Book 3
6
The truthful and sincere man, called downright, The man who calls each thing itself, i.e. what it really is, calls a spade a spade. is midway between the dissembler and the charlatan. He that wittingly makes a false statement against himself that is depreciatory is a dissembler, he that exaggerates his merits is a charlatan, he that speaks of himself as he is is truthful and in Homer’s phrase sagacious ; and in general the one is a lover of truth and the others lovers of falsehood.
7
WittinessThe term εὐτράπελος means literally able to turn easily, versatile; it denotes both witty and easy-going. also is a middle state, and the witty man is midway between the boorish or stiff man and the buffoon. For just as in the matter of food the squeamish man differs from the omnivorous in that the former takes nothing or little, and that reluctantly, and the latter accepts everything readily, so the boor stands in relation to the vulgar man or buffoon—the former takes no joke except with difficulty, the latter accepts everything easily and with pleasure. Neither course is right: one should allow some things and not others, and on principle,—that constitutes the witty man.
8
The proof of the formula is the same as in the other cases: wittiness of this kind (not the qualityViz. βωμολοχία, buffoonery, Aristot. Nic. Eth. 1128a 15. to which we apply the term in a transferred sense) is a very becoming sort of character, and also a middle state is praiseworthy, whereas extremes are blameworthy. But as there are two kinds of wit (one consisting in liking a joke, even one that tells against oneself if it is funny, for instance a jeer, the other in the ability to produce things of this sort), these kinds of wit differ from one another, but both are middle states;
