Mortimer Adler states one objection, which has sometimes been raised, against temperance as a virtue. He writes,
Most outstanding figures in history, most heroes of legend or fiction, are men of strong passions, of ambition, and of pride. They are driven by desires which tend to be limitless. Few exemplify moderation. Few stop short of excess in anger or love, or in their striving for power and pleasure. They may curb their appetites in one direction, only to indulge them without rein in another. They do not follow in all things the counsels of temperance, expressed by the ancient maxim “Nothing overmuch.”1
This objection would certainly make sense if temperance’s maxim were equal to “have no passion” but this would actually be a mistake as to the proper understanding of temperance.
Temperance is not the virtue of throwing cold water on anything, or anyone, who gets too fired up about something. Rather, temperance is about finding the good between two extremes, which takes prudence, but once that good has been found it is not possible to pursue it with too much passion. Once the good has been determined it is actually to be encouraged that it be pursued without restraint.
For example, one cannot be too courageous when courage is called for but one can be reckless instead of courageous. Again, one cannot be too just in matters of justice. One can truly fail to uphold justice (lack) or be too extreme in punishment of a crime (excess) but one cannot be too passionate about justice itself. The virtue of temperance is a call, in itself, to passionately seek what is good and to practice it with every fiber of one’s being. Intemperance, though, cannot be too passionately avoided. We might redirect to the one true God the prayer recorded by Euripides while maintaining the form:
“O Cypris, loveliest of goddesses in heaven, keep this frenzied arrow from my heart. Keep modest my delights, all my desires lawful, so may I have my part in love but not in passion’s madness.”2
Mortimer J. Adler, ed. “Temperance” Essay in The Syntopicon: An Index to the Great Ideas in Great Books of the Western World vol. 2. (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1990) 683.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis, in Great Books of the Western World vol. 4. (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1990), 614.
How can one know fire or ice and their dangers without first being burned or having slipped?
We definitely learn from our faults too. But the wiser we get the more we learn from others mistakes and don’t do them ourselves.