c. Fortitude
17. Fortitude, which is from the North, is thus described: "Fortitude consists in attacking dangers, or confronting them, and enduring them with constant effort." Its parts are confidence, patience, and perseverance. Confidence in attacking, patience in confronting, and perseverance in enduring. 17. Fortitudo ab aquilone, quae sic describitur: «Fortitudo est aggressio periculorum vel susceptio et eorundem constans et laboriosa perpessio». Cuius partes sunt fiducia, patientia, perseverantia: fiducia in aggrediendo, patientia in sustinendo, perseverantia in perseverando.
d. Justice
18. Finally, in the West is the sweetness of justice, which consists in showing reverence—for the laws tend to mitigate punishments. Hence, the purpose of justice is not severity but kindness. It is described as follows: "Justice is a disposition which attributes to each one his deserts, once the common good has been served." According to Tullius, its parts come from law, nature, and custom. From our viewpoint, the first establishes order in regard to superiors, the second in regard to inferiors, and the third in regard to equals. 18. Item, in occidente suavitas iustitiae, quae est in exhibitione pietatis -- volunt enim leges, poenas mitigari; unde finis iustitiae non est severitas, sed benignitas -- quae sic describitur: «Iustitia est habitus, communi utilitate servata, suam unicuique tribuens dignitatem». Partes eius secundum Tullium sunt ex lege, a natura, ex consuetudine; secundum nos una ordinat ad superiores, alia ad inferiores, tertia ad pares.
19. All this accords with the rule of reason; and as the sun gives life while going about the twelve zodiac signs, so also the sun of wisdom, radiating over the hemisphere of our mind and passing on, ordains our life through these twelve aspects of the virtues; and whatever other sciences a man may possess, if he have no virtue, neither does he have life; as also, whatever be the number of stars you possess, if you have no sun within the twelve signs, you have no day. 19. Hoc totum est per regulam rationis; et sicut sol transiens per duodecim signa dat vitam, sic sol sapientialis, in nostrae mentis hemisphaerio radians et transiens, per has duodecim partes virtutum ordinat vitam nostram; et quantumcumque homo habeat alias scientias, nisi habeat virtutes, non habet vitam; sicut, quantumcumque habeas stellas, nisi habeas solem in duodecim signis, non habebis diem.
4. Virtues Correspond To:
a. Four Principal Effects of Light
20. These are of such high nobility that the disposition of the world corresponds to them. Indeed, the virtues correspond to the four effects of light, the four properties of the elements, the four actions of the causes, and the four conditions of a healthy life. First, they correspond to the four principal effects of light. Light cleanses, illumines, perfects, and stabilizes. Temperance cleanses, prudence illumines, justice reconciles, and fortitude confirms. 20. Hae sunt tantae nobilitatis, quod dispositio mundi his correspondet. Virtutes enim configurantur quatuor lucis influentis, quatuor elementorum proprietatibus, quatuor causarum efficaciis, quatuor vitae salubritatibus. -- Primo, quatuor lucis principalibus influentis: lux purgat, illuminat, perficit et stabilit; temperantia purgat, prudentia illuminat, iustitia conciliat, fortitudo roborat.
b. Four Properties of the Elements
21. Again, they correspond to the four properties of the elements: on the earth, there is dryness and adornment; in the water, translucency with vividity of light; in the air, subtlety with softness; in fire, efficacy in action. The first is temperance, which dries and yet adorns and decks with flowers. Prudence corresponds to the translucency of water which is almost embodied with light. Justice matches the sweetness of air: for air goes up and down and moves right and left. Fortitude is comparable to the power of fire. Hence the author of the Canticle, speaking of fortitude, says: For love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell. The lamps thereof are fire and flames. 21. Item quatuor elementorum proprietatibus: in terra est ariditas adornata, in aqua perspicuitas cum intensione lucis, in aere Subtilitas cum mulcebritate, in igne virtuositas in actione. Prima est temperantia, quae aridum reddit, et tamen ornat et vestit floribus. Prudentia respondet aquae perspicuitati, quae quasi incorporata est luci. Iustitia respondet aeris mulcebritati; aer enim ascendit et descendit, ad dexteram et sinistram movetur. Fortitudo respondet vigori ignis; unde ille loquens de fortitudine dicit: Fortis est ut mors dilectio; dura sicut infernus emulatio; lampades eius lampades ignis atque flammarum .
