Nay, to this Day, the Word
_Virtus_ by it self, in any of their Historians, has the same
Signification, as if the Word _Bellica_ had been added. We have Reason
to think, that, as First, Nothing was meant by _Virtus_, but Daring and
Intrepidity, right or wrong; or else if could never have been made to
signify Savageness, and brutish Courage; as _Tacitus_, in the Fourth
Book of his History, makes use of it manifestly in that Sense. Even
Wild Beasts, says he, if you keep them shut up, will lose their
Fierceness. _Etiam sera animalia, si clausa teneas, virtutis
obliviseuntur_.
What the Great Men of _Rome_ valued themselves upon was active and
passive Bravery, Warlike Virtue, which is so strongly express'd in the
Words of Livy: _Et facere & pati fortia Romanum est._ But
besides the Consideration of the great Service, All Warriours received
from this Virtue, there is a very good Reason in the Nature of the
Thing it self, why it should be in far higher Esteem than any other.
The Passion it has to struggle with, is the most violent and stubborn,
and consequently the hardest to be conquer'd, the Fear of Death: The
least Conflict with it is harsh Work, and a difficult Task; and it is
in Regard to this, that _Cicero_, in his _Offices_, calls Modesty, Justice
and Temperance, the softer and easier Virtues. _Qui virtutibus
bis lenioribus erit ornatus, modestia, justitia temperantia,_ &c.
Justice and Temperance require Professors as grave and solemnn, and
demand as much Strictness and Observance as any other Virtues.
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