tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21346696.post980599617631467651..comments2023-11-03T05:33:56.202-04:00Comments on On Not Being a Sausage: The Virtue of Kindness or CharityDeirdrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02106311465508277283noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21346696.post-3311409187291284992009-01-21T09:52:00.000-05:002009-01-21T09:52:00.000-05:00To use the old consul's words, acts of kindness ("...To use the old consul's words, acts of kindness ("benignitas") "shall be proportioned to the worthiness of the recipient; for this is the corner-stone of justice; and by the standard of justice all acts of kindness must be measured." de oficiis, Book I. XIV.rick allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07612435616018593956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21346696.post-90834685699838168932009-01-21T07:27:00.000-05:002009-01-21T07:27:00.000-05:00Just a quibble, perhaps, but Marcus Aurelius reign...Just a quibble, perhaps, but Marcus Aurelius reigned and wrote long after St. Paul, and Cicero, in de oficiis, writing about what, in the Loeb edition, was translated as "kindness," emphasized that it was a species of justice, and to be bestowed only on the deserving.<BR/><BR/>I don't deny that we can learn much from the "virtuous pagans," and I myself find much inspiration there. But I don't find there the Christian agape, the notion that we are to love the undeserving, as we were loved "while yet sinners."rick allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07612435616018593956noreply@blogger.com