[5]
And it is evident whom men envy, for it has just
been stated by implication. They envy those who are near them in time, place,
age, and reputation, whence it was said, “
Kinship knows how to envy also;1
” and those with whom they are in rivalry, who are those just spoken of;
for no man tries to rival those who lived ten thousand years ago, or are about
to be born, or are already dead; nor those who live near the Pillars of
Hercules;2 nor those who, in his
own opinion or in that of others, are either far inferior or superior to him;
and the people and things which one envies are on the same footing.3
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1 According to the scholiast, from Aeschylus.
2 Two rocks at the east end of the Straits of Gibraltar, supposed to be the limit westwards of the ancient world.
3 That is, no one will attempt to compete with them in their special branch of study. Roemer reads καὶ πρὸς τοὺς περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, translated by Jebb as if there were a full stop at ὑπερέχειν. “In like manner we vie with those engaged in such or such pursuits.”
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 22, translated by J. H. Freese. Aristotle. Cambridge and London. Harvard University Press; William Heinemann Ltd. 1926.
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