Therefore, the power and the greatness of virtue cannot rise to greater heights, because increase is denied to that which is superlatively great. You will find nothing straighter than the straight, nothing truer than the truth, and nothing more temperate than that which is temperate. Every virtue is limitless; for limits depend upon definite measurements. Constancy cannot advance further, any more than fidelity, or truthfulness, or loyalty.
What can be added to that which is perfect? Nothing, otherwise that was not perfect to which something has been added. Nor can anything be added to virtue, either, for if anything can be added thereto, it must have contained a defect. Honor, also, permits of no addition; for it is honorable because of the very qualities which I have mentioned. What then? Do you think that propriety, justice, lawfulness, do not also belong to the same type, and that they are kept within fixed limits? The ability to increase is proof that a thing is still imperfect.
The good, in every instance, is subject to these same laws. The advantage of the state and that of the individual are yoked together; indeed, it is as impossible to separate them as to separate the commendable from the desirable. Therefore, virtues are mutually equal; and so are the works of virtue, and all men who are so fortunate as to possess these virtues.
But, since the virtues of plants and of animals are perishable, they are also frail and fleeting and uncertain. They spring up, and they sink down again, and for this reason they are not rated at the same value; but to human virtues only one rule applies. For right reason is single and of but one kind. Nothing is more divine than the Divine, or more heavenly than the heavenly. Mortal things decay, fall, are worn out, grow up, are exhausted, and replenished. Hence, in their case, in view of the uncertainty of their lot, there is inequality; but of things Divine the nature is one. Reason, however, is nothing else than a portion of the divine spirit set in a human body.
If reason is Divine, and the good in no case lacks reason, then the good in every case is Divine. And furthermore, there is no distinction between things Divine; hence there is none between goods, either. Therefore, it follows that joy and a brave unyielding endurance of torture are equal goods; for in both there is the same greatness of soul relaxed and cheerful in the one case, in the other combative and braced for action.
What? Do you not think that the virtue of him who bravely storms the enemy's stronghold is equal to that of him who endures a siege with the utmost patience? Great is Scipio when he invests Numantia, and constrains and compels the hands of an enemy, whom he could not conquer, to resort to their own destruction. Great also are the souls of the defenders – men who know that, as long as the path to death lies open, the blockade is not complete, men who breathe their last in the arms of liberty.
In like manner, the other virtues are also equal as compared with one another: tranquility, simplicity, generosity, constancy, equanimity, endurance. For underlying them all is a single virtue—that which renders the soul straight and unswerving.
What can be added to that which is perfect? Nothing, otherwise that was not perfect to which something has been added. Nor can anything be added to virtue, either, for if anything can be added thereto, it must have contained a defect. Honor, also, permits of no addition; for it is honorable because of the very qualities which I have mentioned. What then? Do you think that propriety, justice, lawfulness, do not also belong to the same type, and that they are kept within fixed limits? The ability to increase is proof that a thing is still imperfect.
The good, in every instance, is subject to these same laws. The advantage of the state and that of the individual are yoked together; indeed, it is as impossible to separate them as to separate the commendable from the desirable. Therefore, virtues are mutually equal; and so are the works of virtue, and all men who are so fortunate as to possess these virtues.
But, since the virtues of plants and of animals are perishable, they are also frail and fleeting and uncertain. They spring up, and they sink down again, and for this reason they are not rated at the same value; but to human virtues only one rule applies. For right reason is single and of but one kind. Nothing is more divine than the Divine, or more heavenly than the heavenly. Mortal things decay, fall, are worn out, grow up, are exhausted, and replenished. Hence, in their case, in view of the uncertainty of their lot, there is inequality; but of things Divine the nature is one. Reason, however, is nothing else than a portion of the divine spirit set in a human body.
If reason is Divine, and the good in no case lacks reason, then the good in every case is Divine. And furthermore, there is no distinction between things Divine; hence there is none between goods, either. Therefore, it follows that joy and a brave unyielding endurance of torture are equal goods; for in both there is the same greatness of soul relaxed and cheerful in the one case, in the other combative and braced for action.
What? Do you not think that the virtue of him who bravely storms the enemy's stronghold is equal to that of him who endures a siege with the utmost patience? Great is Scipio when he invests Numantia, and constrains and compels the hands of an enemy, whom he could not conquer, to resort to their own destruction. Great also are the souls of the defenders – men who know that, as long as the path to death lies open, the blockade is not complete, men who breathe their last in the arms of liberty.
In like manner, the other virtues are also equal as compared with one another: tranquility, simplicity, generosity, constancy, equanimity, endurance. For underlying them all is a single virtue—that which renders the soul straight and unswerving.
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 66
The problem with relativism is that while it claims to admit of degrees of more or less, it lacks a standard of an absolute by which to measure those very degrees. It would be much like trying to sell fresh meat and produce without the use of a scale, or, for that matter, without agreeing on a currency to pay for it.
We are similarly confused about the concept of perfection, for in our befuddlement we assume that it is impossible for anything to even approach an ideal, and so we settle for lazing about in bland mediocrity. I suggest it would best if we simply admitted our true motive, which is to have an excuse from the burden of responsibility, and thereby a license for indulgence.
If we are speaking of a perfection that encompasses all of being, and so admits of no absence whatsoever, then such a superiority can only be attributed to the infinite Divine. Yet each type of finite creature, with its own distinct identity, possesses its own particular perfection, which is the fulfillment of its nature, as but one part within the whole of Nature.
