Pagina 173 di 734

Well then, that excess with respect to pleasures is absence of

self-control, and blameworthy, is plain. But viewing these habits

on the side of pains, we find that a man is not said to have the

virtue for withstanding them (as in the case of Courage), nor the

vice for not withstanding them; but the man destitute of

self-control is such, because he is pained more than he ought to

be at not obtaining things which are pleasant (and thus his

pleasure produces pain to him), and the man of Perfected

Self-Mastery is such in virtue of not being pained by their

absence, that is, by having to abstain from what is pleasant.