c. Four Actions of the Causes
22. Once more, they correspond to the four actions of the causes: things are constituted by their efficient, formal, final, and material causes. The efficient cause needs fortitude, the formal cause needs prudence, the final cause needs justice, and the material cause needs temperance, lest it overflow. 22. Item, quatuor causarum efficaciis: efficiens, forma, finis et materia integrant rem. Fortitudo debetur efficienti, prudentia formae; iustitia fini; temperantia materiae, ne defluat.
d. Four Conditions of a Healthy Life
23. Finally, they correspond to the four conditions of a healthy life: temperance, to subtlety of spirit; prudence, to vivacity of the senses; fortitude, to virile strength, and justice, to the proper balance of qualities. 23. Item quatuor vitae salubritatibus: subtilitati spirituum, temperantia; vivacitati sensuum, prudentia; robori virium, fortitudo; coaequatum qualitatum, iustitia.
24. These virtues flow from eternal light in the hemisphere of our mind and they retrace the soul to its origin, as the vertical or direct ray also returns by that same path by which it had come down. And such is blessedness. And so, the first of these virtues are political, the second are for cleansing, and the third, for the soul already cleansed. The political virtues consist in action, the cleansing in contemplation, and those for the soul already cleansed, in the vision of light. 24. Hae virtutes fluunt a luce aeterna in hemisphaerium nostrae mentis et reducunt animam in suam originem, sicut radius perpendicularis sive directus eadem via revertitur, qua incessit. Et haec est beatitudo. Unde primo sunt politicae, secundo purgatoriae, tertio animi iam purgati. Politicae sunt in actione, purgatoriae in contemplatione, animi iam purgati in lucis visione.
25. And, as Origen writes, it is with these that Solomon is concerned; with the political, in Proverbs, with the cleansing, in Ecclesiastes, and with those for the soul already cleansed, in the Song of Songs. And noble philosophers attained the knowledge of them. Hence Macro- bius, quoting Plotinus, writes as follows: "Those who believe that philosophers alone are virtuous declare that none but philosophers are blessed. Since they see wisdom properly so called only in the acknowledgment of the divine, they declare wise only those who seek higher things with the fine point of their mind, understand them through inquiring with clear-sighted diligence, and express them as well as a perceptive life allows: and they say that the practice of the virtues consists in this alone. 25. Et de his agit Salomon, ut dicit Origenes, de politicis in Proverbiis, de purgatoribus in Ecclesiaste, de animis iam Purgatis in Cantico canticorum. Et in notitiam istarum pervenerunt nobiles philosophi. Unde Macrobius, narrans sententiam Plotini, dicit sic: «Qui aestimant nullis nisi philosophantibus inesse virtutes, nullos praeter philosophos beatos esse pronuntiant. Agnitionem enim rerum divinarum sapientiam proprie vocantes, eos tantummodo dicunt esse sapientes, qui superna acie mentis requirunt et quaerendi sagaci diligentia comprehendunt, et quantum vivendi perspicuitas praestat, imitantur, et in hoc solo dicunt esse exercitia virtutum».
26. "And this is how they distribute the functions of these virtues: To prudence, it pertains to despise this world and everything in it, through contemplation of the divine, and to direct every cognitive power of the soul toward the things of God. To temperance, it pertains to give up, as much as nature allows, all those things the use of the body demands. To fortitude, it pertains not to let the soul be terrified as it recedes in a certain way from the body under the leadership of philosophy, nor horrified by the loftiness of the perfect ascent toward things on high. To justice, it pertains to conform the service of each virtue to the single path of one's intention thus explained. And so, because of the precipice of this so rigid definition, political leaders cannot be blessed, or at least, not totally. 26. «Quarum sic officia dispensant: prudentiae esse mundum istum et omnia, quae in mundo sunt, divinorum contemplatione despicere omnemque animi cognitionem in sola divina dirigere; temperantiae, omnia relinquere, in quantum natura patitur, quae corporis usus requirit; fortitudinis, non terreri animam a corpore quodam modo ductu philosophiae recedentem nec altitudinem perfectae ad superna ascensionis horrere; iustitiae, ad unam sibi huius propositi consentire viam uniuscuiusque virtutis obsequium. Atque ita fit, ut secundum hoc tam rigidae definitionis abruptum rerum publicarum rectores beati esse, vel omnino esse non possint».
