Gallia Est Omnis Divisa… Alea Iacta Est…
“Woe to the wicked!
Disaster upon them!...
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight…
who deny justice to the innocent….”
Isaiah 3:11; 5:20-21, 23
Parts of Catholic school education in the’50s and ‘60s relied heavily on memorization.
It was easy to remember “Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres… All Gaul is divided in three parts.” The opening line of Caesar’s account of his Gallic War.
Forget or be unable to translate the assigned Latin text-of-the-day and Brother Adain Norbert would club you. Literally. Upside the back of the head. With his knuckles.
Sisters Mary Paraclete and Charles Borromeo didn’t hit. Not even the proverbial (apocryphal?) ruler across the knuckles. But SMP did flunk me in Religion in fifth grade. (The report card is being preserved for evidence in case I’m considered for sainthood. I might have passed, if she tossed in the bonus question “What modern pope has claimed ‘God spoke to me and said…?” ‘Cause, ever the wise guy, I would have written “Daffy Duck.”)
Among the things we memorized:
The Seven Deadly (Cardinal) Sins:
Pride
Greed
Lust
Envy
Gluttony
Wrath
Sloth
The Heavenly - Cardinal - Virtues
Humility
Charity or Kindness
Chastity
Gratitude
Temperance
Patience
Diligence
Aristotle
The “cardinal” (from the Latin cardo – “hinge”) virtues Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance predate Christianity, appearing in Plato’s Republic (c. 375 B.B.) They received primacy of place in Aristotle’s Rhetoric (written between 367 and 322 BCE, the Works of the Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE – c. 50 AD), and the writings of the Romans Cicero (106 – 40 BCE) and Senaca (4 BCE – 65 AD). Ambrose of Milan (c. 339 – 397 AD), considered a saint by the Roman, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches, wrote “And we know there are four cardinal virtues – temperance, justice, prudence, and fortitude” (Commentary on Luke, V. 62), recognizing them as the central virtues of Christian life. [Christian Trivia: He’s also the patron saint of beekeepers.]
His contemporary, Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430) explained:
“For these four virtues (would that all felt their influence in their minds as they have their names in their mouths!), I should have no hesitation in defining them: that temperance is love giving itself entirely to that which is loved; fortitude is love readily bearing all things for the sake of the loved object; justice is love serving only the loved object, and therefore ruling rightly; prudence is love distinguishing with sagacity between what hinders it and what helps it.”
St. Paul reminded the Christian community in Corinth of the three “theological virtues”: “Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
(1 Corinthians 13:13))
Gregory I (“the Great”) listed the virtues in the Sixth Century; the “Father of the Church” and Thirteenth Century theologian Thomas Aquinas elaborated on the virtues.
The cardinal or seven deadly sins find their roots in both Christianity and Islam. Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 240 AD), the first Christian theologian to write in Latin – ergo “the father of Latin Christianity,” as well as “the founder of Western theology,” was ultimately condemned by the early Church because he rejected other basic principles of the faith. [We couldn’t resist the ergo.] By Twenty-first Century standards, Tertulian was beyond strict and kinda “weird” in his moral teachings, believing that it was possible for humans and supernatural natural beings to have sexual relations.
Philo of Alexandria
In 590 AD, Pope Gregory the Great established the list that has perdured more than fourteen-hundred years. Gregory’s list was accepted by Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274 AD) and remains part of the theological corpus of the Roman Catholic, Anglican/Episcopal Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist Churches.
Mindful of the virtue of Kindness, we won’t name the Oklahoma-based man or his troupe. [We couldn’t find appropriate adjectives or nouns to describe someone who claims to be “Christian” but whose mind-bogglingly numerous Web sites often refer to him as “rabbi.”]
On December 23, 2023, less than three months after the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, The Jerusalem Post (“Uncovering Christian missionary efforts: What’s the price of support during war?” by Atara Beck) looked at organizations that “aim to spread the gospel among Jews and are taking advantage of their vulnerability during this distressing time.” The Oklahoma outfit was the first listed as an example of “organizations that seem to be taking advantage of the war situation to spread the gospel in Israel.”
Why do we even bother with the “Christian rabbi” – a theologically schizophrenogenic phrase if ever there was one? Because he’s famous for announcing
“We’re not voting for the pastor of the United States. We’re voting for the president of the United States.”
We’ll give it to the “rabbi.” We’re voting for a president. Five major religions – Christianity, about 230 million; Judaism 7.3 million; Buddhism 4.17 million; Islam 3.45 million; and Hinduism 2.5 million – comprise 75 percent of the U.S. population. Yet, at the close of 2023, 28 percent of Americans classified themselves as “nones” – “atheists,” “agnostics” or “nothing in particular” - and the majority of “nones” say they were reared in Christian homes, according to a January 24 report from CBS News.
Cicero
Nonetheless, the pseudo-rabbi (Conservative? Orthodox? Reformed?) seems to ignore two-thousand years of Christian moral theology and more than 2,500 years of Western philosophic ethics. As individuals, as peoples of every nation, tradition and culture, we deserve a leader with sufficient Humility to recognize that he is servant of all and master of none.
