De arte praedicatoria

The following authorities invite us to fortitude: "Be strong in war, and fight with the ancient serpent." Seneca says: "If you are magnanimous, you will never judge that an insult has been done to you: of your enemy you will say: he did not harm me, but he had the intent to harm." O how noble is that magnanimity which, when it has an enemy in its power, judges that it could have taken revenge yet chooses to forgive. It judges forgiveness to be the honorable and highest kind of revenge, it attacks no one unexpectedly, it attacks openly; it does not wage conflict unless it has declared it; adversities do not cast it down, prosperity does not exalt it. The brave man does not seek out dangers like a reckless person, nor does he fear them like a timid one. This is what made Vincent more powerful while being tortured than the one who was torturing him.O man, if you embrace this virtue, you will not fear the dart of fortune; you will mock it when it flatters, you will scorn it when it rages. He who is brave is free, he does not serve fortune, nor the changeableness of the world. See how great was the fortitude in the martyrs, who conquered torments, who by their magnanimity mocked the tyrants themselves, who, though cast down in body, were not cast down in mind; who did not turn their backs to adversity, but resisted it magnanimously.There is, however, a threefold fortitude: the fortitude of the whitewashed hypocrite, the fortitude of the philosopher, and the fortitude of the just man. The first hunts for vain glory, but by hunting it earns the disgrace of eternal damnation. This so draws glory to itself that it is not in glory. This is rather weakness than magnanimity, rather infirmity than health. Heretics pretend to this, false brethren presume to it. The second is that by which philosophers scorned the fortune of the world, despised glory, rejected riches, renounced human powers. But this fortitude was insufficient for merit, powerless for the reward of life; because it lacked form, that is, charity, which is the form of every good affection. According to this fortitude, rigor is said to have been in Cato, magnanimity in Socrates, contempt of the world in Diogenes.But because this had no foundation of faith, hope did not raise it up, charity did not perfect it, it lost the merit of virtue. But the fortitude of the just man is that which sets God as its end, and does not omit the duty owed. This is the fortitude that despises death, that opens the house to spiritual poverty, that compels pleasures to lie beneath the rein of reason.There are three kinds of chance misfortunes: poverty, illness, and the violence of tyrants. Against poverty, fortitude avails so that the spirit is not broken, but is rather enlarged within, and grows richer in mind the less it abounds in the things of fortune. Fortitude avails against the assault of illness; for it gives thanks to God in pain, finds spiritual delights in tribulation, so that illnesses yield rather to the advantage of the mind than to the detriment of the body. And so illness brings medicine, infirmity health, sadness joy. Fortitude conquers the violence of the tyrant, enervates his cruelty, spurns prison, does not fear death.Man, your work is worth nothing unless it is strengthened by the pillar of fortitude. The edifice of good works totters unless it rests upon the pillar of fortitude: with this broken, the whole edifice collapses, and Samson, that is, the strong man, kills himself. This makes adversity equal to prosperity and prosperity equal to adversity, so that one is not raised up more by prosperity than cast down by adversity. It judges prosperity to be smoke, and like passing foam, and adversity like a fleeing mist. Magnanimity itself shows that weakness makes a man powerful in tribulation, though weakness has no virtue of its own.Of the other cardinal virtues, prudence is the queen. In her they find their form, from her they require their measure; without her, what seems to be a virtue falls into folly, what appears to be good slips into rashness. Prudence is what teaches what is to be thought, with what intention it is to be done, how it is to be brought to its end. This measures human strength, this sets limits to thoughts, this directs the movements of the mind, the perceptions of reason, this weighs goods, examines evils. What is religion worth unless it receives the seasoning of prudence, what is fasting worth unless it is seasoned with the salt of wisdom? Therefore, O man, before you undertake anything, consider in the mirror of prudence the manner of your action, read in the book of prudence what is to be done, what is to be avoided. That book does not deceive, it deceives no one, but all its sentences are true and honorable assertions.