{"id":97,"date":"2021-03-23T15:13:13","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T15:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/chapter\/3-of-high-mindedness\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T23:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T23:37:16","slug":"3-magnanimity","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/chapter\/3-magnanimity\/","title":{"rendered":"Section 3: Magnanimity"},"content":{"raw":"Magnanimity seems even from its name to be concerned with great things. The first question we must try to answer is what sort of great things? [35]<\/sub> It makes no difference whether we consider the disposition or the person characterized by it. [1123b1] <\/sub>\r\n\r\nNow a person is thought to be magnanimous who thinks himself worthy of great things and is worthy of them. For he who thinks himself worthy beyond his true worth is foolish. But no virtuous man is foolish or silly. The magnanimous person, then, is the person we have described. For he who is worthy of little and thinks himself worthy of little is temperate, [5]<\/sub> but not magnanimous. For magnanimity implies greatness, as beauty implies a good-sized body, and little people may be elegant and well-proportioned but cannot be beautiful.\r\n\r\nA person, in contrast, who thinks himself worthy of great things, when he is really unworthy of them, is prideful. Yet not everyone who thinks himself worthy of great things is prideful. The person who thinks himself worthy of less than he is really worthy of is unduly humble, whether what he is worthy of is great or moderate, or [10]<\/sub> what he is worthy of is small but his claims yet smaller. And the person who is worthy of what is great would seem most unduly humble. For what would he have done if he had been worthy of less? The magnanimous person, then, is an extreme in respect of the greatness of his claims, but a mean in respect of the rightness of them. For he claims what is accordance with his merits, while the others go to excess or fall short.\r\n\r\nIf, then, [15]<\/sub> he deserves and considers himself worthy of great things, he will be concerned with one thing in particular. What one is worthy of is relative to external goods. And the greatest of these, we should say, is that which we render to the gods, and which people of position most aim at, and which is the prize appointed for the noblest deeds. This is a good reputation, which is surely the greatest of external [20]<\/sub> goods. It is with good and bad reputation, therefore, that the magnanimous person is concerned with as he should be. And even apart from argument it is with reputation and honor that magnanimous people appear to be concerned. For it is honor and a good reputation that they chiefly claim, but in accordance with what they deserve. The unduly humble person falls short both in his own merits and in comparison with the magnanimous man's claims. The prideful person, [25] <\/sub>in contrast, goes to excess in comparison with what he deserves, but does not exceed the magnanimous person's claims.\r\n\r\nNow the magnanimous person, since he deserves most, must be good in the highest degree. For the better person always deserves more, and the best person most. Therefore the truly magnanimous person must be good. And greatness in every virtue would seem to be characteristic of a magnanimous person. [30]<\/sub> And it would be most unbecoming for a magnanimous person to flee from danger, swinging his arms by his sides, or to wrong another. For to what end should he do disgraceful acts, he to whom nothing is great? If we consider him point by point we shall see the utter absurdity of a magnanimous person who is not good. Nor, again, would he be worthy of honor and a good reputation if he were bad. For honor is the prize of virtue, and it is awarded [35]<\/sub> to good people. Magnanimity, then, seems to be a sort of crown [1124a1]<\/sub> of the virtues. For it makes them greater, and it is not found without them. Therefore it is hard to be truly magnanimous, since it is impossible without nobility and goodness of character.\r\n\r\nIt is chiefly with honors and dishonors, then, that the magnanimous man is concerned. And [5]<\/sub> at honors that are great and conferred by good people he will be moderately pleased, thinking that he is coming by his own or even less than his own. For there can be no honor that is worthy of perfect virtue, yet he will at any rate accept it since they have nothing greater to bestow on him. But honor from casual people and on trifling grounds he will utterly despise, [10]<\/sub> since it is not this that he deserves, and dishonor too, since in his case it cannot be just.\r\n\r\nIn the first place, then, as has been said, the magnanimous person is concerned with honors. Yet he will also bear himself with moderation towards wealth and power and all good or bad luck, whatever may befall him, and will be neither over-joyed by good luck [15]<\/sub> nor over-pained by bad luck. For not even towards honor he bears himself as if it were a very great thing. Power and wealth are desirable for the sake of honor (at least those who have them wish to get honor and a good reputation by means of them). And for him to whom even honor is a little thing the others must be so too. Hence magnanimous people seem to be arrogant.\r\n\r\nThe goods of luck are also [20]<\/sub> thought to contribute towards magnanimity. For men who are well-born are thought worthy of honor, and so are those who enjoy power or wealth. For they are in a superior position, and everything that has a superiority in something good is held in greater honor. Hence even such things make people more magnanimous. For they are honored by some for having them. But in truth the good person alone is to be honored. He, however, who has both [25]<\/sub> advantages is thought the more worthy of honor. But those who without virtue have such goods are neither justified in making great claims nor entitled to the name of \"magnanimous.