Treatise of Moral and Intellectual Virtues, Treatise on ethics · Part 1
FORTITUDE.
HARDINESS becomes Virtue, and it ſhews it ſelf then moſt illuſtrious, when it atchieves difficult Things:Fortitude deſpiſes Dangers and Death. Now no Virtue pretends to this more than Fortitude; which incites us to undergo all manner of dangers and Death it ſelf for our Liberty, our Country or Religion, Therefore we give it the name of Virtue, as Aeneas doth in that Inſtruction to his Son Aſcanius Diſce puer virtutem ex me verum …e laborem, Fortunam ex aliis. Tho perhaps it is no Paſſion, becauſe a Man may have it, who doth nothing; neither is it an Habit, becauſe he may be born with Courage; it muſt then be a power of the Soul, placed chiefly in the ſenſitive Appetite, becauſe it depends much upon the Heats of Blood, and is common to all Creatures:A Courage may be ſometimes Mechanical. But Tully tells us, Fortitudo eſt viri propria virtus; it moſt properly belongs to and becomes a Man beſt; wherefore by the Greeks it is called foreign. Which Courage (to convince you, how much it is purely Mechanical) may proceed in ſome meaſure from the temper of Air, may be form'd by Diſcipline, and acquired by Uſe, or infuſed by Opinion; But that which is more natural, and ſo more National in ſome Countries, than in others, ſeems to ariſe from the heat or ſtrength of Spirits about the Heart, which may a great deal depend upon the meaſure and the ſubſtance of the Food Men are uſed to: This made a Phyſician once ſay, He would make any Man a Coward with ſix weeks Dieting; For this Reaſon, the Engliſh having their Bellies full of Beef; have been eſteemed moſt fit for any bold and deſperate Action: This alſo may be a reaſon, why the Gentry in all places of the World, are braver than the Peaſantry, whoſe Hearts are depreſſed not only by Slavery, but ſhort and heartleſs Food, the effect of their poverty: This is a Cauſe, why the Yeomanry of England are generally Stouter than in other Countries, becauſe by the Conſtitution of the Kingdom they live eaſier as to Rents and Taxes; by the plenty thereof they fare better, than thoſe of their Rank in any other Nation: Their Chief, and indeed conſtant Food being of Fleſh; And among all Creatures, both Birds and Beaſts, we ſhall ſtill find thoſe, that feed upon Fleſh, to be the fierce and the bold; and on the contrary the fearful and faint-hearted to feed upon Graſs, and upon Plants. Thus the veins of Courage ſeem to run like veins of Good Earth in a Country: And ſome People are ſo far from having a firm and conſtant Valour in them, that I can compare them to nothing better, than the Scare-Crows, Children make of ſtraw, wherewith they ſtuff empty Cloaths, they look like Men, but they have no foreign, no true fortitude in them.
Secondly, THE Actions of this Virtue are moſt ſplendid and great: therefore they were always aſcribed to the Demy-gods by the Ancients; and Moſes attributes Fortitude to God himſelf, when he ſaith, Jehovah is a God of War, and commonly ſtileth him the Lord of Hoſts. Now all Virtues are to be defined by thoſe Objects, about which they are converſant,Fortitude defined. and by the Actions which they perform: By which Rule we may define Fortitude to be that Virtue, which teacheth us to moderate our Fears and our Confidence; at what time and place to encounter Dangers and Difficulties; when and where to decline and avoid them; eſpecially if there be any fear or hazard of Death, according to the Doctrine of Ariſtotle, of all things the moſt terrible and ghaſtly. The Courage therefore of a valiant and wiſe Man is chiefly ſeen in running the Riſque of War, and all the miſchiefs, that follow upon it, for his Countrey, for his Religion, for his Liberty: As for all matters of leſs importance, it is as eminent a part of Fortitude, to fear Death and fly Dangers as it is to undertake and engage them. The Extremes oppoſed to this Virtue on one hand are Raſhneſs, Fury, and the like; on the other ſide are oppoſite timorouſneſs and want of Spirit. When he deſcribes the Object of this Virtue, Ariſtotle miſtakes himſelf many ways; in overvaluing ſome things, as Life and Liberty; which are of no price in compariſon with the fear of God, or the Care of Religion, which he either did not regard, or knew nothing of it. As for Life, the Stoicks have delivered better Precepts concerning it, when they tell us, non eſt magna res vivere, and conſequently, non eſt magna res mori; tho, in regard of Death, ſo great a proviſion is to be made againſt it, as they believed, ſo many Circumſtances of Inſenſibility and hardineſs of Mind are urged, and all its Forces are muſtered together, that they ſeem to have conſented with Ariſtotle in making Death to be the moſt dreadful thing imaginable.
