Now they that are truly Brave act from a sense of honour, and this
Animal Spirit co-operates with them; but wild beasts from pain, that is
because they have been wounded, or are frightened; since if they are
quietly in their own haunts, forest or marsh, they do not attack men.
Surely they are not Brave because they rush into danger when goaded on
by pain and mere Spirit, without any view of the danger: else would
asses be Brave when they are hungry, for though beaten they will not
then leave their pasture: profligate men besides do many bold actions
by reason of their lust. We may conclude then that they are not Brave
who are goaded on to meet danger by pain and mere Spirit; but still
this temper which arises from Animal Spirit appears to be most natural,
and would be Courage of the true kind if it could have added to it
moral choice and the proper motive.
So men also are pained by a feeling of anger, and take pleasure in
revenge; but they who fight from these causes may be good fighters, but
they are not truly Brave (in that they do not act from a sense of
honour, nor as reason directs, but merely from the present feeling),
still they bear some resemblance to that character.
Nor, again, are the Sanguine and Hopeful therefore Brave: since their
boldness in dangers arises from their frequent victories over numerous
foes. The two characters are alike, however, in that both are
confident; but then the Brave are so from the afore-mentioned causes,
whereas these are so from a settled conviction of their being superior
and not likely to suffer anything in return (they who are intoxicated
do much the same, for they become hopeful when in that state); but when
the event disappoints their expectations they run away: now it was said
to be the character of a Brave man to withstand things which are
fearful to man or produce that impression, because it is honourable so
to do and the contrary is dishonourable.
For this reason it is thought to be a greater proof of Courage to be
fearless and undisturbed under the pressure of sudden fear than under
that which may be anticipated, because Courage then comes rather from a
fixed habit, or less from preparation: since as to foreseen dangers a
man might take his line even from calculation and reasoning, but in
those which are sudden he will do so according to his fixed habit of
mind.
Fifthly and lastly, those who are acting under Ignorance have a show of
Courage and are not very far from the Hopeful; but still they are
inferior inasmuch as they have no opinion of themselves; which the
others have, and therefore stay and contest a field for some little
time; but they who have been deceived fly the moment they know things
to be otherwise than they supposed, which the Argives experienced when
they fell on the Lacedæmonians, taking them for the men of Sicyon.
Chapter XII.
We have described then what kind of men the Brave are, and what they
who are thought to be, but are not really, Brave.