Moral Virtue in Didymus’ Epitome of Peripatetic Ethics

The epitome of Peripatetic ethics by (Arius?) Arius Didymus ¹ is part of a larger work entitled “On the Ethical Branch of Philosophy.” The work is tripartite, beginning with a general introduction to ethics, followed by a survey of Stoic and Peripatetic ethics. The three parts are conventionally marked off by the letters A, B and C. The last carries the heading “The (teachings/views ² ) of Aristotle and the other Peripatetics on Ethics” (116.19–20) and has much to say about virtue. It begins by mentioning character and virtue, êthos, and aretê (116.21, 117.9–10) and closes with a reference to perfect virtue, teleia aretê (147.23), after which we are told that enough has been said concerning virtue and most of the topics belonging 76to ethics (147.26–148.2). ³ In between there are subheadings ⁴ that announce discussions of virtue (128.10, 137.13) as well as sections in which virtue figures as a primary or secondary topic. In what follows, I shall not attempt a full discussion of all references to virtue; rather, I shall focus on a selection of sections within the work: (1) sections 1–2 Ts, in which we are not only introduced to the psychic dichotomy that is fundamental to Peripatetic discussions of virtue, but also told that the perfection which is virtue depends on three things: nature, habit and reason; (2) sections 10 and 11, in which virtue is elucidated by reference to crafts and by a division of goods into those that are necessary and those that are noble; (3) sections 16–19, in which moral virtue qua mean-disposition is discussed, Theophrastus’ example of saying only what is necessary is introduced, and an explanation is given of the relationship between moral virtue and practical wisdom; (4) sections 24–25, in which three different definitions of virtue are discussed; attention is focused on thirteen mean-dispositions, none of which is referred to as a virtue and six of which are refused that label in the Eudemian Ethics; noble-goodness qua complete/perfect virtue brings discussion to an end. An appendix on temperament follows.