Dist. 33
Book III: On the Incarnation of the Word · Distinction 33
DISTINCTIO XXXIII.
Cap. I. De quatuor virtutibus principalibus.
Post praedicta de quatuor virtutibus, quae principales vel cardinales vocantur, disserendum est; quae sunt iustitia, fortitudo, prudentia, temperantia. De quibus Augustinus1 ait: «Iustitia est in subveniendo miseris, prudentia in praecavendis insidiis, fortitudo in perferendis molestiis, temperantia in coercendis delectationibus pravis». De his dicitur in libro Sapientiae: Sobrietatem et prudentiam docet, iustitiam et virtutem. Sobrietatem vocat temperantiam, et virtutem vocat fortitudinem. Hae virtutes cardinales dicuntur, ut ait Hieronymus2, «quibus in hac mortalitate bene vivitur, et post ad aeternam vitam pervenitur».
Cap. II. Utrum et in Christo fuerint et in Angelis sint.
Quae in Christo plenissime fuerunt et sunt, de cuius plenitudine nos accepimus3; in quo habuerunt usus eosdem, quos in patria habent, et quosdam etiam viae.
Cap. III. De usibus earum.
Verumtamen, an4 «hae virtutes, cum et ipsae in animo esse incipiant, qui, cum sine illis prius esset, tamen animus erat, desinant esse, cum ad aeterna perduxerint, nonnulla quaestio est. Quibusdam visum est, esse desituras, et de tribus quidem, prudentia scilicet, fortitudine, temperantia, cum hoc dicitur, non nihil dici videtur; iustitia enim immortalis est et magis tunc perficietur in nobis, quam esse cessabit, cum beate vivemus contemplatione naturae divinae, quae creavit omnes ceterasque instituit naturas, qua nihil melius et amabilius est; cui regenti esse subditum iustitiae est. Et ideo immortalis est omnino iustitia5 nec in illa beatitudine esse desinet, sed talis ac tanta erit, ut perfectior et maior esse non possit. Fortassis et aliae tres virtutes: prudentia sine ullo iam periculo erroris, fortitudo sine molestia tolerandorum malorum, temperantia sine repugnatione libidinum, erunt in illa felicitate, ut prudentiae ibi sit nullum bonum Deo praeponere vel aequare; fortitudinis, ei firmissime cohaerere; temperantiae, nullo defectu noxio delectari. Quod vero nunc agit iustitia in subveniendo miseris, quod prudentia in praecavendis insidiis, quod fortitudo in perferendis molestiis, quod temperantia in coercendis delectationibus pravis; non erit ibi omnino, ubi nihil mali erit. Ista igitur virtutum opera huic mortali vitae necessaria, sicut fides, ad quam referenda sunt, in praeteritis habebuntur». — Ecce aperte hic dicit Augustinus, quod praedictae virtutes in futuro erunt, sed alios usus tunc habebunt quam modo. Cui Beda6 consentit, super Exodum ita dicens: «Columnae, ante quas appensum est velum, potestates caeli sunt quatuor eximiis virtutibus praeclarae, id est fortitudine, prudentia, temperantia, iustitia, quae aliter in caelis servantur ab Angelis et animabus sanctis quam hic a fidelibus». Et consequenter assignat Beda usus illarum virtutum secundum praesentem et futurum statum, imitans Augustinum in praemissis assignationibus.
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DISTINCTION XXXIII.
Chapter I. On the four principal virtues.
After what has been said before, we must treat of the four virtues which are called principal or cardinal; which are justice, fortitude, prudence, temperance. Of these Augustine1 says: «Justice consists in succoring the wretched, prudence in guarding against snares, fortitude in bearing hardships, temperance in restraining depraved delights». Of these it is said in the book of Wisdom: She teaches sobriety and prudence, justice and virtue. By sobriety he means temperance, and by virtue he means fortitude. These are called cardinal virtues, as Jerome2 says, «by which one lives well in this mortality, and afterward attains to eternal life».
Chapter II. Whether they were in Christ and are in the Angels.
These were and are most fully in Christ, of whose fullness we have all received3; in whom they had the same uses which they have in the fatherland, and also certain uses of the way.
Chapter III. On their uses.
Nevertheless, whether4 «these virtues, since they too begin to be in the soul — which, although it was before without them, yet was a soul — cease to be when they have brought [it] to the things eternal, is no small question. To some it has seemed that they will cease; and concerning three of them indeed, namely prudence, fortitude, temperance, when this is said, it seems not nothing is said; for justice is immortal and will then rather be perfected in us than cease to be, when we live blessedly in the contemplation of the divine nature, which created all things and established all the other natures, than which nothing is better and more lovable; and to be subject to it as it rules is [the act] of justice. And therefore justice is altogether immortal5 and will not cease to be in that beatitude, but will be such and so great that it cannot be more perfect or greater. Perhaps the other three virtues also — prudence without any longer peril of error, fortitude without the trouble of evils to be endured, temperance without the resistance of lusts — will be in that felicity, so that it will belong to prudence there to set no good before God or equal to him; to fortitude, to cleave to him most firmly; to temperance, to delight in no harmful defect. But what justice now does in succoring the wretched, what prudence does in guarding against snares, what fortitude does in bearing hardships, what temperance does in restraining depraved delights; will not be there at all, where there will be nothing evil. These works of the virtues, therefore, necessary to this mortal life, like faith, to which they are to be referred, will be held among things past». — Behold, here Augustine plainly says that the aforesaid virtues will be in the future, but will then have other uses than now. With him Bede6 agrees, speaking thus on Exodus: «The columns, before which the veil was hung, are the powers of heaven, illustrious for four excellent virtues, that is, fortitude, prudence, temperance, justice, which are kept otherwise in the heavens by the Angels and the holy souls than here by the faithful». And consequently Bede assigns the uses of those virtues according to the present and the future state, imitating Augustine in the foregoing assignments.
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- Libr. XIV. de Trin. c. 9. n. 12. — Paulo inferius locus Scripturae est Sap. 8, 7, in quo textu codd. et edd. 1, 3, 7 pro et virtutem perperam habent et veritatem, quod etiam repetunt inferius.Book XIV, On the Trinity, c. 9, n. 12. — A little below, the scriptural passage is Wisdom 8:7, in which text the codices and editions 1, 3, 7 wrongly read et veritatem (and truth) for et virtutem (and virtue), which they also repeat below.
- Potius August., XII. de Trin. c. 14. n. 21; cfr. XXII. de Civ. Dei, c. 24. n. 3.Rather Augustine, On the Trinity, book XII, c. 14, n. 21; cf. On the City of God, book XXII, c. 24, n. 3.
- Ioan. 1, 16.John 1:16.
- Quae sequuntur sumta sunt ex August., XIV. de Trin. c. 9. n. 12, nonnullis a Magistro omissis.What follows is taken from Augustine, On the Trinity, book XIV, c. 9, n. 12, with some things omitted by the Master.
- Respicitur Sap. 1, 15.Reference is made to Wisdom 1:15.
- Libr. II. de Tabernac. c. 8, et in Glossa apud Lyranum ad Exod. 26, 32. — Pro consentit edd., exceptis 1, 8, assentit, et omittunt ita ante dicens; in ipso testimonio pro appensum, quod habent codd., ed. 1 et originale, in aliis edd. expansum.Book II, On the Tabernacle, c. 8, and in the Gloss in Lyra on Exodus 26:32. — For consentit (agrees) the editions, except 1, 8, read assentit, and they omit ita (thus) before dicens (speaking); in the testimony itself, for appensum (hung), which the codices, edition 1, and the original have, in the other editions [it reads] expansum (spread out). ---