Book 1
7.32
And since that which is harder to obtain and scarcer is greater, it follows that special occasions, ages, places, times, and powers, produce great effects; for if a man does things beyond his powers, beyond his age, and beyond what his equals could do, if they are done in such a manner, in such a place, and at such a time, they will possess importance in actions that are noble, good, or just, or the opposite. Hence the epigramSimonides, Frag. 163 (P.L.G. 3.). on the Olympian victor: Formerly, with a rough basketOr, the yoke to which the basket, like our milk-pails long ago, was attached. on my shoulders, I used to carry fish from Argos to Tegea. And Iphicrates lauded himself, saying, Look what I started from!
7.33
And that which is natural is a greater good than that which is acquired, because it is harder. Whence the poet says: Self-taught am I.Hom. Od. 22.347. The words are those of the minstrel Phemius, who was forced to sing to the suitors of Penelope.
7.34
And that which is the greatest part of that which is great is more to be desired; as Pericles said in his Funeral Oration, that the removal of the youth from the city was like the year being robbed of its spring.Not in the oration in Thuc. 2.35.
7.35
And those things which are available in greater need, as in old age and illness, are greater goods. And of two things that which is nearer the end proposed is preferable. And that which is useful for the individual is preferable to that which is useful absolutely;Or, reading καὶ ἁπλῶς: that which is useful both to the individual and absolutely is a greater good (than that which is only useful in one way), but this necessitates a considerable ellipse. that which is possible to that which is impossible; for it is the possible that is useful to us, not the impossible. And those things which are at the end of life; for things near the end are more like ends.
