The Least Understood (or Appreciated) Manly Virtue

Moderation is the process of eliminating extremes, a concept the Greeks espoused; in fact, in ancient Greece, the temple of Apollo at Delphi bore the inscription Meden Agan (“Nothing in Excess”). Here Cicero drew on Aristotle’s Ethics, in which a virtue is defined as the ability to chose the proper mean between two extremes—too much modesty results in over-shyness, too little in arrogance, too much humor leads to foolishness, too little results in drabness, too much courage will cause a foolish death, to little courage will make man a slave. Such is why a man must wisely follow the moderate path, said Aristotle, who thought we must learn through trial and error what the extremes are for ourselves in order to determine what the correct proportion in a given situation is. Further, Cicero used Aristotle’s teachings to argue that good choices create good habits, making the extremes less undesirable, as everything falls into a harmony when a man actively uses wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation to be a philosophically moral man.

           Thomas More, an English philosopher and lawyer who Erasmus calledomnium horarum homo(“a man for all seasons”), adhered to the ultimate man’s philosophy. When, in 1530, Henry VIII proclaimed that he (not the pope) was the Supreme Head of the Catholic Church in England so that he could procure an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, More knew he could no longer serve both his king and his conscience, so he honorably resigned. His resignation, however, was not accepted; as a result, More went moderately about his duty to the king insofar as it did not infringe upon his duty to his conscience or his Church. More neither supported nor condemned the king, but rather kept silent on the issue. Finally, in 1532, after unsuccessfully gaining More’s approval, King Henry angrily accepted More’s resignation. Still, More lived on in happiness with his family, even though his wealth had almost completely disappeared after his fall from the king’s graces. However, in 1534, when the Act of Succession was passed requiring all citizens to swear an oath denying “any foreign authority, prince or potentate” More was forced to renounce the Roman Catholic Church or die. More courageously refused the oath. He was then imprisoned in the Tower of London and on July 1, 1535, he was beheaded. Like Cicero, More chose death over giving in to what he deemed an insurmountable injustice; after all, he said, “It profits a man nothing to lose his soul for the whole world.”