FOR if common Honeſty and Integrity be valued, as it ought to be,Honeſty and Integrity the moſt valuable things. the meaneſt part of it, is more precious, than all the poſſeſſions of this World, and will much overballance the Torments of Death; and rather than we ſhould ſuffer the leaſt part of our Integrity to fall to the ground, we ought to venture upon all Perils whatſoever. And it is worth our obſerving, that there is no paſſion in the mind of Man ſo weak, but it maſters the fear of Death; Revenge triumphs over it; Love ſlights it; Honour aſpires after it; Grief flies to it; Nay pity the tendereſt of them all, provoked many of Otho's Followers to die in compaſſion to their Emperour, who had ſlain himſelf; and Seneca adds, mori velle, non tantum Fortis, aut miſer, ſed etiam faſtidioſus poteſt, A Man would die, tho he were neither Valiant, nor miſerable, only upon a wearineſs to do the ſame thing, ſo oft over and over. But then it is eaſieſt to leave this World, when we have ſuch expectations of a happier State, as the Chriſtian Faith gives us; they, who are ſtrangers to theſe hopes, fear Death, as Children are afraid to go in the dark; and as that natural Fear in Children, is increaſed with Tales, ſo is the other with the Conceits of philoſophers.
Secondly, THE Peripatetick extols Liberty as the Object of Fortitude: This hath been very much cryed up by the Ethnick Wiſemen, and likewiſe by miſtake among ſome Chriſtians, ſuch as the Gnoſticks in the Apoſtles times, who were ſo far from being Valiant in the maintenance of their Faith, that they pleaded their Chriſtian Liberty on the behalf of their cowardly Revolts from it in the time of Perſecution: And ſome Errours of another kind about Liberty, have been the cauſe of Wars and Murders, of Bloudſhed and Rebellions, as much as any other thing whatſoever. Saint Paul, who certainly underſtood the Nature, and the price of Liberty much better, than Ariſtotle, left us this Rule; Art Thou called a Slave (for ſo I rather render the word foreign) care not for it; that thing which Men contend for ſo hotly, He doth not think it worth regarding: ſo far was the Apoſtle from eſteeming it at that rate, as that under pretence thereof Wars might be raiſed, Robberies and all manner of Villanies committed, and all to preſerve that, which no Man ever knew, what is is, and no Man ever yet had it: For if by this word we mean, foreign, the licentious power of doing what we liſt, it is neither poſſible for Men living in Society to have it, neither if it were poſſible, were it either ſafe or fit. For a Meteor therefore of the Brain, a Fiction, and a thing of naught to raiſe ſuch ſtirs in the World, to ſpill ſo much Bloud, and to hazard ſo many Souls, muſt needs be an horrible attempt, and whoſoever they be that do it,The true Object of Fortitude Danger. their Judgment ſleeps not. Without any farther Debate then, we do aſſert, that the true Object of Fortitude is Danger, and it is the duty of a Valiant Man, who muſt be a good Man, to behave himſelf without terrour; yet ſo that he be ſenſible, it behoves him ſometimes to fear; For to be altogether without Fear, is rather to be furious and mad, than valiant; and to be fool-hardy, or needleſly to precipitate our ſelves upon Dangers, is the groſſeſt Folly that may be; and no Vice is more to be dreaded, or gives plainer ſigns of a very corrupt Heart, than the want of this Fear, when there is juſt occaſion for it: And no other end ought a Man to propoſe to himſelf, than common Honeſty and right Reaſon, neither ought he to fear any thing but Turpitude and Diſhoneſty.
