Sometimes you really need to know the derivation of words. In this essay, Christopher Morrissey corrals a movie, Tacitus, Thomas Aquinas, (and Aristotle) to expand on the terms "Valor" and "Virtue."
...The word being translated as “valor” in English was the Latin word for “virtue.” I found this quite exciting, because indeed the original meaning of the word “virtue” is military courage, or “valor,” if you want to use the best word to describe military courage. A valiant man is a man who displays valor. In Latin, “vir” literally means “man,” and so “courage” as a kind of root virtue tying together all other virtues indeed reflects the original Roman military notion that “manliness” (the literal translation of “virtus,” the Latin word for “virtue”) is that height of virtue that a valiant man can show in battle....
The four key (or “cardinal”) virtues of courage, temperance, justice, and prudence are discussed at length by Thomas Aquinas in a number of his works. These four species are the four “hinge” specimens of the entire genus of virtue. These four cardinal virtues, the “hinges” upon which all the other virtues turn, get their most classic, lengthy treatment by Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae. Aquinas, of course, is riffing off of Aristotle’s original classic treatment in the Nicomachean Ethics, and developing Aristotle in a more detailed and systematic way for Christian theology....
There are all sorts of battles. One of them--the one Aquinas illuminates--is the battle against evil, or the battle to save one's soul. It's arguably more important than any 'war battle' for territory, or for gold, or even for defense of self and others.
...With all this in mind, it is interesting to read how Aquinas in De Decem Praeceptis interprets a verse of Scripture (Matthew 22:37). We may recognize that his discussion is structured by the four cardinal virtues. First, he begins by stating the verse, and identifying the four words in it that he is going to associate with the cardinal virtues. “Heart,” “soul,” “mind,” and “valor;” these are the four words he will go on to interpret in light of the four cardinal virtues of “temperance,” “justice,” “prudence,” and “courage.”...
Here's Aquinas, translated by the essay's author:
A man owes God four things: his heart, his soul, his mind and his valor. And thus it is said (Mt 22:37): You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all manliness, i.e., your valor.
Therefore,
...[Aquinas] discusses courage as the virtue tying the discussion together. It is interesting to see how he again uses “virtus” as synonym for “fortitudo” at this point. He cites the Scriptural passage as his authority for concluding that the other three cardinal virtues alone are not enough. That is, we are enjoined also to be men of valor:
“But that does not suffice; on the contrary, one must give to God all manliness and valor (Ps 58:10 Vulgate): “I shall guard my valor towards you.” For there are some who allot their valor towards sinning, and in this they display their power; against whom it is said (Is 5:22): “Woe to you who are powerful for drinking wine, and who are men valiant for hard liquor.” Others show their power or manliness by doing harm to their neighbors; they should have shown it by coming to their aid (Prov 24:11): “Rescue them, they who are being led into death; they who are being dragged into slaughter, you must not cease to liberate.”...
The author concludes:
... [This reading of Scripture] allows us to affirm “spes in virtute” with both Tacitus and Thomas Aquinas. To be precise: “In valor, there is hope;” namely, the hope that our virtue may be fully complete. To express the thought another way: it is as men of valor that we will be all we can be....
"Be all we can be", i.e., in the short term, 'virtuous,' and in the long term, saved.
Yes, that is the Army's recruiting slogan. Just remember that Christ, the King, also has an army, and you owe your first allegiance to Him.
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