Book 2
9
But also we saw that the greatest good is happiness. Therefore happiness is the activity of a good spirit. And since we sawCf. Aristot. Eud. Eth. 1218b 7-12. that happiness is something perfect, and life is either perfect or imperfect, and the same with goodness (for some goodness is a whole and some a part), but the activity of imperfect things is imperfect, it would follow that happiness is an activity of perfect life in accordance with perfect goodness.
10
And that our classification and definition of it are correct is evidenced by opinions that we all hold. For we think that to do well and live well are the same as to be happy; but each of these, both life and action, is employment and activity, inasmuch as active life involves employing things—the coppersmith makes a bridle, but the horseman uses it. There is also the evidence of the opinion that a person is not happy for one day only,A single happy day does not make one a happy (i.e. fortunate) man. and that a child is not happy, nor any period of lifeIt is a mistake to say that youth (or maturity, or old age) is the happy time of life.(hence also Solon’s advice holds good, not to call a man happy while he is alive, but only when he has reached the end), for nothing incomplete is happy, since it is not a whole.
11
And again, there are the praises given to goodness on account of its deeds, and panegyrics describing deeds (and it is the victorious who are given wreaths, not those who are capable of winning but do not win); and there is the fact that we judge a man’s character from his actions.
12
Also why is happiness not praised? It is because it is on account of it that the other things are praised, either by being placed in relation to it or as being parts of it. Hence felicitation, praise and panegyric are different things: panegyric is a recital of a particular exploit, praise a statement of a man’s general distinction, felicitation is bestowed on an end achieved.
