Page:An introduction to ethics.djvu/228

211 but he is not impugned for his lack of courage if he loses his nerve entirely on being asked to "testify" at a church meeting.

Though the manifestations of courage vary, it is fundamentally the same virtue in whatever calling it is displayed. In every case, a difficult situation is faced unflinchingly, risks are run with boldness, and obstacles are overcome with fortitude and perseverance. Courage involves firmness in facing moral duties, and efficiency in performing them.

§4. Temperance. By temperance we mean the virtue of orderliness and moderation in conduct. A character is temperate if it arranges and orders all its conduct in accordance with its dominant purposes. Temperance has both negative and positive aspects. On the one hand, it involves self-control and self-possession. The virtue of temperance is displayed by the man who disciplines his impulses and desires, and organises his emotions and sentiments in a stable character. But temperance does not mean the total annihilation of desires and emotions. It manifests itself in the operation of the will in strengthening and organising those that are good. Hence temperance is positive as well as negative. It involves concentration of purpose and determination on the part of the self to master its natural impulsive energy, and divert it into the socially valuable channels of the vocation which it has chosen. Temperance is inconsistent with the waste of human powers and the dissipation of human energy. It strives to reform the ugly disproportion of unregulated conduct. The temperate man governs and regulates his life in accordance with his own self-