Yes, it is that time again, the time to get into the 7 Virtues and how they relate to Chivalry. In this case, I wanted to get into Temperance, a virtue that involves seeking self-restraint. I say seeking because that is all one can do with self-improvement, in this case we all from time to time give way to our appetites but this is not the way, be it of a self-disciplined mind and soul.
Now occasionally you must indulge yourself, let us say you like chocolate or in my case iced-capps from Tims. I indulge as a reward, when I have reached a milestone or have accomplished something worth accomplishing, in this regard it is not bad I think, but one must restrain oneself until then. Always though, one must bear in mind the restraint that is required to improve oneself and one’s art (whatever it may be).
Temperance involves also pity and mercy, two ideals that in recent times have been portrayed in the media as ‘weakness’, as it was in the days of the Roman Civil War at various points. It happens that it is the view of recent cinema in particular that these are weaknesses we ought to purge ourselves of, especially women of.
I say to you this is not the way. Strangely, pity and mercy were once used both sincerely and also cruelly, as in the case of say Hatusili III who pretended at mercy towards his nephew after he usurped his crown (that of the Hittites/Hattians), but the usurpation brought an incompetent man to the throne and threw the succession into chaos, and helped to usher in a dark period that saw the greatest Empire of the Bronze-Age (the only one on par with Egypt) to its knees so that it vanished from the pages of history for quite some time. Hatusili lacked self-restraint, he ought not to have seized the throne, he gave into his appetites.
Interesting, Julius Caesar believed sincerely in pity and mercy for his fellow Romans, weeping like a babe at the sight of the head of Pompeius Magnus. He also wished earnestly to restore Cato and Scipio to Rome, and spared the likes of Cicero and Brutus. The former was to prove himself grateful and was to try to counsel, and steer Caesar onto the right path without success while the latter joined with Cassius and the wicked Decimus Brutus to betray Caesar’s pity and slew him.
Now, the reason this act has been so deplored in history long before Shakespeare wrote of it, was that not only was it because Caesar was an incredible man, but because of the horror of seeing a man show temperance and be slain for it. Caesar’s wish for peace seems to have been sincere, he needed his rivals reconciled to him to keep Rome going, and the truth is that in the Bible Jesus speaks of the importance of ‘loving thy neighbour as thyself’ or something to that effect. This essentially means to have pity on others, and to show them compassion. Caesar was not perfect, but he did show mercy and in a post-Christ world mercy is a virtue, and so to kill a man for it is a horrible sin.
Historically there have been plenty of men who demonstrated a lack of this virtue, namely in the West, King John of England, Edward I of England, and Henry V of England, but there’s also been the likes of Pétain from WWII, Hitler of course, along with Stalin, Mao and in Eastern history the likes of Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Genghis Khan.
But let us remember that the tales of pity, of self-restraint are even greater than those of cruelty, let us remember that Augustus and Marcus Aurelius preferred self-restraint to self-indulgence. There is also in Eastern history, the likes of Musashi Miyamoto who preferred to forsake killing at one point in his life, there was the likes of Zhou Yu from Chinese history who also restrained himself, and listened to the complaints and points of views of all subordinates and also the likes of Sukjong who married the real life inspiration Suk-Bin of Cinderella according to some authors, who took pity on this slave-girl when she broke his law for the sake of her own pity for the deposed Queen.
Mercy and pity are not weakness but strength, they are the triumph of the spirit over the material. It is the proclamation that the human heart has not been conquered by the wickedness of this world. It is a proclamation of values, for it is not your ‘enemies’ that you are sparing but yourself from becoming worst. No one should aspire after cruelty, after dishonour and after meaningless indulgences, it is by sparing others, forgiving them and loving them that we show that we can forgive ourselves and love ourselves.
Moderation in our appetites helps no one more than ourselves, more than our own spirits. And make no mistake whether you are Christian or not is not the point here, as it is one’s own spirit that one should aspire to save with grace something that should be given freely and openly.
Marcus Aurelius once wrote; ‘is the peculiar office of the rational and intelligent motion to circumscribe itself, and never to be overpowered either by the motion of the senses or the appetites, for both are animal; but the intelligent motion claims superiority and does not permit itself to be overpowered by the others.’
It is animalistic to indulge, to cater to one’s immediate desires with nary any thought to the future but it is great and intelligent, superior as he writes it to be rationale and show moderation.
The ideal of knighthood as has been rightly pointed out by John Matthews is one that few have ever upheld properly historically. Few men measure up to say William Marshal, or though he preceded it, Marcus Aurelius. But it is within us to surpass our limitations as people, and this is what Temperance is about. It is about surpassing yesterday, showing moderation and being merciful when presented with the opportunity.
In literature, one could find King Arthur and even Gawain to be supreme examples of it. Of course the buffoonish Lancelot, over-indulged and brought down all of Camelot as did Guinevere in the myths, as she indulged with him, Mordred and sought after Lanval (who rejected her for a pure and loving fairy-queen).
Other examples can be found in Star Wars, where Anakin over-indulged and thus turned to the Dark Side, lacking proper moderation. At first glance it would be all his fault, but it was also the fault of the likes of Obi-Wan and Padme, as the former indulged the boy during the Clone Wars, thinking Anakin should enjoy himself and have marital bliss. Obi-Wan was certainly in his comportment with Siri one who demonstrated himself wise enough for such a relationship but Anakin was different. Like Qui-Gon Jinn he was prone to egotism and self-indulgence, so that Obi-Wan misjudged the situation and the man. Padme for herself was always keen to have Anakin indulge, be it in vengeance against the Tuskens, in pleasure and in shirking his duties as a ‘filial son’ to Obi-Wan and never reprimanding her husband’s poorer decisions.
The truth is that though no man deserves to be harangued endlessly, we do need partners who stand up, and push for moderation and self-restraint at times. Giving way to passion every turn of the way is bad, an excellent case of someone who inspires temperance in someone who struggles with it is in Hour of the Dragon, where the likes of Zenobia wished only to help Conan. Taking pity upon him, she saved him from a pit of darkness and armed him, only for him to have the chance to kill her and not to do so. What is more is that he takes her lesson in pity, and applies it later on to the likes of Tarascus his enemy, her captor preferring to spare him and exchange him for Zenobia than to punish and slay him, as one might expect Conan to do.
Temperance is also why Frodo is able to resist the Ring for so long, and why Samwise was able to do so. Self-moderation is certainly not always common among the Hobbits, but it is a virtue that both characters shine with. It is by virtue of their self-restraint that they resist the embodiment of sin that is the One Ring and manage to bring it to Mt-Doom. There is a reason it is Gollum who destroys it if inadvertently, as he was never a temperate individual and it is his lust for the Ring which brings about the end of the Ring as evil and self-indulgence always leads to one’s destruction.
Worth a bit of thought. Quite a list of references.