Aristotle’s notion of the fine death (καλὸς θάνατος) confronts us with a serious difficulty: to what extent is a fine death, which involves dying courageously on the battlefield, consistent with his theory of εὐδαιμονία? This article responds to the challenge by bringing in two parts of Aristotle’s ethics. It argues (a) that the theory of ‘mixed actions’ in Nicomachean Ethics 3.1 offers us a good model for understanding the choice that the courageous soldier is confronted with; and (b) that the fine death is compatible with εὐδαιμονία on the basis of the discussion of εὐδαιμονία and misfortune in Nicomachean Ethics 1.10.