NOW becauſe there are ſundry things, which abuſe us, and carry a ſhew of Fortitude, yet have not the true reaſon of it; we will ſee what they are: The firſt is called by Ariſtotle, Politick or legal Fortitude, when Men for fear of the Law, and the puniſhments of it, or for hope of Reward, from the deſire of Honour, or to avoid Diſgrace, put on a ſeeming Fortitude: whereas real Valour doth brave and great things ex officio, as I may ſo ſay, out of Conſcience only that it is our duty ſo to act, and not out of fear of any Command or Injunction: To this Notion may be applied that famous Story of the Athenians, How the Valour of the Spartans was tried.who deſiring much to diſcover the true reaſon of the ſtoutneſs of the Spartans, ſent a Wiſe and Sagacious Gentleman to them, under the Guiſe of an Ambaſſadour, but in truth to ſpy out the Spartan Diſcipline, and make report of it at his return: Being thus diſpatched, He made very cloſe Remarks upon their Cuſtoms and Manners; And when he came back, at a full Aſſembly of the People and Senate met together, He cauſed to be brought before them, Halters, Whips, Gibbets, Racks, and other Engines of Torture; thereby intimating, that the Fear of theſe made the Spartans Valiant, and not any regard they had for Right, Virtue, or Conſcience.
TO this we may add very pertinently ſome other Reaſons, that move Men to perform deſperate Acts rather than Valiant.A Man may do deſperate Actions, and not be Valiant. So a Soldier in Lucullus his Army, who had loſt his Purſe, and being called to Fight, behaved himſelf bravely, and got the day againſt the Enemy; but being taken notice of by his Captain, as a ſtout Fellow, and commanded to do a piece of Service, in which he muſt needs run ſome evident danger▪ he deſired to be excuſed, and ſaid, eat, qui Zonam perdidit; He had found his Purſe, and meant to ſleep in a whole Skin: Another of this way of Life, being ſickly, expreſſed much Courage in daring and adventuring upon any hard Enterprize: His Captain in Compaſſion to his infirmities commits him to the Phyſician; and by this means being reſtored to perfect Health, he is no longer the man he was, but bore back when Danger was ſeen, ſaying, he now knew, that Life was ſweet, which before he did not eſteem ſo. More inſtances might be given of men, whoſe Profeſſion is the Exerciſe of Courage, but theſe may ſuffice to ſhew, that the Fortitude which we call Politick, comes ſhort of the true Valour, which we account a Virtue.
A ſecond Mock-Fortitude is that, which is gained by much experience, and may be named experiential Fortitude: And this Fable may explain to us what experience is; it is of one, who pretended to have been miraculouſly cured of Blindneſs, wherewith he was born, by St. Alban, or ſome other Saint at the Town of St. Albans; and that the Duke of Glouceſter being there, to be ſatisfied of the truth of the Miracle, asked the man, What Colour is this? who by anſwering it was green, diſcovered himſelf and was puniſhed for a Counterfeit; for though, by his ſight newly received, he might diſtinguiſh between green and red, and all other Colours as well as any one elſe; yet he could not poſſibly know at firſt which of them was called green or red, or by any other Name: by this we may underſtand, there be two kinds of Knowledge whereof the one is nothing elſe but Senſe; the other is called Science or the Knowledge of the Truth of Propoſitions and how things are called: Both of theſe ſorts are but experience. Now this experien… in a valiant Man, makes him ready and apt to lay hold of any occaſion, that ſhall provoke him to fight; whereas men that are not experienced are commonly fearful; or if they are by chance daring and bold,Experience neceſſary in a valiant man. they are for the moſt part unfortunate, by reaſon of their Miſtake in Time and Place, and other Circumſtances, which well-experienc'd men do know: Wherefore of Fortitude upon Experience and Education the Switzers are a pregnant example, who being trained up to the practices of War, have made it a Trade of Life; they are every man's Money, and let the Cauſe be what it will, good or bad, it is no part of their Care, ſo their Wages be duly paid them; ſuch men are commonly fit for ſervice, but being Mercenaries they many times fail, and change their parties upon change of Hire: like the Gladiators of old Rome, they make no Conſcience where they fight, but ſight they will, only becauſe neceſſity or hire exacts it of them.
