- 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-grc2:2.13.1-2.13.16
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
The author discusses the character traits of older individuals and those past their prime. In contrast to the young, their features are described as mistrustful, small-souled, cowardly, clinging to life, and living by memory.
τὸ μὲν οὖν τῶν νέων τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν ἦθος, οἱ δὲ πρεσβύτεροι καὶ παρηκμακότες σχεδὸν ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων τούτοις τὰ πλεῖστα ἔχουσιν ἤθη· διὰ γὰρ τὸ πολλὰ ἔτη βεβιωκέναι καὶ πλείω ἐξηπατῆσθαι καὶ ἐξημαρτηκέναι, καὶ τὰ πλείω φαῦλα εἶναι τῶν πραγμάτων,1 οὔτε διαβεβαιοῦνται οὐδέν, ἧττόν τε ἄγανται πάντα ἢ δεῖ.
The character of the young, then, is of this kind; whereas the older men and those who are past their prime have, for the most part, characters composed of almost the opposites of these. For because of having lived many years, and having been more often deceived and made mistakes, and because most affairs are bad, they assert nothing with certainty, and they admire everything less than they ought.
καὶ οἴονται, ἴσασι δʼ οὐδέν, καὶ ἀμφιδοξοῦντες προστιθέασιν ἀεὶ τὸ ἴσως καὶ τάχα, καὶ πάντα λέγουσιν οὕτως, παγίως δʼ οὐδέν.
And they think, but know nothing, and in their hesitation they always add “perhaps” and “maybe”, and speak of all things in this way, but of nothing firmly.
καὶ κακοήθεις εἰσίν· ἔστι γὰρ κακοήθεια τὸ ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον ὑπολαμβάνειν πάντα. ἔτι δὲ καχύποπτοί εἰσι διὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν, ἄπιστοι δὲ διʼ ἐμπειρίαν.
And they are malicious; for malice consists in assuming everything for the worse. Further, they are suspicious because of their distrust, and they are distrustful because of experience.
καὶ οὔτε φιλοῦσιν σφόδρα οὔτε μισοῦσι διὰ ταῦτα, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν Βίαντος ὑποθήκην καὶ φιλοῦσιν ὡς μισήσοντες καὶ μισοῦσιν ὡς φιλήσοντες.2
And they neither love intensely nor hate because of these things, but according to the maxim of Bias, they both love as if they were going to hate, and hate as if they were going to love.
καὶ μικρόψυχοι διὰ τὸ τεταπεινῶσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ βίου· οὐδενὸς γὰρ μεγάλου οὐδὲ περιττοῦ ἀλλὰ τῶν πρὸς τὸν βίον ἐπιθυμοῦσι.
And they are small-souled, because they have been worn down by life; for they desire nothing great or extraordinary, but only the things necessary for life.
καὶ ἀνελεύθεροι· ἓν γάρ τι τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἡ οὐσία, ἅμα δὲ καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐμπειρίαν ἴσασιν ὡς χαλεπὸν τὸ κτήσασθαι καὶ ῥᾴδιον τὸ ἀποβαλεῖν.
And they are illiberal; for property is one of the necessaries, and at the same time, because of experience, they know how difficult it is to acquire and how easy to lose.
καὶ δειλοὶ καὶ πάντα προφοβητικοί· ἐναντίως γὰρ διάκεινται τοῖς νέοις· κατεψυγμένοι γάρ εἰσιν, οἱ δὲ θερμοί, ὥστε προωδοπεποίηκε τὸ γῆρας τῇ δειλίᾳ· καὶ γὰρ ὁ φόβος κατάψυξίς τίς ἐστιν.
And they are cowardly and suspicious of everything beforehand; for they are in an opposite state to the young, being cold, whereas the young are hot, so that old age has paved the way for cowardice; for fear is a kind of chilling.
καὶ φιλόζωοι, καὶ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τῇ τελευταίᾳ ἡμέρᾳ διὰ τὸ τοῦ ἀπόντος εἶναι τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν, καὶ οὗ ἐνδεεῖς, τούτου μάλιστα ἐπιθυμεῖν.3
And they are fond of life, and especially on their last day, because desire is for that which is absent, and men desire most of all that of which they are in want.
καὶ φίλαυτοι μᾶλλον ἢ δεῖ· μικροψυχία γάρ τις καὶ αὕτη. καὶ πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον ζῶσιν, ἀλλʼ οὐ πρὸς τὸ καλόν, μᾶλλον ἢ δεῖ, διὰ τὸ φίλαυτοι εἶναι· τὸ μὲν γὰρ συμφέρον αὐτῷ ἀγαθόν ἐστι, τὸ δὲ καλὸν ἁπλῶς.
And they are more selfish than they ought to be; for this also is a kind of small-souledness. And they live for the useful, but not for the beautiful, more than they ought, because they are selfish; for the useful is good for oneself, whereas the beautiful is good absolutely.
καὶ ἀναίσχυντοι μᾶλλον ἢ αἰσχυντηλοί· διὰ γὰρ τὸ μὴ φροντίζειν ὁμοίως τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ τοῦ συμφέροντος ὀλιγωροῦσι τοῦ δοκεῖν.
And they are shameless rather than bashful; for because they do not care equally for the beautiful and the useful, they neglect what people think of them.
καὶ δυσέλπιδες διὰ τὴν ἐμπειρίαν (τὰ γὰρ πλείω τῶν γιγνομένων φαῦλά ἐστιν· ἀποβαίνει γὰρ τὰ πολλὰ ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον), καὶ ἔτι διὰ τὴν δειλίαν.
And they are hopeless because of experience (for most of the things that happen are bad; for most things turn out for the worse), and further, because of cowardice.
