And if a man love righteousness, her labours are virtues: for she teacheth temperance and prudence, justice and fortitude: which are such things, as men can have nothing more profitable in their life.
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Solomon 8:7 Go To Wisdom of Solomon 8
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
I have used a passage of the book of Wisdom according to the copy in our possession, where it is read, "Wisdom teaches sobriety, justice and virtue." Even using these words I have been able to speak of some truths, but, by chance, I became aware of their true meaning through an error. What is more true than the fact that Wisdom teaches the truth of contemplation, a concept that I had thought was expressed by the term "sobriety," or that it teaches uprightness of action, which I thought was indicated by the other two terms, "justice and virtue"? But the best codices of that translation have, "It teaches sobriety and wisdom and justice and virtue." With these terms the Latin translator meant to designate the four virtues that pertain especially to philosophical language. He calls temperance sobriety, gives prudence the name of wisdom, names fortitude by the term "virtue," and has translated only justice by its own name. Much later, consulting the Greek copies, I noticed that in the book of Wisdom the four virtues are designated by the exact terms assigned them by the Greeks.
