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each separate addition to them is imperceptible, as is the case with
the growth of a disease; though they are voluntary in that we were free to employ our
capacities in the one way or the other.
[23]
But to resume, let us now discuss the virtues severally, defining the nature of each, the
class of objects to which it is related, and the way in which it is related to them. In so
doing we shall also make it clear how many virtues there are.6.
Let us first take Courage. We have already seen1 that Courage is the observance of the mean in respect of fear and
confidence.
[2]
Now it is clear that the things we fear are
fearful things, which means, broadly speaking, evil things; so that fear is sometimes
defined as the anticipation of evil.
[3]
It is true then that
we fear all evil things, for example, disgrace, poverty, disease, lack of friends, death;
but it is not thought that Courage is related to all these things, for there are some
evils which it is right and noble to fear and base not to fear, for instance, disgrace.
One who fears disgrace is an honorable man, with a due sense of shame; one who does not
fear it is shameless: though some people apply the term courageous to such a man by
analogy, because he bears some resemblance to the courageous man in that the courageous
man also is a fearless person.
[4]
Again, it is no doubt right not to fear poverty, disease, or in general any evil not
caused by vice and not due to ourselves. But one who is fearless in regard to these things
is not courageous either (although the term is applied to him, too, by
analogy); since some men who are cowards
in war are liberal with money, and face loss of fortune boldly.
[5]
Nor yet is a man cowardly if he fears insult to his wife and children, or envy, or the
like; nor courageous if he shows a bold face when about to undergo a flogging.
[6]
What then are the fearful things in respect of which Courage is displayed? I suppose
those which are the greatest, since there is no one more brave in enduring danger than the
courageous man. Now the most terrible thing of all is death; for it is the end, and when a
man is dead, nothing, we think, either good or evil can befall him any more.
[7]
But even death, we should hold, does not in all circumstances give
an opportunity for Courage: for instance we do not call a man courageous for facing death
by drowning or disease.
[8]
What form of death then is a test
of Courage? Presumably that which is the noblest. Now the noblest form of death is death
in battle, for it is encountered in the midst of the greatest and most noble of dangers.
[9]
And this conclusion is borne out by the principle on
which public honors are bestowed in republics and under monarchies.
[10]
The courageous man, therefore, in the proper sense of the term, will be he who fearlessly
confronts a noble death, or some sudden2 peril that threatens death; and the
perils of war answer this description most fully.
[11]
Not
that the courageous man is not also fearless in a storm at sea (as also in
illness),