“That is how it should be with you. When you have done all you should, then say, ‘We are merely servants, and we have simply done our duty.’”
Luke 17:10
As individuals, as peoples of every nation, tradition and culture, we deserve a model of kindness, grateful for the trust and hope the American people place in him or her.
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God…”
1 Thessalonians 5:15
“Father, I thank you for you have heard me.”
John 11:41
As individuals, as peoples of every nation, tradition and culture, we deserve a model of temperance – in disposition and in the use of his or her power, diligent in the discharge of the Office of President. We deserve a Commander in Chief, not a lying bully in chief.
As individuals, as people of faith or no faith, we can appreciate someone who honestly assures “the forgotten men and women of our country… I am your voice” (Donald Trump, July22, 2016), if/when that same person honestly recognizes that he lost the popular votes in 2016 and 2020 by a combined 9,928,212 votes and only won the Electoral College vote in 2016.
As individuals, as people of faith or no faith, we do not need a ruffian who declares “I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution.” (Donald Trump, March 4, 2023.”)
“Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person,
do not associate with one easily angered,
or you may learn their ways
and get yourself ensnared.”
(Psalm 22:24-25)
Augustine of Hippo
Rather, in the Jewish and Christian traditions, we declare with the Psalmist;
“The Lord is my light and my salvation –
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life –
of whom shall I be afraid…
It is my enemies and my foes
who will stumble and fall…
One thing I ask of the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life…
For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling….”
Psalm 27: 1-2, 4,5
Whether one buys the politicized cliché of “a Christian nation” or not, the Cardinal Virtues have stood the test of more than two millennia. Any nation, any people has the right – the “God-given right” – to measure any candidate in the light of these virtues.
“Do not exploit the poor because they are poor
and do not crush the needy in court,
for the Lord will take up their case and will exact life for life.”
(Proverbs 22:22-23)
“We are taking pains to do what is right,
not only in the eyes of the Lord
but also in the eyes of man.”
2 Corinthians *:21
Put aside divorces, infidelities, charges of sexual assault, a child conceived outside of marriage, six bankruptcies (How does one go bankrupt with a casino? They’re cash cows.), the failed airline and football franchises, the “University” that wasn’t and ended-up paying $25 million to folks who were duped, the failed water, steaks and clothing lines, the almost endless list of women who have accused him of sexual assault, the vendors and contractors who were left unpaid for more than $2.98 million of repairs to his International Hotel, or the small-business owner stiffed out of $100,000 worth of pianos.
Gregory the Great
“Fools are consumed by their own lips.
At the beginning their words are folly,
at the end they are wicked madness –
and fools multiply their words.”
Ecclesiastes 10:12
Consider that Tucson and Mesa, Arizona and at least nine other cities from Washington State to Vermont are still owed money from 2016 (Green Bay) through 2019 campaign rallies. (El Paso - $569,204.63. Reported by KFOX14. July 8,2024)
While Greek, Roman and Jewish philosophers paved the way for Christian theologians to develop the Cardinal Virtues and Sins, James H. Toner, Professor Emeritus of Leadership and Ethics at the U.S. Air War College, offers The Eighth Deadly Sin: “sophisticated cowardice – derives, on the one hand, from sophistry (fallacious, even foolish, argument) and, on the other, from lack of courage to do the right thing, for the right reason, in the right way, at the right time.” (“The Eighth Deadly Sin,” The Catholic Thing. March 11, 2017)
Give Caesar credit. His Roman troops conquered Gaul - an area encompassing today’s France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy.
As military conqueror and governor of Gaul, Caesar had a good thing goin’ for himself. Nonetheless, in 49 BCE, in his hubris, he defied the emperor, Pompey, and the Roman senate and, instead of disbanding his army and returning to Rome as a civilian, he led a legion across the Rubicon River, giving the world “alea iacta est – the die is cast.” The Roman empire was plunged into civil war. With fewer troops, Caesar outfoxed and defeated Pompey’s army in a battle at Pharsalus, Greece in 48 BCE and was appointed emperor/dictator for life in 44 BCE.
Tertullian
It was a short-lived dictatorship. Two months later, on March 15, the infamous “Ides of March” of 44 BCE, a cabal of senators greeted him with 23 stab wounds at a Senate meeting.
“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight…
who deny justice to the innocent…
because they have rejected the Lord of Hosts,
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel….”
Isaiah 5:21, 24
Woe to the proud. Woe to the greedy and lustful. Woe to the envious and wrathful. Woe to the gluttonous and slothful.
“Woe to those who devise iniquity,
and work out evil on their beds!
At morning light, they practice it,
because it is in the power of their hands.”
Micah 2:1
“Woe to those who enact evil statutes,
and those who constantly record unjust decisions,
so as to deprive the needy of justice, and
rob my people of their rights.”
Isaiah 10: 1-3
Woe to those who practice and live “sophisticated cowardice,” which “derives, on the one hand, from sophistry (fallacious, even foolish, argument) and, on the other, from lack of courage to do the right thing, for the right reason, in the right way, at the right time.”
Woe to those who lack the courage to do the right thing, for the right reason, in the right way, at the right time.