Pagina 424 de 734

Next comes the question, whether a man is a man of Self-Control

for abiding by his conclusions and moral choice be they of what

kind they may, or only by the right one; or again, a man of

Imperfect Self-Control for not abiding by his conclusions and

moral choice be they of whatever kind; or, to put the case we did

before, is he such for not abiding by false conclusions and wrong

moral choice?

Is not this the truth, that incidentally it is by conclusions and

moral choice of any kind that the one character abides and the

other does not, but per se true conclusions and right moral

choice:[19] to explain what is meant by incidentally, and per se;

suppose a man chooses or pursues this thing for the sake of that,

he is said to pursue and choose that per se, but this only

incidentally. For the term per se we use commonly the word

"simply," and so, in a way, it is opinion of any kind soever by

which the two characters respectively abide or not, but he is

"simply" entitled to the designations who abides or not by the

true opinion.