Why
_lenioribus_ then; but that they are more mild and gentle in the
Restrain they lay upon our Inclinations, and that the Self-denial they
require is more practicable and less mortifying than that of Virtue
itself, as it is taken in it proper and genuine Sense? To be Just or
Temperate, we have Temptations to encounter, and Difficulties to
surmount, that are troublesome: But the Efforts we are oblig'd to make
upon our selves to be truyly Valiant are infinitely greater; and, in
order to it, we are overcome the First, the strongest and most lasting
Passion, that has been implanted in us; for tho' we may hate and have
Aversion to many Things by Instinct, yet this is Nothing so generally
terrible, and so generally dreadful to all Creatures, rational or not
rational, as the Dissolution of their Being.
Upon due Consideration of what has been said, it will be easy to
imagine how and why, soon after Fortitude had been honoured with the
Name of Virtue, all the other Branches of Conquest over our selves
were dignify'd with the same Title. We may see in it likewise the
Reason of what I have always so strenuously insisted upon, _viz._ That
no Practice, no Action or good Quality, how useful or beneficial
soever they may be in them selves, can ever deserve the Name of
Virtue, strictly speaking, where there is not a palpable Self-denial
to be seen. In Tract of Time, the Sense of the Word _Virtus_ received
still a grated Latitude; and it signify'd Worth, Strength, Authority,
and Goodness of all Kinds: _Plautus_ makes use of it, for Assistance.
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