ABSTRACT
Aristotle says that the Greeks established sanctuaries to the Graces to encourage reciprocal giving among the citizens in communities of exchange. Aristotle's remarks about grace appear near the outset of his discussion of reciprocal justice in the Nicomachean Ethics. Those who established the sanctuaries to the Graces acted, claims Aristotle, to encourage citizens to behave graciously towards each other. Such gracious conduct is grounded in the reciprocity that Aristotle argues is necessary to preserve a community composed of people who differ in kind. Aristotle's proposal encourages superior parties to practise the virtue of generosity, which for them is essential to the good life as a life of virtue, for the superior ones too have needs requisite to the good life, such as opportunities for practising the virtues towards other sharers.
