Aristotle · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| BOOK 28. PROBLEMS CONCERNING TEMPERANCE AND INTEMPERANCE, AND CONTINENCE AND INCONTINENCE Why do some people fall ill when, having grown accustomed to living intemperately, they then live a life that is not intemperate? For example, Dionysius the tyrant, when during the siege he stopped drinking for a short time, immediately fell into consumption, until he changed back again to drunkenness. Is it that habit is a great thing for each of us, for it already becomes a kind of nature? Just as a fish would fare badly living continuously in air, or a man in water, so too those who change their habits find it hard to be rid of them, and returning again to their accustomed ways becomes for them a kind of salvation, as if it were a return to their natural condition. Further, such people also become subject to wasting away, being accustomed to use their own particular food in abundance; for when they do not receive their accustomed food, they are affected as if they were receiving no food at all. Moreover, when the residues are mixed with abundant food they disappear, but when they alone are present they rise to the surface and are carried to the eyes or the lung; whereas when food is taken in, these residues, being blended together, become watery and harmless. In those who live intemperately, once they have for a time given up their accustomed way of life, the residues become more numerous, because much unassimilated matter is present in them from their former way of life; and as this is melted by the innate heat, like a great mass of snow, copious discharges come to occur.
2| Why do we speak of lack of self-control only with respect to two senses, namely touch and taste? Is it because of the pleasures that arise from these for us and for the other animals as well? Since these pleasures are shared with the other animals, they are the least honorable, and this is why they alone, or most of all, are subject to reproach. So we blame the person who is mastered by them and say he is uncontrolled and self-indulgent, because he is mastered by the worst pleasures. Why are people said to lack self-control only with respect to appetites, when there is also a lack of self-control with respect to anger? Is it because the uncontrolled person is one who acts against reason, and lack of self-control is a being led against reason, while appetites, one might say, are for the most part against reason, whereas fits of anger occur with reason present — not as though reason commanded them, but as though reason had pointed out the insult or its cause? Why do we look for self-restraint and moderation especially in the young and the rich, but justice especially in the poor? Is it because a person is admired more for abstaining from the very thing he most needs than for abstaining from its opposite? So the poor man needs abundance, while the young and rich man needs enjoyment.
3| Why do we bear thirst less well than hunger? Is it because it is more painful? A sign of its being more painful is that it is more pleasant for a thirsty man to drink than for a hungry man to eat, and what is opposite to the pleasant is more painful. Or is it because what is hot needs moisture more than what is dry needs the substance by which we live? Or is it because thirst is a desire for two things, drink and nourishment, while hunger is a desire for one thing only, nourishment? Why do we hold out less well against thirst than against hunger? Is it because we suffer more pain? A sign of the pain is that the pleasure of relief is more intense. Further, the thirsty person is in want of two things, nourishment and cooling (for drink supplies both), while the hungry person is in want of only one.
4| Why are people who indulge to excess in the pleasure of touch or taste called uncontrolled? For both those who are self-indulgent about sexual matters and those who are self-indulgent about the enjoyments of food are called this. Now among the pleasures connected with food, in some cases the pleasant sensation is in the tongue, in others in the throat, which is why Philoxenus prayed to have the gullet of a crane. But those who indulge in sight and hearing are not called this. Is it because the pleasures arising from these two are shared by us with the other animals? Since they are shared, they are the least honorable, and are most of all, or alone, subject to reproach, so that we blame the person who is mastered by them and call him uncontrolled and self-indulgent because he is mastered by the worst pleasures. Now since there are five senses, the other animals take pleasure only from the two just mentioned, and with respect to the others either they take no pleasure at all, or this happens to them only incidentally. For an animal that sees or smells rejoices because it is getting some enjoyment from it; and once it has had its fill, such things are no longer pleasant to it, just as the smell of preserved fish is not pleasant to us once we have had enough of eating. But when we are in want, such things are pleasant. The scent of the rose, however, is always pleasant.
5| Why do people hold back their laughter less when acquaintances are present? Is it because when something is strongly stirred up it is easily set in motion? And the goodwill of those present makes what is said seem more laughable, so that it sets off the motion.