A third kind of Seeming Courage, is that, which ariſes from Anger: Now Courage in a large ſignification, is the abſence of Fear in the preſence of any Evil whatſoever; but in a ſtrict and more common meaning it … contempt of Wounds and Death, when they oppoſe a Man in the way to his End; therefore Anger or ſudden Courage is nothing but the Appetite or Deſire of overcoming preſent Oppoſition: But it being, as I have called it, a ſudden Paſſion, it is wont to incite men and caſt them improvidently upon dangers: there goes a common Saying, and it paſſeth for Ariſtotles, That, Ira eſt fortitudinis Cos: But it is more likely, that he, who knew ſo well the uſe of good Reaſon would not commit the ſharpening of Fortitude; to ſo harſh an Inſtrument; but rather do by Fortitude, when it needs ſharpening, as Barbers do by their Raſors, pour Oyl upon the Stone: For Reaſon is alone able to beget in us a true Fortitude, though Anger and Fury never interpoſe.
A Fourth kind of ſeeming Courage is valour upon Hope; when we undertake great matters upon Expectation of Victory, Honour, Glory, or ſuch like Vanities; for Hope is nothing but the Expectation of Good, as Fear is the Expectation of Evil; there are Cauſes alternately working in the mind, ſome that make us expect Good; and ſome that make us expect Evil; if the former prevail then the whole Paſſion is Hope, if the latter, then the whole is Fear: Now Hope is the greateſt Cheat to, and Abuſer or Men; for in this are founded all the vain, though ſpecious Attempts, which men have caſt themſelves upon; whether it be of the Arena, where the Gladiators ſported themſelves in the moſt bloody and cruel Exerciſes, for no other end but only Hope of Conqueſt, or whether it be any other gallant Madneſs and Vain-Glory, ſuch as reading of Romances may produce in puſilanimous men, as it did in Don Quixotte.
UNTO the ſame order of things we may add all thoſe famous Madneſſes and Furies ſo much ſung of, and celebrated by Proſe-Writers and Poets, I mean the Olympian, Nemaean, Pythian and Iſthmaean Games; wherein the choiceſt and faireſt young men tryed their utmoſt Strength to no purpoſe: For it is ſo noted, whoſoever won the Victory in the Olympian Games, were for ever after good for nothing: All the Sun and Duſt they ſo patiently endured, was only for a Crown of Bays; that they might not enter their Towns by the Gates or Common Paſſages but be carried home upon mens Shoulders: Were it worth our while to conſider theſe things, it would ſtrike us into an Amazement, to ſee, what Honour hath ever been done to mere Trifles, to things utterly of no uſe, and that for ſo many Hundred Years ſpace, from Thirty Years or thereabouts before the Building of Rome, until almoſt the expiration of that Empire, with a general Applauſe and Concourſe of almoſt the whole World: Upon this have we grounded all our books and monuments of Learning, which concern our Epochaes and Dates of time,The Olympian Games great Follies. as it were to bear Witneſs againſt our ſelves, how vain we are by making and framing our memorials by thoſe things, that were the greateſt Follies, that ever were.
BUT this may repreſent to us the Nature of Mankind; and ſhew us by what ſprings they are moved; how the little hopes of empty Honour or Profit will drive 'em into the moſt hazardous Attempts;Honour and Profit drive men upon the greateſt Hazards. how eaſily they ſwallow the moſt bitter Pills, when they are gilt over; how ambitiouſly they hunt after the Troubles of greatneſs, and baſely adore the fine and gawdy nothings of this Life.
ONE kind of falſe Fortitude ſtill remains, and that is Courage upon ignorance, when through want of Experience and Knowledg we ruſh unadviſedly upon the Swords point, and walk upon the very edge of a Precipice: For that of Thucydides is moſt certain, foreign, Ignorance and Unexperience makes men bold and foolhardy, but good Advice is naturally ſlow-placed: Thus it is commonly obſerved, that your freſh-water Soldiers go to the Battel, as chearfully as if they went to a Wedding, but as ſoon as they ſee their own Blood, their Hearts fail them. Something allied is this Valour upon Ignorance with that upon Hope; for therefore do men run upon Danger, becauſe they have a Hope to ſpeed well, and come off without Harm: For as ſoon as the Danger, which they knew not, begins to appear in its own Colours their Conſtancy leaves them, and none more readily run away: The Men of Argos waging Warr with the Sicyonians, and beating them often it happened that the Syconians entertained the Spartans for help who coming into the Field, in Habit and Furniture like the Syconians, whilſt they were undiſcovered, the People of Argos fought ſtoutly, as againſt their accuſtomed Enemies, but as ſoon as they percieved they were Spartans, without more adoe, they fled.