\" For these things imply complete virtue. Yet even those who have such goods can become disdainful and insolent. For without virtue [30]<\/sub> it is not easy to bear gracefully the goods of fortune. And, being unable to handle these goods, and thinking themselves superior to others, they despise others [1124b1]<\/sub> and themselves do what they please. They imitate the magnanimous person without being like him, and this they do where they can. So they do not act virtuously, but they do despise others. For the magnanimous person despises justly (since he thinks truly), [5]<\/sub> but the many do so at random.\r\n\r\nThe magnanimous person does not run into trifling dangers, nor is he fond of danger, because he honors few things. But he will face great dangers, and when he is in danger he is unsparing of his life, knowing that there are conditions on which life is not worth having. And he is the sort of person to confer benefits, but he is ashamed of receiving them. For the one is the mark of a superior, the other of an inferior. [10]<\/sub> And he is apt to confer greater benefits in return. For thus the original benefactor besides being paid will incur a debt to him, and will be the gainer by the transaction. Magnanimous people also seem to remember any service they have done, but not those they have received (for he who receives a service is inferior to him who has done it, but the magnanimous person wishes to be superior), and to hear of the former with pleasure, of the latter with displeasure. This, it seems, is why Thetis did not [15]<\/sub> mention to Zeus the services she had done him, and why the Spartans did not recount their services to the Athenians, but those they had received. It is a mark of the magnanimous man also to ask for nothing or scarcely anything, but to give help readily, and to be dignified towards people who enjoy high position and good fortune, but unassuming towards those of the middle class. For it is a difficult and [20]<\/sub> lofty thing to be superior to the former, but easy to be so to the latter, and a lofty bearing over the former is no mark of ill-breeding, but among humble people it is as vulgar as a display of strength against the weak. Again, it is characteristic of the magnanimous man not to aim at the things commonly held in honor, or the things in which others excel; to be sluggish and to hold back except where great honor or a great work is at stake, and to be a man of few deeds, but of great and [25]<\/sub> notable ones.\r\n\r\nThe magnanimous person must also be open in his hate and in his love, and must speak and act openly. For to conceal one's feelings--that is, to care less for truth than for what people will think--is a coward's part. For he is free of speech because he is disdainful of people, and he is given to telling the truth, except when he speaks in a self-deprecating way [30]<\/sub> to ordinary people. He must be unable to make his life revolve round another, unless it be a friend, since this is slavish. And for this reason, all [1125a1]<\/sub> flatterers are servile and people lacking in self-respect are flatterers. Nor is he given to admiration, since nothing to him is great. Nor is he mindful of wrongs. For it is not the part of a magnanimous man to have a long memory, especially for wrongs, but rather to overlook them. Nor is he a gossip. For he will speak neither about [5]<\/sub> himself nor about another, since he cares not to be praised nor for others to be blamed. Nor again is he given to praise, and for the same reason he doesn't speak evil about people, even about his enemies, except from haughtiness. With regard to necessary or small matters he is least of all me given to lamentation or the asking of favors. For it is the part of one who takes such matters seriously to behave so with respect to them. [10]<\/sub> He is one who will possess beautiful and profitless things rather than profitable and useful ones. For this is more proper to a character that suffices to itself.\r\n\r\nFurther, a slow step is thought proper to the magnanimous man, as well as a deep voice, and a level utterance. For the man who takes few things seriously is not likely to be hurried, nor the man who thinks nothing great to be excited, [15]<\/sub> while a shrill voice and a rapid walk are the results of hurry and excitement.\r\n\r\nSuch, then, is the magnanimous person. The person who falls short of him is unduly humble, and the person who goes beyond him is prideful. Now even these are not thought to be bad (for they are not malicious), but only mistaken. For the unduly humble person, being worthy of good things, robs himself of what he deserves, and [20]<\/sub> to have something bad about him from the fact that he does not think himself worthy of good things, and seems also not to know himself. Otherwise, he would have desired the things he was worthy of, since these were good. Yet such people are not thought to be silly, but rather lacking in self-esteem. Such a reputation, however, seems actually to make them worse. For each class of people aims at what corresponds to its worth, and these people stand back [25]<\/sub> even from noble actions and undertakings, deeming themselves unworthy, and from external goods no less.\r\n\r\nPrideful people, on the other hand, are manifestly silly and ignorant of themselves. For they attempt honorable undertakings, not being worthy of them, and then are found out. And they adorn themselves with clothing and outward show and such things, and [30]<\/sub> wish their strokes of good luck to be made public, and speak about them as if they would be honored for them. But undue humility is more opposed to magnanimity than pridefulness is. For it is both commoner and worse.\r\n\r\nMagnanimity, then, is concerned with honor on the grand scale, as has been said. [35]<\/sub>","rendered":"

