is the proper work of all men; it is the endeavour of the good man to lead this life in the most noble and perfect manner possible.
18. Man's proper vocation having been thus defined by Aristotle, he then defines his proper happiness in accordance with that definition. The definition of happiness is this—" Man's good or happiness is a conscious and active and rational life of the soul in accordance with virtue or excellence, and carried on in favourable external circumstances."[1] You will perceive that this definition embraces in its latter clause those elements of happiness, namely, the good gifts of fortune, which the world at large is apt to regard as forming almost the sole constituents of felicity, but which some schools of morality, the Stoics, for example, were inclined to exclude altogether from the conception of happiness.
19. It is obvious that there is but little difference between these two definitions, the definition of man's work and the definition of his happiness. Man's work is defined in almost the same terms in which man's happiness is defined; and it may be thought that this close resemblance of the two shows rather a want of discrimination on the part of Aristotle. But a small degree of reflection may satisfy us
- ↑ Τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ἀγαθὸν ψυχῆς ἐνέργεια γίνεται κατ᾽ ἀρετήν, (εἰ δέ πλείους αἱ ἀρεταί, κατὰ τὴν ἀρίστην καὶ τελειοτάτην). Ἒτι δ᾽ ἐν βίῳ τελείῳ.
