Virtue has come to situate prudence as coming before justice, which comes before fortitude, which comes before temperance, and all four cardinal virtues together combine into a single notion of nobility.
Originally though virtue meant fierceness and aggressiveness. Originally, it was fortitude that was privileged over the other cardinal virtues, not prudence.
This atavistic notion of reflexive honor, lex talionis, justice as retribution to insult, where prudence and temperance yield in the public arena to the dictates of the moment, which dictates require fortitude and an immediate response to the dishonor of some assault – this atavistic notion is the bedrock of fascism.
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