Chapter 2 (136): 1. Whether All The Virtues Are Equally Present In Anyone In
148 | THE SENTENCES, BOOK 3
fullness of the Law?* And the more it is in a man, the more he is endowed with virtue; the less, the less is there virtue in him; and the less virtue is in him, the more is there vice.""
Chapter 2 (136)
1. WHETHER ALL THE VIRTUES ARE EQUALLY PRESENT IN ANYONE IN
WHOM THEY ARE. But it is a question whether one who possesses all the virtues has them in equal measure, or whether some flourish more and some less in someone.
2. For it has seemed to some that some of them are had more and some less by someone, as patience was eminent in Job, humility in David, meekness in Moses. These also grant that one may merit more by one virtue than by another, just as he has the one more fully than the other.
And yet they say that one cannot merit more by any other virtue than by charity, nor can any other be had more fully by anyone than charity. And so they say that the other virtues can be more or less in someone, but none more fully than charity, which generates the others. And they say that these are the many faces which the Apostle mentions, saying: From the persons of many faces, etc.'
3. Others say more truly that all virtues are joined and equal in anyone in whom they are, so whoever is equal to another in one of the virtues, is also equal to him in all the others—AUGUSTINE, IN BOOK 6, ON THE TRINITY. Hence Augustine: "The virtues which are in the human mind, although each is understood in its own distinct way, are yet in no way separable from each other, so that, for instance, those who are equal in fortitude are also equal in prudence, and in justice, and in temperance.
For if you were to say that these men are equal in fortitude, but that one of them is greater in prudence, it follows that the fortitude of the other is less prudent, and so they are not equal in fortitude, since the fortitude of the former is more prudent. And so you will find it to be with the other virtues, if you consider them in the same way.""
4. From these words, it is clear that all the virtues are not only connected, but also equal in a man's spirit. And so, when someone is said to be pre-eminent in some virtue, as Abraham in faith, Job in patience, this is to be taken according to external uses, or by comparison to other men.
Either such a man especially displays the habit of humility, or he particularly performs the work of faith, or of another of the virtues, so that *Cf. Rom? 13) 10.
*Augustine, Epistola 167, c3 nll.
'Cla2 Corel:
*Augustine, De Trinitate, bk 6 c4 n6.
Distinction XXXVI | 149 he is said to be stronger in it than others, or to excel singularly in it among other men.
5. AUGUSTINE, TO JEROME. According to this manner, namely according to the reasons for external acts, Augustine says elsewhere that in someone one virtue is more and another less, or that one virtue is in him and another not. For he speaks as follows: "From that most famous dissertation of yours, it is sufficiently clear that it has not seemed good to our authors, or rather to truth itself, that all sins are equal, even if this is true of the virtues.' "For even though it is true that he who has one virtue has all of them, and that he who lacks one virtue has none of them, all sins are not equal in the same way. For where there is no virtue, there is nothing right, and yet it does not follow that worse cannot become even worse, or what is distorted become even more so. But if, as I believe to be more true and more congruent with the sacred Letters, the dispositions of the soul are like the members of the body (not that they appear in [higher or lower] places, but that they are perceived by the affections), then one is illuminated more fully, another less so, and a third entirely lacks light. If this is the case, then just as each person is affected by the light of pious charity, and more in one action, less in another, or not at all in a third, so he may: be said to have one virtue and to lack another one, or to have one virtue more and another less. For insofar as it pertains to that charity which is piety, we may rightly say that 'charity is greater in this man than in that one,' and 'there is some of it in this man, none in that one.' Also, as to an individual, [we may say] that he has greater chastity than patience, and that he has it in a higher degree today than he had yesterday, if he is making progress; or that he still lacks continence, but possesses not a small measure of mercy. To summarize generally and briefly the view which | have of virtue: Virtue is the charity with which that which ought to be loved is loved. This is greater in some people, in others less, and in others not at all; but in its greatest fullness, which admits of no increase, it exists in no man while in this life."
6. Here it seems to be indicated that one may be said to have one virtue more than another by reason that, through charity, he applies himself more to the act of one virtue than of another; and because of the difference in acts, he may be said to have the virtues themselves more or less, or not to have one of them, even though he has all of them equally and conjointly as to the habit of mind or the essence of each. But in act he has the one more, the other less; he may also lack one of them, as a just man, who makes use of marriage, does not have continence in act, which he nevertheless has in habit.
*Augustine, Epistola 167, c2 n4.
'Tbid., c4 nn14-15.