ἔστι δὴ γνώμη (22) ἀπόφανσις, οὐ μέντοι οὔτε περὶ τῶν καθ’ ἕκαστον,
οἷον ποῖός (23) τις Ἰφικράτης, ἀλλὰ καθόλου, οὔτε περὶ πάντων,
οἷον ὅτι τὸ (24) εὐθὺ τῷ καμπύλῳ ἐναντίον, ἀλλὰ περὶ ὅσων αἱ πράξεις εἰσί, (25) καὶ <ἃ> αἱρετὰ ἢ φευκτά ἐστι πρὸς τὸ πράττειν,
ὥστ’ ἐπεὶ τὸ (26) ἐνθύμημα ὁ περὶ τοιούτων συλλογισμός ἐστιν,
σχεδὸν τὰ (27) συμπεράσματα τῶν ἐνθυμημάτων καὶ αἱ ἀρχαὶ ἀφαιρεθέντος (28) τοῦ συλλογισμοῦ γνῶμαί εἰσιν,
οἷον (29)
χρὴ δ’ οὔ ποθ’ ὅστις ἀρτίφρων πέφυκ’ ἀνήρ (30)
παῖδας περισσῶς ἐκδιδάσκεσθαι σοφούς.
(30) τοῦτο μὲν οὖν γνώμη· προστεθείσης δὲ τῆς αἰτίας καὶ τοῦ διὰ (31) τί ἐνθύμημά ἐστιν τὸ ἅπαν, οἷον
(32)
χωρὶς γὰρ ἄλλης ἧς ἔχουσιν ἀργίας,
(33)φθόνον παρ’ ἀστῶν ἀλφάνουσι δυσμενῆ,
(1394b1) καὶ τὸ
οὐκ ἔστιν ὅστις πάντ’ ἀνὴρ εὐδαιμονεῖ,
(2) καὶ τὸ (3)
οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνδρῶν ὅστις ἔστ’ ἐλεύθερος
(4) γνώμη, πρὸς δὲ τῷ ἐχομένῳ ἐνθύμημα,
(5) ἢ χρημάτων γὰρ δοῦλός ἐστιν ἢ τύχης.
(6) εἰ δή ἐστιν γνώμη τὸ εἰρημένον, ἀνάγκη τέτταρα εἴδη εἶναι (7) γνώμης·
ἢ γὰρ μετ’ ἐπιλόγου ἔσται ἢ ἄνευ ἐπιλόγου.
It is a statement; not a particular fact,
such as the character of Iphicrates, but of a general kind; nor is it about any and every subject
—e.g. ’straight is the contrary of curved’ is not a maxim——but only about questions of practical conduct, courses of conduct to be chosen or avoided.
Now an Enthymeme is a syllogism dealing with such practical subjects.
It is therefore roughly true that the premisses or conclusions of Enthymemes, considered apart from the rest of the argument, are Maxims:
e.g.
Never should any man whose wits are sound
Have his sons taught more wisdom than their fellows.
Here we have a Maxim; add the reason or explanation, and the whole thing is an Enthymeme; thus—
It makes them idle; and therewith they earn
Ill—will and jealousy throughout the city.
Again,
There is no man in all things prosperous,
and
There is no man among us all is free,
are maxims; but the latter, taken with what follows it, is an Enthymeme—
For all are slaves of money or of chance.
From this definition of a maxim it follows that there are four kinds of maxims.
In the first Place, the maxim may or may not have a supplement.