Magnanimity seems even from its name to be concerned with great things. The first question we must try to answer is what sort of great things? [35]<\/sub> It makes no difference whether we consider the disposition or the person characterized by it. [1123b1] <\/sub><\/p>\n

Now a person is thought to be magnanimous who thinks himself worthy of great things and is worthy of them. For he who thinks himself worthy beyond his true worth is foolish. But no virtuous man is foolish or silly. The magnanimous person, then, is the person we have described. For he who is worthy of little and thinks himself worthy of little is temperate, [5]<\/sub> but not magnanimous. For magnanimity implies greatness, as beauty implies a good-sized body, and little people may be elegant and well-proportioned but cannot be beautiful.<\/p>\n

A person, in contrast, who thinks himself worthy of great things, when he is really unworthy of them, is prideful. Yet not everyone who thinks himself worthy of great things is prideful. The person who thinks himself worthy of less than he is really worthy of is unduly humble, whether what he is worthy of is great or moderate, or [10]<\/sub> what he is worthy of is small but his claims yet smaller. And the person who is worthy of what is great would seem most unduly humble. For what would he have done if he had been worthy of less? The magnanimous person, then, is an extreme in respect of the greatness of his claims, but a mean in respect of the rightness of them. For he claims what is accordance with his merits, while the others go to excess or fall short.<\/p>\n

If, then, [15]<\/sub> he deserves and considers himself worthy of great things, he will be concerned with one thing in particular. What one is worthy of is relative to external goods. And the greatest of these, we should say, is that which we render to the gods, and which people of position most aim at, and which is the prize appointed for the noblest deeds. This is a good reputation, which is surely the greatest of external [20]<\/sub> goods. It is with good and bad reputation, therefore, that the magnanimous person is concerned with as he should be. And even apart from argument it is with reputation and honor that magnanimous people appear to be concerned. For it is honor and a good reputation that they chiefly claim, but in accordance with what they deserve. The unduly humble person falls short both in his own merits and in comparison with the magnanimous man’s claims. The prideful person, [25] <\/sub>in contrast, goes to excess in comparison with what he deserves, but does not exceed the magnanimous person’s claims.<\/p>\n

Now the magnanimous person, since he deserves most, must be good in the highest degree. For the better person always deserves more, and the best person most. Therefore the truly magnanimous person must be good. And greatness in every virtue would seem to be characteristic of a magnanimous person. [30]<\/sub> And it would be most unbecoming for a magnanimous person to flee from danger, swinging his arms by his sides, or to wrong another. For to what end should he do disgraceful acts, he to whom nothing is great? If we consider him point by point we shall see the utter absurdity of a magnanimous person who is not good. Nor, again, would he be worthy of honor and a good reputation if he were bad. For honor is the prize of virtue, and it is awarded [35]<\/sub> to good people. Magnanimity, then, seems to be a sort of crown [1124a1]<\/sub> of the virtues. For it makes them greater, and it is not found without them. Therefore it is hard to be truly magnanimous, since it is impossible without nobility and goodness of character.<\/p>\n

It is chiefly with honors and dishonors, then, that the magnanimous man is concerned. And [5]<\/sub> at honors that are great and conferred by good people he will be moderately pleased, thinking that he is coming by his own or even less than his own. For there can be no honor that is worthy of perfect virtue, yet he will at any rate accept it since they have nothing greater to bestow on him. But honor from casual people and on trifling grounds he will utterly despise, [10]<\/sub> since it is not this that he deserves, and dishonor too, since in his case it cannot be just.<\/p>\n

In the first place, then, as has been said, the magnanimous person is concerned with honors. Yet he will also bear himself with moderation towards wealth and power and all good or bad luck, whatever may befall him, and will be neither over-joyed by good luck [15]<\/sub> nor over-pained by bad luck. For not even towards honor he bears himself as if it were a very great thing. Power and wealth are desirable for the sake of honor (at least those who have them wish to get honor and a good reputation by means of them). And for him to whom even honor is a little thing the others must be so too. Hence magnanimous people seem to be arrogant.<\/p>\n

The goods of luck are also [20]<\/sub> thought to contribute towards magnanimity. For men who are well-born are thought worthy of honor, and so are those who enjoy power or wealth. For they are in a superior position, and everything that has a superiority in something good is held in greater honor. Hence even such things make people more magnanimous. For they are honored by some for having them. But in truth the good person alone is to be honored. He, however, who has both [25]<\/sub> advantages is thought the more worthy of honor. But those who without virtue have such goods are neither justified in making great claims nor entitled to the name of “magnanimous.” For these things imply complete virtue. Yet even those who have such goods can become disdainful and insolent. For without virtue [30]<\/sub> it is not easy to bear gracefully the goods of fortune. And, being unable to handle these goods, and thinking themselves superior to others, they despise others [1124b1]<\/sub> and themselves do what they please. They imitate the magnanimous person without being like him, and this they do where they can. So they do not act virtuously, but they do despise others. For the magnanimous person despises justly (since he thinks truly), [5]<\/sub> but the many do so at random.<\/p>\n

