There is a faculty which we call cleverness ( δεινότης )⁠—the power of carrying out the means to any proposed end, and so achieving it. If then the end be noble, the power merits praise; but if the end be base, the power is the power of the villain. So we apply the term clever both to the prudent man and the villain. 166

Now, this power is not identical with prudence, but is its necessary condition. But this power, the “eye of the soul” as we may call it, does not attain its perfect development 167 without moral virtue, as we said before, and as may be shown thus:⁠—