Virtues
Virtus
Roman Virtues
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Excellence proven through active struggle, most originally martial courage and skill in battle, widening under the Republic to cover moral and civic excellence more broadly. Augustus named it first among the four virtues inscribed on the golden shield the Senate voted him in 27 BCE, recorded in his own Res Gestae. This is the Latin word English virtue descends from, though the two are not the same idea: Roman virtus is proven through contest and effort, closer to the atlas's existing Fortitude in its martial sense than to the broader Christian cardinal virtue of the same English name.
Facts
Origins
Place of Origin Origin of the NameLatin virtus, from vir, man, originally manly excellence proven in battle; the direct etymological root of English virtue, though the sense narrowed and shifted across the borrowing. 1 Attributed Author / CompilerNamed first among the four virtues on the Clupeus Virtutis, the golden shield the Senate voted Augustus in 27 BCE, recorded in his own Res Gestae Divi Augusti, chapter 34; an older martial value the Res Gestae formalizes rather than originates. 2 Status
Status Within the TraditionStandard teaching, not formally defined 1 Doctrinal Status DetailFirst of the four virtues the Senate inscribed on Augustus's golden shield in 27 BCE; originally proven through military achievement, it widened under the later Republic to cover moral courage and excellence more generally. 3 Attestation
Meaning in the Attesting SourceExcellence proven through active struggle, originally martial courage, the Latin root of English virtue. 1 Disputed
Origin PeriodA martial and civic value through the Roman Republic, formally inscribed first among the four virtues on Augustus's shield in 27 BCE; its origin as an early Republican military value is not precisely dateable. 3 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Augustus directly: "and civic excellence more broadly. Augustus named it first among the four virtues inscribed on the golden shield the Senate voted him in 27 BCE, recorded in his own Res Gestae."
Belongs to Tradition
Opposes
Virtus is proven through active effort and struggle; Sloth, the failure of will and effort already catalogued among the seven deadly sins, is its clearest existing contrary, a cross-tradition pairing on the same footing as other opposes edges on this axis.
Related To
Pietas, Virtues Both named among the four virtues on Augustus's Clupeus Virtutis, recorded in the Res Gestae.
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