Humanitext Reader

Aristotle · Great Ethics §1.32.1-1.32.2

Truthfulness as a Mean Between Boastfulness and Self-Deprecation

Passage 34 of 71 · Greek

Summary

The passage defines truthfulness as a mean between boastfulness and irony, explaining that a truthful person represents their own qualities and knowledge exactly as they are.

§1.32.1ὁ μὲν οὖν φίλος τοιοῦτος·
The friend, then, is of this sort.
ἀλήθεια δέ ἐστιν μεταξὺ εἰρωνείας καὶ ἀλαζονείας.
Truthfulness is a mean between irony and boastfulness.
ἔστι δὴ περὶ λόγους, οὐ πάντας δέ.
It is indeed concerned with words, but not all of them.
ὁμὲν γὰρ ἀλαζών ἐστιν ὁ πλείω τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὑτῳ προσποιούμενος εἶναι, ἢ εἰδέναι ἃ μὴ οἶδεν, ὁ δʼ εἴρων ἐναντίος τούτῳ καὶ ἐλάττω τῶν ὑπαρχόντων προσποιούμενος αὑτῷ εἶναι, καὶ ἃ οἶδεν μὴ φάσκων, ἀλλʼ ἐπικρυπτόμενος τὸ εἰδέναι.
For the boastful person is one who pretends that he has more than what actually belongs to him, or that he knows what he does not know, while the ironical person is the opposite of this, pretending that he has less than what actually belongs to him, and denying that he knows what he does, but rather concealing his knowledge.
§1.32.2ὁ δὲ ἀληθὴς οὐδέτερον τούτων ποιήσει.
The truthful person, however, will do neither of these.
οὔτε γὰρ προσποιήσεται πλείω τῶν ὑπαρχόντων οὔτʼ ἐλάττω, ἀλλὰ τὰ ὑπάρχοντα αὑτῷ ταῦτα φήσει καὶ εἶναι καὶ εἰδέναι.
For he will pretend neither to have more than what actually belongs to him nor less, but will declare that those things which actually belong to him both exist and are known by him.
εἰ μὲν οὖν εἰσιν αὗται ἀρεταὶ ἢ μὴ ἀρεταί, ἄλλος ἂν εἴη λόγος· ὅτι δὲ μεσότητές εἰσι τῶν εἰρημένων, δῆλον.
Whether, therefore, these are virtues or not virtues would be another discussion; but that they are means between the aforementioned extremes is clear.
οἱ γὰρ κατʼ αὐτὰς ζῶντες ἔπαινοῦνται.
For those who live in accordance with them are praised.

Notes

  1. ¦30¦ἃ μὴ οἶδεν — The negative particle μή is used instead of οὐ in the relative clause led by ὅς (ἅ) because it refers to a generalized or characterized class of things ("whatever things he does not know") rather than a specific factual reality.
  2. ¦35¦τὰ ὑπάρχοντα αὑτῷ ταῦτα φήσει καὶ εἶναι καὶ εἰδέναι — An accusative-with-infinitive construction depending on φήσει. The demonstrative pronoun ταῦτα, resuming the preceding substantivized participle τὰ ὑπάρχοντα αὑτῷ, functions as the subject/object of the two infinitives εἶναι ("to exist") and εἰδέναι ("to know"), meaning "he will assert that these things both exist and are known."
  3. ¦35¦ἄλλος ἂν εἴη λόγος — The combination of the particle ἄν with the optative εἴη forms a potential optative, expressing a tentative assertion or hypothetical possibility: "it would be another discussion."

Cite this passage

Aristotle, Great Ethics §1.32.1-1.32.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0086.tlg022.humanitext-grc1:1.32.1-1.32.2

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