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Nor is the man of Imperfect Self-Control like the man who both

has and calls into exercise his knowledge, but like the man who,

having it, is overpowered by sleep or wine. Again, he acts

voluntarily (because he knows, in a certain sense, what he does

and the result of it), but he is not a confirmed bad man, for his

moral choice is good, so he is at all events only half bad. Nor

is he unjust, because he does not act with deliberate intent: for

of the two chief forms of the character, the one is not apt to

abide by his deliberate resolutions, and the other, the man of

constitutional strength of passion, is not apt to deliberate at

all.

So in fact the man of Imperfect Self-Control is like a community

which makes all proper enactments, and has admirable laws, only

does not act on them, verifying the scoff of Anaxandrides,

"That State did will it, which cares nought for laws;"

whereas the bad man is like one which acts upon its laws, but

then unfortunately they are bad ones.