But because of the resemblance of the affection to the Imperfection of
Self-Control the term is used with the addition in each case of the
particular object-matter, just as men call a man a bad physician, or
bad actor, whom they would not think of calling simply bad. As then in
these cases we do not apply the term simply because each of the states
is not a vice, but only like a vice in the way of analogy,[12] so it is
plain that in respect of Imperfect Self-Control and Self-Control we
must limit the names to those states which have the same object-matter
as Perfected Self-Mastery and utter loss of Self-Control, and that we
do apply it to the case of anger only in the way of resemblance: for
which reason, with an addition, we designate a man of Imperfect
Self-Control in respect of anger, as of honour or of gain.
Chapter V.
As there are some things naturally pleasant, and of these two kinds;
those, namely, which are pleasant generally, and those which are so
relatively to particular kinds of animals and men; so there are others
which are not naturally pleasant but which come to be so in consequence
either of maimings, or custom, or depraved natural tastes: and one may
observe moral states similar to those we have been speaking of, having
respectively these classes of things for their object-matter.
I mean the Brutish, as in the case of the female who, they say, would
rip up women with child and eat the foetus; or the tastes which are
found among the savage tribes bordering on the Pontus, some liking raw
flesh, and some being cannibals, and some lending one another their
children to make feasts of; or what is said of Phalaris. These are
instances of Brutish states, caused in some by disease or madness;
take, for instance, the man who sacrificed and ate his mother, or him
who devoured the liver of his fellow-servant. Instances again of those
caused by disease or by custom, would be, plucking out of hair, or
eating one’s nails, or eating coals and earth.[13] Now wherever nature
is really the cause no one would think of calling men of Imperfect
Self-Control, ... nor, in like manner, such as are in a diseased state
through custom.