All in Order: Cicero’s Analysis of the Ordering of the Cardinal Virtues Harry Scherer
T
he moral philosophy of Cicero indicates an attention to order and devotion to logical soundness. For this reason, his words were referenced by the Angelic Doctor and the riches of his knowledge continue to be used today. One of the heights of his intellectual work was his organization of the four cardinal virtues. The hierarchy of these virtues is clearly laid out in De officiis, especially when he is introducing their four essences. Cicero defines the first cardinal virtue, wisdom, in almost transcendent terms: “enim in perspicientia veri sollertiaque versatur” (“it is concerned with full perception and skillful mastery of the true”) (1.15).1 These characteristics set the practical standard for the rest of the virtues he is about to describe. The manner in which he analyzes this virtue suggests that a human person may develop this virtue but will never be able to fully achieve it. The use of the words perspicientia and sollertia indicate something stronger than mere reverence for or recognition of the truth. After he introduces the four cardinal virtues, Cicero is clear that he places wisdom first among them: “quae prima discripta est, in qua sapientiam et prudentiam ponimus” (“that which was first assigned, in which we place wisdom and prudence”) (1.15). Later, he repeats, “primus ille, qui in veri cogitatione consistit ” (“that first one, which is reckoned in true reflection”) (1.18). It is clear, then, that Cicero considers wisdom to be the height and first of the cardinal virtues. The second virtue that Cicero addresses is justice. He describes this virtue as being concerned with “hominum societate tuenda tribuendoque suum cuique et rerum contractarum fide” (“preserving the society of men and rendering to each his due and with good faith of things contractually obligated”) (1.15). After describing the individual endeavor of developing wisdom, Cicero immediately directs his son to Marcus Tullius Cicero, De officiis, in Frederic M. Wheelock, Wheelock’s Latin Reader: Selections from Latin Literature, rev. Richard A. LaFleur, 2nd ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 2001). Originally published 44 BC. All translations of this text are my own. 1
