Temperance is the often-forgotten sister of justice, wisdom, courage, and piety in the discussion of the classical Greek virtues. Christopher Moore demonstrates that during the classical period, it was the subject of significant discussions regarding its scope, sense, practical manifestations, and value. By interpreting temperance as a commitment to adhering to rules, we see that these discussions on virtue, previously dismissed as fleeting moralism or expressions of political propaganda, actually pertain to the ideal of human action.
These discussions explore how we become fully responsible for our actions. Greek thought on temperance transforms into thought about self-constitution, our critical capacity to act based on the general reasons we recognize as our own.
This perspective explains the inclusion of temperance in Plato's list of virtues, as well as its frequent appearance in funeral inscriptions, elegies, tragic dramas, and historiography. It also explains the analytical attention given to it by Heraclitus, the Sophists, historians, Socrates, Xenophon, and Plato. Moore primarily deals with the classical period, although the book includes a chapter on earlier poetry and another that examines virtue in two gender-sensitive post-classical works. An appendix addresses the epigraphic material.
For the Greeks (and perhaps for us), there is a virtue of action, an acquired ability to be guided by the better. The commitment to temperance is a commitment to whatever makes us truly who we are.
Pages: 408, Dimensions: 16.4x16.4cm
