Book 7
2
And inasmuch as some pleasures are necessary and others not, and the former are only necessary within certain limits, excessive indulgence in them not being necessary, nor yet deficient indulgenceThis addition is illogically expressed, but it is a reminder that to take too little of certain necessary pleasures is as wrong as to take too much: see 4.5, first note. either, and inasmuch as the same holds good also of desires and of pains, one who pursues excessive pleasures, or pursues thingsi.e., necessary things; see the tripartite classification of 4.5. to excess and from choice, for their own sakes and not for the sake of some ulterior consequence, is a profligate; for a man of this character is certain to feel no regret for his excesses afterwards, and this being so, he is incurable,Incurable, and therefore profligate, ἀκόλαστος, which means literally either incorrigible or unchastized : see note on 3.12.5. since there is no cure for one who does not regret his error. The man deficient in the enjoyment of pleasures is the opposite of the profligate; and the middle character is the temperate man. And similarly, he who avoids bodily pains not because his will is overpowered but of deliberate choice, is also profligate.
3
(Those on the other hand who yield not from choice, are prompted either by the pleasure of indulgence, or by the impulse to avoid the pain of unsatisfied desire. Hence there is a difference between deliberate and non-deliberate indulgence. Everyone would think a man worse if he did something disgraceful when he felt only a slight desire, or none at all, than if he acted from a strong desire, or if he struck another in cold blood than if he did so in anger; for what would he have done had his passions been aroused? Hence the profligate man is worse than the unrestrained.)
