Page:An introduction to ethics.djvu/227

210, while as yet the other virtues have not emerged. Courage may be said to be the virtue from which all the others are developed. It is significant that the word virtue is derived from the Latin virtus, which originally meant manliness or courage. The special virtue of man was considered to be courage, and from it all the others were supposed to have grown.

In a primitive community courage meant simply physical bravery in face of danger, but as opportunities decreased for displaying such bravery in conflicts with wild beasts and the forces of nature, and in fighting against enemies, the meaning of the virtue was gradually extended. It was recognised that mere physical boldness is not the only kind of courage, and that other callings besides warfare call for the virtue. Courage thus becomes immeasurably more comprehensive. Under the general name courage are grouped the specialised aspects in which it is manifested in various vocations. The obstacles to be faced and overcome vary in different callings, and the precise kind of courage required to meet them differs accordingly. The sailor, the soldier, the business-man, the doctor, and the minister have to face very different forms of danger and difficulty. We claim that they should show the kind of courage appropriate to their occupation, and if they fail in this, we account it a much more serious delinquency than, if they are found wanting in a kind of courage that is not needed by their calling. The sailor is expected to be brave in a storm at sea, but he is not expected to tend the sick in a small-pox hospital. The soldier is expected to be unflinching in battle,