“Well, nobody’s perfect!” Distinguish. What hinders a man from being the most excellent man he can possibly be? Only his own judgements and actions. Given his freedom, he is indeed made with the power to fail, though such failures are themselves opportunities to continue making progress toward the goal. Providence has arranged it so that each step of becoming better is a slow but steady advancement to embracing the best.
In this way, it is within our reach to be virtuous, and hence to be happy, and this is what constitutes a human perfection. Do not confuse what is difficult with what is impossible, for the most difficult things are oftentimes the most important things. It is an encouraging compliment, and not a harsh insult, to remind someone of the incredible capacity for good already present within him.
Virtue, therefore, as action habitually in agreement with Nature, is the pinnacle of who we are. As such, nothing further can be added to virtue, as it performs everything necessary for achieving peace of mind, and anything lesser receives its value to us from the presence of an all-encompassing character. This is further true of honor, rightly understood as the due merit that follows from virtue, and it can indeed be said of all the things we call good in our lives.
Now even as all creatures are changeable and perishable, the powers of reason and will share more fully in the Divine, and thus they participate in a perfect unity, indicating how all effects are bound together by their cause. Accordingly, each human virtue is something like a reflection of the perfection and the simplicity of God. Any man of wisdom and humility knows how he was made in a certain image and likeness.
My religious friends will surely object here, because such an account seems to ignore the role of grace. I wish to remind them that reason and faith are not properly in conflict, and any discussion of what we ultimately believe in theology must be in harmony with what we first know from philosophy. The presence of any supernatural agency would never work against the natural virtues, but it would rather work with them; please remain open to the harmony of Athens and Jerusalem. I do not presume to prove the ways of Providence.
In any case, where the virtues are present within us, they are all of a one, and none of them are in themselves individually superior or inferior, because they are all expressions of the same human excellence. List the nine billion names of God, and you are still pointing to the same God; provide any tabulation of the virtues you wish, and the distinctions are but aspects of a single essence.
The problem with relativism is that while it claims to admit of degrees of more or less, it lacks a standard of an absolute by which to measure those very degrees. It would be much like trying to sell fresh meat and produce without the use of a scale, or, for that matter, without agreeing on a currency to pay for it.
We are similarly confused about the concept of perfection, for in our befuddlement we assume that it is impossible for anything to even approach an ideal, and so we settle for lazing about in bland mediocrity. I suggest it would best if we simply admitted our true motive, which is to have an excuse from the burden of responsibility, and thereby a license for indulgence.
If we are speaking of a perfection that encompasses all of being, and so admits of no absence whatsoever, then such a superiority can only be attributed to the infinite Divine. Yet each type of finite creature, with its own distinct identity, possesses its own particular perfection, which is the fulfillment of its nature, as but one part within the whole of Nature.
“Well, nobody’s perfect!” Distinguish. What hinders a man from being the most excellent man he can possibly be? Only his own judgements and actions. Given his freedom, he is indeed made with the power to fail, though such failures are themselves opportunities to continue making progress toward the goal. Providence has arranged it so that each step of becoming better is a slow but steady advancement to embracing the best.
In this way, it is within our reach to be virtuous, and hence to be happy, and this is what constitutes a human perfection. Do not confuse what is difficult with what is impossible, for the most difficult things are oftentimes the most important things. It is an encouraging compliment, and not a harsh insult, to remind someone of the incredible capacity for good already present within him.
Virtue, therefore, as action habitually in agreement with Nature, is the pinnacle of who we are. As such, nothing further can be added to virtue, as it performs everything necessary for achieving peace of mind, and anything lesser receives its value to us from the presence of an all-encompassing character. This is further true of honor, rightly understood as the due merit that follows from virtue, and it can indeed be said of all the things we call good in our lives.
Now even as all creatures are changeable and perishable, the powers of reason and will share more fully in the Divine, and thus they participate in a perfect unity, indicating how all effects are bound together by their cause. Accordingly, each human virtue is something like a reflection of the perfection and the simplicity of God. Any man of wisdom and humility knows how he was made in a certain image and likeness.
My religious friends will surely object here, because such an account seems to ignore the role of grace. I wish to remind them that reason and faith are not properly in conflict, and any discussion of what we ultimately believe in theology must be in harmony with what we first know from philosophy. The presence of any supernatural agency would never work against the natural virtues, but it would rather work with them; please remain open to the harmony of Athens and Jerusalem. I do not presume to prove the ways of Providence.
In any case, where the virtues are present within us, they are all of a one, and none of them are in themselves individually superior or inferior, because they are all expressions of the same human excellence. List the nine billion names of God, and you are still pointing to the same God; provide any tabulation of the virtues you wish, and the distinctions are but aspects of a single essence.
Finally, the presence of virtue in one need never be at the expense of virtue in another. Since happiness is in what we do, not in what is done to us, every person on Earth can live well—there is more than enough to go around for all of us. By extension, the good for the individual and for society as a whole are also naturally in harmony, and both the Roman and the Numantian can leave this world assured that they fought with integrity, whichever side of a war they happened to be on. Anything else is an illusion begotten of needless divisions.
—Reflection written in 7/2013
IMAGE: Robinet Testard, The Cardinal Virtues (c. 1510)
No comments:
Post a Comment