Maat (or Ma'at) was the ancient Egyptian goddess of truth, balance, order, law, morality, and justice. Ancient Egypt Maat, to ancient Egyptians, personified the virtue of truth and justice. The word virtue 'was borrowed into English in the 13th century'. The French words vertu and virtu came from this Latin root. The ancient Romans used the Latin word virtus (derived from vir, their word for man) to refer to all of the 'excellent qualities of men, including physical strength, valorous conduct, and moral rectitude'. 'Divine States') can be regarded as virtues in the European sense. Other examples of this notion include the concept of merit in Asian traditions as well as De ( Chinese 德). The opposite of virtue is vice, and the vicious person takes pleasure in habitual wrong-doing to their detriment. Such a person is said to be virtuous through having cultivated such a disposition. When someone takes pleasure in doing what is right, even when it is difficult or initially unpleasant, they can establish virtue as a habit. In human practical ethics, a virtue is a disposition to choose actions that succeed in showing high moral standards: doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong in a given field of endeavour. The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the ' good of humanity' and thus is valued as an end purpose of life or a foundational principle of being. Cardinal and Theological Virtues by Raphael, 1511Ī virtue ( Latin: virtus) is a trait of excellence, including traits that may be moral, social, or intellectual. ISBN 978-1-6.For other uses, see Virtue (disambiguation). Jesus, Sin, and Perfection in Early Christianity. Scholarly Community at the Early University of Paris: Theologians, Education and Society. 'From the desert to the university: Parisian theologians and the seven deadly sins'. 'Aldhelm's 'De Octo Vitiis Princip Alibus' and Prudentius' 'Psychomachia' '. ^ 'Catechism of the Catholic Church 3.1.1.7' (2nd ed.).Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Holy obedience – Concept in Christian theology.Bejczy, 'the capital vices are more often contrasted with the remedial or contrary virtues in medieval moral literature than with the principal virtues, while the principal virtues are frequently accompanied by a set of mirroring vices rather than by the seven deadly sins'. In modern times, the capital virtues are commonly identified as the following: VirtueĪlthough some medieval authors attempted to contrast the capital vices with the heavenly virtues, such efforts were rare. In AD 590, the seven capital vices were revised by Pope Gregory I, which led to the creation of new lists of corresponding capital virtues. The success of this work popularised the concept of capital virtues among medieval authors. The combatants in the Psychomachia are as follows: However, Prudentius did not base his allegory on the cardinal and theological virtues, nor did he use the traditional list of capital vices. His poem Psychomachia depicts a battle between female personifications of virtues and vices, with each virtue confronting and defeating a particular vice. Prudentius, writing in the 5th century, was the first author to allegorically represent Christian morality as a struggle between seven sins and seven virtues. The seven capital virtues (also known as the contrary or remedial virtues) are those thought to stand in opposition to the seven capital vices (or deadly sins). Thomas Aquinas believed that while the cardinal virtues could be formed through habitual practice, the theological virtues could only be practised by divine grace. The traditional understanding of the difference between cardinal and theological virtues is that the latter are not fully accessible to humans in their natural state without assistance from God. The theological virtues are those named by Paul the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 13: 'And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three and the greatest of these is love.' The third virtue is also commonly referred to as 'charity', as this is how the influential King James Bible translated the Greek word agape.

Virtue and vice