5. Plotinus: 4 Categories
27. "But Plotinus, a leader with Plato among the teachers of philosophy, offers in his work 'On Virtues' an orderly gradation of these virtues arranged according to a true and natural method of division. He says there are four genera of the fourfold virtues. Among these, the first are called political, the second are for cleansing, the third for the soul already cleansed, and the fourth are called exemplary. 27. «Sed Plotinus, inter philosophiae professores cum Platone princeps, in libro De virtutibus gradus earum vera et naturali divisionis ratione compositos per ordinem digerit. Quatuor sunt, inquit, quaternarum genera virtutum. Ex his primae politicae vocantur, secundae purgatoriae, tertiae animi iam purgati, quartae exemplares».
a. Political Virtues
28. "The political virtues are concerned with man, for he is a social animal. The good men in the government take counsel from them, and guard the cities; by these they venerate their parents, love their children, and are kindly to their neighbors; by these, they take care of the welfare of the citizens; by these, they protect their companions through careful foresight, attract them by a just generosity, and through these, 'they make others remember them for their merit.' 28. «Et sunt politicae hominis, quia sociale animal est. His boni viri reipublicae consulunt, urbes tuentur; his parentes venerantur, li- beros amant, proximos diligunt; his civium salutem gubernant; his socios circumspecta providentia protegunt, iusta liberalitate devincunt, hisque "sui memores alios fecere merendo"».
29. "And it pertains to political prudence that a man direct all things to the norm of reason — his thoughts and whatever he does —and that he will or do nothing besides what is right, but that he attend to human acts as by divine judgments. In prudence are included reason, intellect, circumspection, foresight, docility and care. "Fortitude lifts the spirit above the fear of danger, is afraid of nothing besides evil, and sustains adversity and prosperity with equal strength. Fortitude implies magnanimity, confidence, security, magnificence, constancy, tolerance, and firmness. "Temperance consists in desiring nothing liable to remorse, never exceeding the law of moderation, and taming cupidity under the yoke of reason. The followers of temperance are modesty, shame, abstinence, chastity, decency, measure or moderation, parsimony, sobriety and pudicity. "Justice consists in attributing to each man what is his; and from justice come forth innocence, friendship, concord, devotion, religion, kindness, and humanity. "By means of these virtues, the good man becomes the ruler first of himself and then of the state, justly and providently ruling human affairs while respecting those of God. 29. «Et est politicae prudentiae ad rationis normam quae cogitat, quaecumque agit, universa dirigere, ac nihil praeter rectum velle vel facere, humanisque actibus tanquam divinis arbitriis providere. Prudentiae insunt ratio, intellectus, circumspectio, providentia, docilitas, cautio. -- Fortitudinis est animum supra periculi metum agere, nihilque nisi turpia timere, tolerare fortiter vel adversa vel prospera. Fortitudo praestat magnanimitatem, fiduciam, securitatem, magnificentiam, constantiam, tolerantiam, firmitatem. -- Temperantiae est nihil appetere poenitendum, in nullo legem moderationis excedere, sub iugum rationis cupiditatem domare. Temperantiam sequuntur modestia, verecundia, abstinentia, castitas, honestas, moderamen vel moderatio, parcitas, sobrietas, pudicitia. -- Iustitiae est servare unicuique quod suum est; et de iustitia veniunt innocentia, amicitia, concordia, pietas, religio, affectus, humanitas. His virtutibus vir bonus primum sui atque inde reipublicae rector efficitur, iuste ac provide gubernans humana, divina non deserens».
b. Cleansing
30. "The second category [of virtues], which are called cleansing, pertains to man as fit for God, and are useful only to the spirit of the man who has decided to cleanse himself of the contagion of the body, and to enter, through some kind of flight from human matters, into nothing but the things of God. These virtues belong to free individuals who have cut themselves away from political activities. What each one of them is intended for, we have explained above when speaking of the virtues of philosophers, which some believed to be the only virtues. 30. «Secundae, quas purgatorias vocant, hominis sunt, qui divini capax est, solumque animum eius expediunt, qui decrevit se a corporis contagione purgare et quadam humanorum fuga solis se inserere divinis. Hae sunt otiosorum, qui a rerum publicarum actibus se sequestrant. Harum quid singulae velint, superius expressimus, cum de virtutibus philosophantium diceremus, quas solas quidam aestimaverunt esse virtutes».
c. Simply and Purely Washed of Every Stain of This World