Rhetoric Section 3

ἀνάγκη οὖν ἡδὺ εἶναι τό τε εἰς τὸ κατὰ φύσιν ἰέναι ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ, καὶ μάλιστα ὅταν ἀπειληφότα ᾖ τὴν ἑαυτῶν φύσιν τὰ κατʼ αὐτὴν γιγνόμενα, καὶ τὰ ἔθη (καὶ γὰρ τὸ εἰθισμένον ὥσπερ πεφυκὸς ἤδη γίγνεται· ὅμοιον γάρ τι τὸ ἔθος τῇ φύσει· ἐγγὺς γὰρ καὶ τὸ πολλάκις τῷ ἀεί, ἔστιν δʼ ἡ μὲν φύσις τοῦ ἀεί, τὸ δὲ ἔθος τοῦ πολλάκις),

Necessarily, therefore, it must be generally pleasant to enter into a normal state (especially when what is done in accordance with that state has come into its own again) ; and the same with habits. For that which has become habitual becomes as it were natural; in fact, habit is something like nature, for the distance between often and always is not great, and nature belongs to the idea of always, habit to that of often.

Il est donc nécessairement agréable, en règle générale, d'entrer dans un état normal, surtout lorsque ce qui s'accomplit conformément à cet état a retrouvé sa condition propre; il en va de même des habitudes. Car ce qui est devenu habituel devient pour ainsi dire naturel. En effet, l'habitude ressemble à la nature, car la distance entre le souvent et le toujours n'est pas grande, et la nature relève de l'idée du toujours, l'habitude de celle du souvent.