω τεταπείνωνται, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἄπειροί εἰσιν, καὶ τὸ ἀξιοῦν αὑτὸν μεγάλων μεγαλοψυχία· τοῦτο δʼ εὐέλπιδος).4
And they love honor, but even more they love victory (for youth desires superiority, and victory is a certain superiority), and they love both of these more than money (and they love money least of all because they have not yet experienced want, as the saying of Pittacus concerning Amphiaraus has it). And they are not malicious but good-natured, because they have not yet witnessed much wickedness, and they are trustful, because they have not yet been often deceived. And they are hopeful; for like those who are drunk with wine, so are the young heated by nature; and at the same time also because they have not failed many times. And they live for the most part by hope; for hope is of the future, while memory is of the past, and for the young the future is long and the past is short (for on the first day, it is possible to remember nothing, but to hope for everything). And they are easily deceived for the reason mentioned (for they hope easily). And they are more courageous (for they are passionate and hopeful, of which the former makes them not fear, and the latter makes them confident; for no one who is angry is afraid, and to hope for some good is confident). And they are bashful (for they do not yet conceive of other beautiful things, but have been educated only by law). And they are great-souled (for they have not yet been worn down by life, but are inexperienced in necessary things, and to think oneself worthy of great things is greatness of soul; and this belongs to a hopeful person).
καὶ μᾶλλον αἱροῦνται πράττειν τὰ καλὰ τῶν συμφερόντων· τῷ γὰρ ἤθει ζῶσι μᾶλλον ἢ τῷ λογισμῷ, ἔστι δὲ ὁ μὲν λογισμὸς τοῦ συμφέροντος ἡ δὲ ἀρετὴ τοῦ καλοῦ.
And they choose to perform beautiful deeds rather than useful ones; for they live more by character than by reasoning, and reasoning is of the useful, while virtue is of the beautiful.
καὶ φιλόφιλοι καὶ φιλέταιροι μᾶλλον τῶν ἄλλων ἡλικιῶν διὰ τὸ χαίρειν τῷ συζῆν καὶ μήπω πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον κρίνειν μηδέν, ὥστε μηδὲ τοὺς φίλους.
And they are fond of friends and associates more than the other ages, because they delight in living together and do not yet judge anything by utility, and so not even their friends.
καὶ ἅπαντα ἐπὶ τὸ μᾶλλον καὶ σφοδρότερον ἁμαρτάνουσι, παρὰ τὸ Χιλώνειον5 (πάντα γὰρ ἄγαν πράττουσιν· φιλοῦσι γὰρ ἄγαν καὶ μισοῦσιν ἄγαν καὶ τἆλλα πάντα ὁμοίως), καὶ εἰδέναι ἅπαντα οἴονται καὶ διισχυρίζονται (τοῦτο γὰρ αἴτιόν ἐστιν καὶ τοῦ πάντα ἄγαν), καὶ τὰ ἀδικήματα ἀδικοῦσιν εἰς ὕβριν, οὐ κακουργίαν. καὶ ἐλεητικοὶ διὰ τὸ πάντας χρηστοὺς καὶ βελτίους ὑπολαμβάνειν (τῇ γὰρ αὑτῶν ἀκακίᾳ τοὺς πέλας μετροῦσιν, ὥστε ἀνάξια πάσχειν ὑπολαμβάνουσιν αὐτούς), καὶ φιλογέλωτες, διὸ καὶ φιλευτράπελοι· ἡ γὰρ εὐτραπελία πεπαιδευμένη ὕβρις ἐστίν.
And they err in everything on the side of “too much” and “too violently”, contrary to the maxim of Chilon (for they do all things in excess: they love in excess and hate in excess, and all other things likewise), and they think they know everything and insist upon it (for this is also the cause of their doing everything in excess). And the wrongs they commit are because of insolence, not of malice. And they are compassionate, because they assume all men to be good and better than they are (for they measure their neighbors by their own lack of malice, so that they assume they suffer undeservedly). And they are fond of laughter, wherefore they are also witty; for wit is educated insolence.
- 1388b35ποῖα προαιροῦνται ἕκαστοι, καὶ ποίων πρακτικοί
This indirect question clause forms part of the subject of εἴρηται. It supplements the preceding περὶ τούτων (virtues and vices), indicating what choices they make (ποῖα προαιροῦνται) and what things they are prone to practice (ποίων πρακτικοί). The genitive ποίων in the latter is an objective genitive governed by the adjective πρακτικοί.
- 1389a1τῶν περὶ τὸ σῶμα ἐπιθυμιῶν μάλιστα ἀκολουθητικοί εἰσι τῇ περὶ τὰ ἀφροδίσια
A complex double-governance construction. The initial genitive phrase τῶν περὶ τὸ σῶμα ἐπιθυμιῶν serves as a partitive genitive ("of the bodily desires"). In contrast, the main adjective ἀκολουθητικοί (prone to follow) governs the dative τῇ περὶ τὰ ἀφροδίσια (the one concerning sex).
- 1389a20τῇ γὰρ πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ
Dative of time. It means "on the first day [of life]". Used metaphorically for the early stage of a young person's life, illustrating an extreme state where the future is infinitely long and there is no memory of the past (μεμνῆσθαι μὲν οὐδὲν), by comparing it to the very first day of existence.
- 1389a30τοῦτο δʼ εὐέλπιδος
εὐέλπιδος is the genitive singular of the adjective εὐέλπις, serving as a possessive genitive of characteristic ("and this is characteristic of a hopeful person"). The subject τοῦτο refers to the preceding clause, "to think oneself worthy of great things" (τὸ ἀξιοῦν αὑτὸν μεγάλων).
- 1389b1παρὰ τὸ Χιλώνειον
The preposition παρά with the accusative means "contrary to". τὸ Χιλώνειον is a neuter adjective with the definite article used substantively to mean "the maxim of Chilon", referring to the famous saying of Chilon, one of the Seven Sages of Greece: "nothing in excess" (μηδὲν ἄγαν).