An Enquiry into the Origin of Honour, and the Usefulness of Christianity in War | Page 2

some ages before the Romans used it in any other Sense. Nay, to this Day, the Word Virtus by it self, in any of their Historians, has the same Signification, as if the Word Bellica had been added. We have Reason to think, that, as First, Nothing was meant by _Virtus_, but Daring and Intrepidity, right or wrong; or else if could never have been made to signify Savageness, and brutish Courage; as _Tacitus_, in the Fourth Book of his History, makes use of it manifestly in that Sense. Even Wild Beasts, says he, if you keep them shut up, will lose their Fierceness. _Etiam sera animalia, si clausa teneas, virtutis obliviseuntur_.
What the Great Men of Rome valued themselves upon was active and passive Bravery, Warlike Virtue, which is so strongly express'd in the Words of Livy: _Et facere & pati fortia Romanum est._ But besides the Consideration of the great Service, All Warriours received from this Virtue, there is a very good Reason in the Nature of the Thing it self, why it should be in far higher Esteem than any other. The Passion it has to struggle with, is the most violent and stubborn, and consequently the hardest to be conquer'd, the Fear of Death: The least Conflict with it is harsh Work, and a difficult Task; and it is in Regard to this, that _Cicero_, in his _Offices_, calls Modesty, Justice and Temperance, the softer and easier Virtues. _Qui virtutibus bis lenioribus erit ornatus, modestia, justitia temperantia,_ &c. Justice and Temperance require Professors as grave and solemnn, and demand as much Strictness and Observance as any other Virtues. Why lenioribus then; but that they are more mild and gentle in the Restrain they lay upon our Inclinations, and that the Self-denial they require is more practicable and less mortifying than that of Virtue itself, as it is taken in it proper and genuine Sense? To be Just or Temperate, we have Temptations to encounter, and Difficulties to surmount, that are troublesome: But the Efforts we are oblig'd to make upon our selves to be truyly Valiant are infinitely greater; and, in order to it, we are overcome the First, the strongest and most lasting Passion, that has been implanted in us; for tho' we may hate and have Aversion to many Things by Instinct, yet this is Nothing so generally terrible, and so generally dreadful to all Creatures, rational or not rational, as the Dissolution of their Being.
Upon due Consideration of what has been said, it will be easy to imagine how and why, soon after Fortitude had been honoured with the Name of Virtue, all the other Branches of Conquest over our selves were dignify'd with the same Title. We may see in it likewise the Reason of what I have always so strenuously insisted upon, _viz._ That no Practice, no Action or good Quality, how useful or beneficial soever they may be in them selves, can ever deserve the Name of Virtue, strictly speaking, where there is not a palpable Self-denial to be seen. In Tract of Time, the Sense of the Word Virtus received still a grated Latitude; and it signify'd Worth, Strength, Authority, and Goodness of all Kinds: Plautus makes use of it, for Assistance. _Virtute De?m_, by the Help of the Gods. By Degrees it was applied not only to Brutes, _Est in juveneis, est in equis patrum Virtus_, but likewise to Things inanimate and was made Use of to express the Power, and peculiar Qualities of Vegetables and Minerals of all Sorts, as it continues to be to this Day. The Virtue of the Loadstone, the Virtue of Opium, &c. It is highly probable, that the Word _Moral_, either in Greek or _Latin_, never was thought of before the Signification of the Word Virtue had been extended so far beyond its Original; and then in speaking of the Virtues of our Species, the Addition of that Epithet became necessary, to denote the Relation they had to our Manners, and distinguish them from the Properties and Efficacy of Plants, Stones, &c. which were likewise call'd Virtues.
If I am wrong, I shall be glad to see a better Account, how this Adjective and Substantive came to be join'd together. In the mean Time, I am very sure, that this is Nothing strain'd or forc'd in my Supposition. That the Words, in Tract of Time, are be come of greater Importance, I don't deny. The Words Clown and Villain have opprobrious Meanings annex'd to them, that were never implied in Colonus and _Villanus_, from which they were undoubtedly derived. _Moral_, for ought I know, may now signify _Virtue_, in the same Manner and for the same Reason, that Panic signifies Fear.
That this Conjecture or Opinion of mine, should be detracting from the Dignity of