Pagina 335 di 734

For this reason we think Pericles and men of that stamp to be

Practically Wise, because they can see what is good for

themselves and for men in general, and we also think those to be

such who are skilled in domestic management or civil government.

In fact, this is the reason why we call the habit of perfected

self-mastery by the name which in Greek it bears, etymologically

signifying "that which preserves the Practical Wisdom:" for what

it does preserve is the Notion I have mentioned, i.e. of one's

own true interest.[18]

For it is not every kind of Notion which the pleasant and the

painful corrupt and pervert, as, for instance, that "the three

angles of every rectilineal triangle are equal to two right

angles," but only those bearing on moral action.