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Nike is Victory. She is often seen in company of
Athena, who never puts up
with defeat. There are no myths attached to her,
but she is an old goddess, born before the
OLYMPIANS. She lives
in Olympus close to Zeus,
together with her brothers Zelos, Cratos and Bia
[see also
Titanomachy].
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Sweet Victory
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Some have said that Victory is the fine result
which is achieved in accordance with the aim
pursued. So, for example, crushing the enemy is
Victory for the general, obtaining good and
abundant food from the land is Victory for the
farmer, and reestablishing a patient to health is
Victory for the physician. Similarly, whoever has a
chief aim will, as the general, the farmer and the
physician, attempt to achieve the finest result,
and this one he will call Victory, considering it
the sweetest thing of all. And Victory being so
irresistible sweet, everybody wants her to stay,
and that is why the wingless Nike was conceived, so
that she never would fly away.
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Prize of Victory
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However, the glory of Victory has been related
to the value of the aim pursued. So if the aim of
the general were to betray his own army and lead it
to destruction, and that of the farmer to starve
the community by demanding arbitrary prices, and
that of the physician to poison his patient,
although by achieving their aims they would still
be obtaining victories, these would, at the same
time, be respectively called treason, greed, and
murder, in which no glory is to be found. And that
is why it may be said that no lasting pleasure
arises by gaining Victory for such things. For
treason provokes hate, greed causes contempt and
enmity, murder calls for revenge, and all of them
give birth to fear and suspicion, which become the
wreath of those victories. So, what is called the
prize of Victory has been thought to be paramount,
Victory itself tasting differently depending on
what has been defeated, either good or bad things.
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