MANY more things might be ſaid by way of farther opening the Nature of Fortitude, but we will ſhut up all with this one Concluſion, that it is not Hope, nor Anger,The Lawfulneſs of the Cauſe warrants men to be valiant. nor Reward, nor any thing elſe, but only the conſideration of the Goodneſs and Lawfulneſs of the Cauſe, that warrants men to be valiant: elſe Thieves and Robbers might be accounted ſo, whoſe Courage is like Zeal and Learning in a Heretick, wholly bent upon doing Miſchief; elſe raſh and unadviſed Perſons, and ſuch as palliate their Luſt under the name of Love, and every one that is carried on by the ſtrength and violence of any Paſſion whatſoever, may be eſteemed men or true Courage and Fortitude: Nam impetu quodam & inſtinctu currere ad Mortem, commune cum multis, deliberare verò & cauſas ejus expendere, utque ſuaſerit Ratio, vitae mortiſque conſilium ſuſcipere vel ponere, ingentis animi eſt.*For it is a common thing with many to run headlong to Death, through a certain inſtinct and violence of Nature; but it is the part of a wi…e & great Soul to deliberate well and weigh the Cau…es of it; then as Reaſon ſhall perſwade to take up or lay down the Intent either of Life or Deat….
YET after all if we look into a Chriſtian man as he is propoſed to us in the Goſpel, we may juſtly wonder, to what purpoſe God hath planted in us this Faculty and Paſſion of Courage; ſince the Characters of a Chriſtian are Patience, Chriſtianity not oppoſite to Military Diſcipline.Humility and Gentleneſs, which Virtues are to poſſeſs the Room of Anger and Reſentment, that ſtirs up Fortitude; why elſe are we to obey the Precepts of ſuffering Wrong rather than go to Law; of yielding the Coat to him who would take the Cloak? But there are two Caſes among Chriſtians, wherein Bloodſhed is allowed; firſt, in caſe of Juſtice, when a Malefactor dyes for his Crime; ſecondly, in caſe of publick War and defence of our Country or our ſelves; for the Chriſtian Religion is no Enemy to it: Therefore John the Baptiſt inſtead of adviſing the Soldier to lay aſide his Weapons as unlawful, inſtructs him rather in his Calling, not to wrong any place by Pillage, nor to mutiny in diſlike of his Pay: Theſe being the two principal Vices of a Soldier, which the Preacher of Repentance would have him avoid.
TO ſhut up this point; we muſt not be too prodigal of Life, nor trifle it away upon every Occaſion; but we muſt freely expoſe it, when we truly know upon what Occaſion to ſpare, or upon what to ſpend it: a violent Luſt, an ungovernable Rage, heightned by Provocation, or enflamed by the Spirit of Wine, may ſo furniſh out a Hector, to a Duel, and prompt him on to dye, as a Fool dieth: But the Foundation of great and Heroical performances, the juſt and rational, the conſiderate and ſedate, the conſtant,Chriſtian Principles the beſt Foundation of couragious performances. perpetual and uniform Contempt of Death in all the Shapes thereof, is only derived from the Chriſtian Principle; this inſpires Paſſive Valour, and furniſhes invincible Martyrs for the Stake; this excites Active Courage and fits out undaunted Soldiers, and Generals for the Field: For hereby we know where, and when and in what Caſes to offer our ſelves to dye, which is a thing of greater Skill, than many of them ſuppoſe, who are moſt forward to do it: bruitiſhly to run upon, and haſten unto death, is a thing that many can do, as we ſee Beaſts oftentimes ruſh upon the Spears of ſuch as purſue them: But wiſely to look into, and weigh every Occaſion; and as Judgment and true Diſcretion ſhall direct, ſo to entertain a Reſolution either of Life or Death, this is true and real Fortitude.