[The Banquet (Il Convito) by Dante Alighieri]@TWC D-Link bookThe Banquet (Il Convito) CHAPTER XVII 3/4
The eighth is Affability, which makes us live on good terms with other men.
The ninth is called Truth, which makes us moderate in boasting ourselves over and above what we are, and in depreciating ourselves below what we are in our speech.
The tenth is called Eutrapelia, pleasantness of intercourse, which makes us moderate in joys or pleasures, causing us to use them in due measure. The eleventh is Justice, which teaches us to love and to act with uprightness in all things. And each of these Virtues has two collateral enemies, that is to say, vices; one in excess and one in defect.
And these Moral Virtues are the centres or middle stations between them, and those Virtues all spring from one root or principle, that is to say, from the habit of our own good choice.
Wherefore, in a general sense, it is possible to say of all, that they are a habit of choice standing firm in due moderation; and these are those which make a man happy in their active operation, as the Philosopher says in the first book of the Ethics when he defines Happiness, saying that Happiness is virtuous action in a perfect life. By many, Prudence, that is, good, judgment or wisdom, is well asserted to be a Moral Virtue.
<<Back Index Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
|