The Death of Marcus Aurelius

The Death of Marcus Aurelius

Monday, July 20, 2020

Musonius Rufus, Lectures 12.5


Not to mention the injustice of the thing, there must be sheer wantonness in anyone yielding to the temptation of shameful pleasure and, like swine, rejoicing in his own vileness.

In this category belongs the man who has relations with his own slave-maid, a thing which some people consider quite without blame, since every master is held to have it in his power to use his slave as he wishes.

In our current climate, which is just one of the many fashions that will come and go, we like to speak of justice, and we like to speak of courage. I’m always glad to see someone look out for another, and I’m always glad to see someone stick his neck out.

The problem, however, is that the virtues only work properly when that are a part of the whole package, as instances of the whole person, not just as a certain part of a person.

Where is the love of wisdom? When was the last time you heard the trendy activist speak about seeking a deeper understanding, to do some thinking before waving your fists?

Where is the practice of temperance? When was the last time you heard the rabble-rouser tell you to control your rage, to refuse giving in to hatred after you have received hatred?

“He hurt me, so I must hurt him.” As my younger students might say, “epic fail”.

Justice never follows from ignorance. Courage never flows from resentment. The four classical virtues are not arbitrarily chosen, but rather express a sense of all that we are.

The strict Stoic may take offense, but I always remember what Thomas Aquinas taught me:

Wisdom is the perfection of the intellect, the fulfillment of awareness, of knowing true from false and right from wrong.

Justice is the perfection of the will, of knowing how to treat another as an equal and as a second self.

Courage is the perfection of the irascible appetite, of our drive to fight, based upon knowing what is worth fighting for.

Temperance is the perfection of the concupiscible appetite, of our desire to possess, grown from knowing what is worth desiring.

Notice how that annoying old virtue, prudence, is required for all the rest. Notice how you can’t be just or brave or temperate if you can’t first be wise.

Notice also how temperance is almost completely lacking in almost all of our discussions, since it might remind us that passion should be ruled, and not be the ruler.

Wait, wasn’t this passage from Musonius about sex? Where’s all the sex? I was waiting for more talk about the sex!

The passage is indeed about the sex, and yet it has the nerve to suggest that sex can only be understood within the context of character. Treat another like an animal, and you then become the animal.

Pardon my French, but say that you want to fuck, and then you will only be fucked.

“Oh, she doesn’t matter, I just had my way with her!”

“Hey, I just had some fun with him, and it’s not like I’ll marry him!”

We say we abolished slavery, and yet we treat others as our disposable property, as things to be used, like fast food, like plastic bags, like pumping up at the gas station.

You won’t get your precious social justice until you have the courage to respect any man or woman as a person, not denigrate them as things for your pleasure.

Written in 12/1999

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