[6]
The cause of the pleasure felt by those who insult is
the idea that, in ill-treating others, they are more fully showing superiority.
That is why the young and the wealthy are given to insults; for they think that,
in committing them, they are showing their superiority. Dishonor is
characteristic of insult; and one who dishonors another slights him; for that
which is worthless has no value, either as good or evil. Hence Achilles in his
wrath exclaims: “
He has dishonored me, since he keeps the prize he has taken for
himself,1
” and “
[has treated me] like a dishonored vagrant,2
”
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2 Hom. Il. 9.648. μετανάστης, lit. “one who changes his home,” used as a term of reproach.
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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