And thus the incontinent man like a city which passes all the
right decrees and has good laws, but makes no use of them, as in
Anaxandrides' jesting remark,
The city willed it, that cares nought for laws;
but the wicked man is like a city that uses its laws, but has wicked
laws to use.
Now incontinence and continence are concerned with that which is
in excess of the state characteristic of most men; for the continent
man abides by his resolutions more and the incontinent man less than
most men can.
Of the forms of incontinence, that of excitable people is more
curable than that of those who deliberate but do not abide by their
decisions, and those who are incontinent through habituation are
more curable than those in whom incontinence is innate; for it is
easier to change a habit than to change one's nature; even habit is
hard to change just because it is like nature, as Evenus says:
I say that habit's but a long practice, friend,
And this becomes men's nature in the end.
We have now stated what continence, incontinence, endurance, and
softness are, and how these states are related to each other.
11
The study of pleasure and pain belongs to the province of the
political philosopher; for he is the architect of the end, with a view
to which we call one thing bad and another good without qualification.
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