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1. 1 The manwho at Delos set forth in the precinct of the god his own opinion composed an inscription for the forecourt of the temple of Leto in which he distinguished goodness, beauty and pleasantness as not all being properties of the same thing. His verses are:“ Justiceis fairest, and Health is best, But to win one' s desire is the pleasantest.” But for our part let us not allow that he is right; for Happinessis at once the pleasantest and the fairest and best of all things whatever. 1. 2 About every thing and every natural species there are many views that involve difficulty and require examination; of these some relate only to our knowledge of the thing, others deal also with modes of acquiring it and of acting in relation to it. 1. 3 As to all those views therefore that involve only speculative philosophy, we must say whatever may be proper to the inquiry when the suitable occasion occurs. 1. 4 But we must consider first what the good life consists in and how it is to be obtained— whether all of those who receive the designation' happy' acquire happiness by nature, as is the case with tallness and shortness of stature and differences of complexion, or by study, which would imply that there is a science of happiness, or by some form of training, for there are many human attributes that are not bestowed by nature nor acquired by study but gained by habituation— bad attributes by those trained in bad habits and good attributes by those trained in good ones. 1. 5 Or does happiness come in none of these ways, but either by a sort of elevation of mind inspired by some divine power, as in the case of persons possessed by a nymph or a god, or, alternatively, by fortune? for many people identify happiness with good fortune. 1. 6 Now it is pretty clear that the presence of happiness is bestowed upon men by all of these things, or by some or one of them; for almost all the modes in which it is produced fall under these principles, inasmuch as all the acts that spring from thought may be included with those that spring from knowledge. 1. 7 But to be happy and to five blissfully and finely may consist chiefly in three things deemed to be most desirable: some people say that Wisdomis the greatest good, others Goodnessand others Pleasure. 1. 8 And certain persons debate about their importance in relation to happiness,

declaring that one contributes more to it than another— some holding that Wisdom is a greater good than Goodness, others the reverse, and others that Pleasure is a greater good than either of them; and some think that the happy life comes from them all, others from two of them, others that it consists in some one of them. 2. 1 Having then in regard to this subject established that everybody able to live according to his own purposive choice should set before him some object for noble living to aim at— either honor or else glory or wealth or culture— on which he will keep his eyes fixed in all his conduct( since clearly it is a mark of much folly not to have one' s life regulated with regard to some End), 2. 2 it is therefore most necessary first to decide within oneself, neither hastily nor carelessly, in which of the things that belong to us the good life consists, and what are the indispensable conditions for men' s possessing it. For there is a distinction between health and the things that are indispensable conditions of health, 2. 3 and this is similarly the case with many other things; consequently also to live finely is not the same as the things without which living finely is impossible. 2. 4 And in the latter class of things some that are indispensable conditions of health and life are not peculiar to special people but common to practically all men— both some states and some actions— for instance, without breathing or being awake or participating in movement we could not possess any good or any evil at all; whereas others are more peculiar to special types of natural constitution— for instance, eating meat and taking walking exercise after dinner are not closely related to health in the same way as the conditions mentioned. And these facts must not be overlooked, 2. 5 for these are the causes of the disputes about the real nature of happiness and about the means of procuring it; for some people regard the things that are indispensable conditions of being happy as actual parts of happiness. 3. 1 Now to examine all the opinions that any people hold about happiness is a superfluous taskFor children and the sick and insane have many opinions which no sensible man would discuss, for these persons need not argument but the former time in which to grow up and alter and the latter medical or official chastisement( treatment with drugs being chastisement just as much as flogging is). 3. 2 And similarly it is also superfluous to examine the opinions of the multitudeeither;