The magnanimous person does not run into trifling dangers, nor is he fond of danger, because he honors few things. But he will face great dangers, and when he is in danger he is unsparing of his life, knowing that there are conditions on which life is not worth having. And he is the sort of person to confer benefits, but he is ashamed of receiving them. For the one is the mark of a superior, the other of an inferior. [10]<\/sub> And he is apt to confer greater benefits in return. For thus the original benefactor besides being paid will incur a debt to him, and will be the gainer by the transaction. Magnanimous people also seem to remember any service they have done, but not those they have received (for he who receives a service is inferior to him who has done it, but the magnanimous person wishes to be superior), and to hear of the former with pleasure, of the latter with displeasure. This, it seems, is why Thetis did not [15]<\/sub> mention to Zeus the services she had done him, and why the Spartans did not recount their services to the Athenians, but those they had received. It is a mark of the magnanimous man also to ask for nothing or scarcely anything, but to give help readily, and to be dignified towards people who enjoy high position and good fortune, but unassuming towards those of the middle class. For it is a difficult and [20]<\/sub> lofty thing to be superior to the former, but easy to be so to the latter, and a lofty bearing over the former is no mark of ill-breeding, but among humble people it is as vulgar as a display of strength against the weak. Again, it is characteristic of the magnanimous man not to aim at the things commonly held in honor, or the things in which others excel; to be sluggish and to hold back except where great honor or a great work is at stake, and to be a man of few deeds, but of great and [25]<\/sub> notable ones.<\/p>\n

The magnanimous person must also be open in his hate and in his love, and must speak and act openly. For to conceal one’s feelings–that is, to care less for truth than for what people will think–is a coward’s part. For he is free of speech because he is disdainful of people, and he is given to telling the truth, except when he speaks in a self-deprecating way [30]<\/sub> to ordinary people. He must be unable to make his life revolve round another, unless it be a friend, since this is slavish. And for this reason, all [1125a1]<\/sub> flatterers are servile and people lacking in self-respect are flatterers. Nor is he given to admiration, since nothing to him is great. Nor is he mindful of wrongs. For it is not the part of a magnanimous man to have a long memory, especially for wrongs, but rather to overlook them. Nor is he a gossip. For he will speak neither about [5]<\/sub> himself nor about another, since he cares not to be praised nor for others to be blamed. Nor again is he given to praise, and for the same reason he doesn’t speak evil about people, even about his enemies, except from haughtiness. With regard to necessary or small matters he is least of all me given to lamentation or the asking of favors. For it is the part of one who takes such matters seriously to behave so with respect to them. [10]<\/sub> He is one who will possess beautiful and profitless things rather than profitable and useful ones. For this is more proper to a character that suffices to itself.<\/p>\n

Further, a slow step is thought proper to the magnanimous man, as well as a deep voice, and a level utterance. For the man who takes few things seriously is not likely to be hurried, nor the man who thinks nothing great to be excited, [15]<\/sub> while a shrill voice and a rapid walk are the results of hurry and excitement.<\/p>\n

Such, then, is the magnanimous person. The person who falls short of him is unduly humble, and the person who goes beyond him is prideful. Now even these are not thought to be bad (for they are not malicious), but only mistaken. For the unduly humble person, being worthy of good things, robs himself of what he deserves, and [20]<\/sub> to have something bad about him from the fact that he does not think himself worthy of good things, and seems also not to know himself. Otherwise, he would have desired the things he was worthy of, since these were good. Yet such people are not thought to be silly, but rather lacking in self-esteem. Such a reputation, however, seems actually to make them worse. For each class of people aims at what corresponds to its worth, and these people stand back [25]<\/sub> even from noble actions and undertakings, deeming themselves unworthy, and from external goods no less.<\/p>\n

Prideful people, on the other hand, are manifestly silly and ignorant of themselves. For they attempt honorable undertakings, not being worthy of them, and then are found out. And they adorn themselves with clothing and outward show and such things, and [30]<\/sub> wish their strokes of good luck to be made public, and speak about them as if they would be honored for them. But undue humility is more opposed to magnanimity than pridefulness is. For it is both commoner and worse.<\/p>\n

Magnanimity, then, is concerned with honor on the grand scale, as has been said. [35]<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-97","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":92,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/249"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/97\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1020,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/97\/revisions\/1020"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/92"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/97\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/nicomacheanethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}