καὶ ζῶσι τῇ μνήμῃ μᾶλλον ἢ τῇ ἐλπίδι· τοῦ γὰρ βίου τὸ μὲν λοιπὸν ὀλίγον τὸ δὲ παρεληλυθὸς πολύ, ἔστι δὲ ἡ μὲν ἐλπὶς τοῦ μέλλοντος ἡ δὲ μνήμη τῶν παροιχομένων· ὅπερ αἴτιον καὶ τῆς ἀδολεσχίας αὐτοῖς· διατελοῦσι γὰρ τὰ γενόμενα λέγοντες· ἀναμιμνησκόμενοι γὰρ ἥδονται.
And they live by memory rather than by hope; for what remains of life is short, and what has passed is long, and hope is of the future, while memory is of things past. This is also the cause of their loquacity; for they continue talking of what has happened; for they take pleasure in remembering.
καὶ οἱ θυμοὶ ὀξεῖς μὲν ἀσθενεῖς δέ εἰσιν, καὶ αἱ ἐπιθυμίαι αἱ μὲν ἐκλελοίπασιν αἱ δὲ ἀσθενεῖς εἰσιν, ὥστε οὔτʼ ἐπιθυμητικοὶ οὔτε πρακτικοὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ κέρδος· διὸ σωφρονικοὶ φαίνονται οἱ τηλικοῦτοι· αἵ τε γὰρ ἐπιθυμίαι ἀνείκασι καὶ δουλεύουσι τῷ κέρδει.
And their angers are sharp but weak, and of their desires, some have failed and others are weak, so that they are neither desiring nor active according to their desires, but according to gain; wherefore those of this age appear self-controlled; for their desires have relaxed, and they are slaves to gain.
καὶ μᾶλλον ζῶσι κατὰ λογισμὸν ἢ κατὰ τὸ ἦθος· ὁ μὲν γὰρ λογισμὸς τοῦ συμφέροντος τὸ δʼ ἦθος τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐστιν. καὶ τἀδικήματα ἀδικοῦσιν εἰς κακουργίαν, οὐκ εἰς ὕβριν.
And they live more by reasoning than by character; for reasoning is of the useful, while character is of virtue. And the wrongs they commit are because of malice, not of insolence.
ἐλεητικοὶ δὲ καὶ οἱ γέροντές εἰσιν, ἀλλʼ οὐ διὰ ταὐτὰ τοῖς νέοις· οἱ μὲν γὰρ διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν, οἱ δὲ διʼ ἀσθένειαν· πάντα γὰρ οἴονται ἐγγὺς εἶναι αὑτοῖς παθεῖν, τοῦτο δʼ ἦν ἐλεητικόν·4 ὅθεν ὀδυρτικοί εἰσι, καὶ οὐκ εὐτράπελοι οὐδὲ φιλογέλοιοι· ἐναντίον γὰρ τὸ ὀδυρτικὸν τῷ φιλογέλωτι.
And the old are also compassionate, but not for the same reasons as the young; for the young are so because of love of mankind, but the old because of weakness; for they think all kinds of suffering are near to themselves, and this was the cause of compassion. Whence they are mournful, and neither witty nor fond of laughter; for the mournful disposition is opposite to that which is fond of laughter.
τῶν μὲν οὖν νέων καὶ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τὰ ἤθη τοιαῦτα, ὥστʼ ἐπεὶ ἀποδέχονται πάντες τοὺς τῷ σφετέρῳ ἤθει λεγομένους λόγους καὶ τοὺς ὁμοίους, οὐκ ἄδηλον πῶς χρώμενοι τοῖς λόγοις τοιοῦτοι φανοῦνται καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ οἱ λόγοι.
The characters of the young and of the older men, then, are of such a kind; so that since all men welcome speeches spoken in their own character and representing things like themselves, it is not unclear how we must use speeches to make both ourselves and our speeches appear of this character.
- 1389b15διὰ γὰρ τὸ πολλὰ ἔτη βεβιωκέναι καὶ πλείω ἐξηπατῆσθαι καὶ ἐξημαρτηκέναι, καὶ τὰ πλείω φαῦλα εἶναι τῶν πραγμάτων
Under the prepositional phrase διὰ τὸ (governing the accusative of articular infinitives), three perfect infinitives (βεβιωκέναι, ἐξηπατῆσθαι, ἐξημαρτηκέναι) are coordinated with an accusative-with-infinitive construction (τὰ πλείω ... εἶναι), where τὰ πλείω τῶν πραγμάτων acts as the subject accusative. This structure systematically lists the multiple cognitive and empirical reasons for the elderly's hesitancy.
- 1389b20ὡς μισήσοντες καὶ μισοῦσιν ¦25¦ ὡς φιλήσοντες
The conjunction ὡς combined with future participles (μισήσοντες and φιλήσοντες) expresses the subjective intention, expectation, or guiding principle of the subject (older men)—literally "with the expectation of hating/loving in the future." This grammatically elaborates the famous maxim attributed to the ancient sage Bias.
- 1389b25καὶ οὗ ἐνδεεῖς, τούτου ¦35¦ μάλιστα ἐπιθυμεῖν
The relative pronoun οὗ serves as the genitive complement to the adjective ἐνδεεῖς ("lacking"), while its antecedent τούτου acts as the genitive object of the verb of desiring, ἐπιθυμεῖν. The post-position of the antecedent relative to the clause emphasizes the object of their longing (that which is deficient).
- 1390a20τοῦτο δʼ ἦν ἐλεητικόν
The imperfect ἦν does not denote a mere past action, but functions as a philosophical or descriptive imperfect, referring back to a previously established definition or essence of a concept (i.e., "this, as we saw, was what constitutes the compassionate").