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On the other path stood a sterner goddess in a pure white robe. She made a quieter call. She promised no rewards except those that came as a result of hard work. It would be a long journey, she said.
be sacrifice. There would be scary moments. But it was a journey fit for a god, the way of his ancestors. It would make him the man he was meant to be.
Was this real? Did it really happen? If it’s only a legend, does it matter? Yes, because this is a story about us. About our...
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well-trod
He chose virtue. “Virtue” can seem old-fashioned. In fact, virtue—arete—translates to something very simple and very timeless: Excellence. Moral. Physical. Mental.
In the ancient world, virtue was comprised of four key components. Courage. Temperance. Justice. Wisdom. The “touchstones of goodness,” the philosopher king Marcus Aurelius called them.
a central or pivotal point or principle on which everything depends
It’s pivotal stuff. It’s the stuff that the door to the good life hangs on.
Crucial and important
They are also our topic for this book, and for this series. Four books.[*] Four virtues. One aim: to help you choose…
Courage, bravery, endurance, fortitude, honor, sacrifice… Temperance, self-control, moderation, composure, balance… Justice, fairness, service, fellowship, goodness, kindness…
courage in pain or adversity
Wisdom, knowledge, education, truth, self-reflection, peace…
These are the key to the good life, a life of honor, of glory, of excellence in every sense. Character traits, which John Steinbeck perfectly described as “pleasant and desirable to [their] owner and makes him perform acts of which he can be proud and which he can be pleased.”
a distinguishing quality or characteristic, typically one belonging to a person
The virtues are interrelated and inseparable, yet each is distinct from the others. Doing the right thing almost always takes courage, just as moderation is impossible without the wisdom to know what is worth choosing. What good is courage if not applied to justice? What good is wisdom if it doesn’t make us more modest?
North, south, east, west—the four virtues are a kind of compass (there’s a reason that the four points on a compass are called the “cardinal directions”). They guide us. They show us where we are and what is true.
