The text discusses how a person's movement and gait can reveal their innate character and disposition. It describes the differences between wide and narrow steps, speed, and steadiness, and what they may indicate about a person's honesty, strength, or mindset. It also comments on philosophical views about the correlation between physical movement and nobility of character.
Virtue and Service
Largely depend on either the examples someone follows, their habits, the composition of their bones, tendons, and muscles, or some accidental defect. There are also insights from modesty and pride. Thus, one person steps widely, another narrowly; one walks quickly, the other slowly; one waddles like a goose, another dances as if on a thin platform of paper. One may be a procrastinator, and the other is determined and declares his intentions with his head. One moves with firmness and certainty, while the other is unsteady and prone to stumble. This work aims to illustrate that even the human walk gives insight into their natural disposition. It's common to characterize someone’s life and activities by their honest or dishonest paths, teaching us that those who walk with a wide tread are often perfect in their actions, also exhibiting a man of some strength. Slow walkers may, due to habit, be thoughtful, yet those who do so naturally may have a feminine spirit. Aristotle seems to have missed the mark by suggesting that a slow walk aligned with the nature of a noble man. But he can be criticized, unless certain points are added, which improve the said slowness with a stroke of majesty. A sluggish pace differs from a slow walk, being very much tied to a lazy mind. An active and entrepreneurial spirit, by contrast, only grazes the ground, barely touching with its feet.
Translation Notes
Dray-Eers: A term referring to someone who might stall or delay tasks.