Paths and Thoughts 2

Following the advice of a well-known saying, it is good to browse, at least from time to time, the books of the ancients. I lingered, in the Anthology of Latin Poetry, over the verses on virtue, dedicated to Albinus, by Caius Lucilius (I 80-103 BC), and I remained somewhat melancholy, thinking about the old times, when virtue was glorified by people, and about our times, when it has become a dictionary word. Who still mentions the word virtue today? Maybe only in sermons. Lucilius does not present virtue as a divine commandment, as an austere precept, difficult to fulfill, but as a natural fact of everyday life. Virtue is, Albinus, to know what price to give/ To each thing of all that is before you/ Virtue is also, as in any circumstance/ To see a thing for itself and not as the world seems. What could be simpler, more natural, than to have a clear, clear, penetrating view and not to follow common thinking! Further, Lucilius says that you must know what is bad, what is good, honest, what is destructive, What is against honor or a shameful act… and that it is not bad to insist on the grasp of wealth, but to know How much value to place on the luster of wealth. It is more difficult to fulfill the virtue in the following verses, especially in the society in which we live: Virtue is also the offering of honor that you direct/ To those greater than you, more worthy and more just, as well as, on the contrary, Virtue is also the confrontation in public and everywhere/ Of the one who hides perversity in deeds, and at the same time You are obliged to defend good people/ And to raise them to glory for their behavior. It's hard for me to comment on these lyrics, thinking about us, our contemporaries – like some lines of this simple and wise poem dedicated to virtue: Virtue, the care of the country, should be your first priority/ Thinking less of yourself and more often of yours.