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The following selections are from the Ruth Majercik translation, published by the Prometheus Trust. The fragments of the Oracles are frequently found in other sources; the commentary in Fragment 46 is provided by Proclus, in 47 by Olympiodorus, in 48 again by Proclus.
Fragment 44:
Fragment 46:
(It is necessary)... to propose the virtues which, from creation, purify and lead back (to God),
...Faith, Truth, and Love,
Application
The four cardinal virtues discussed again and again by Plato are Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Courage. Each is given slightly different definitions in different dialogues, and later commentators interpreted these as hierarchies of virtue. For example, at the level of ordinary life, Courage might consist in not turning aside from one's task either from danger or for the sake of pleasure. Ascending the spiritual hierarchy, Courage becomes a total disregard of death, as the soul no longer identifies itself with the body.
To these four Christianity added three more: Faith, Hope, and Charity. The original four were called the cardinal virtues; the additional three, the theological, as they were supernatural in nature.
It has always seemed to me that in the Druidic tradition we might make use of the theological virtues, but I did not see how they could be grounded in pagan thought, as they seem thoroughly Christian in origin. The Oracles provide the answer. Faith, Truth, and Love are in fact higher virtues, which have (as our translator Ruth Majercik writes in her introduction) an anagogic effect. Hope may have been understood as a fourth virtue, as in Chaldean and late Platonic theology every Triad is lead by a Monad, so a triad of virtues may be preceded by, or proceed from, a single virtue.
It could be, then, that we could assign the four cardinal virtues to the four material elements, and the three Chaldean virtues to the three modes of spirit.
How?
There are many ways. In my own way of thinking, Earth is courage, Water justice, Air Wisdom, and Fire temperance. Faith may then be assigned to Spirit Above, Truth to Spirit Below, and Love to Spirit Within. Hope may be seen to either connect the material virtues to the spiritual, or else to be a higher virtue from which the spiritual virtues proceed.
Fragment 44:
The Father mixed the spark of soul with two harmonious qualities, Intellect and divine Will, to which he added a third, pure Love, as the guide and holy bond of all things.
Fragment 46:
(It is necessary)... to propose the virtues which, from creation, purify and lead back (to God),
...Faith, Truth, and Love,
that praiseworth triad.
Fragment 47:
Divine Hope, which descends from Intellect and is cetain, concerning which the oracle says:
May fire-bearing Hope nourish you...
Fragment 48:
"For all things are governed and exist in these three (virtues)," says the oracle. For this reason, the gods counsel the theurgists to unite themselves with God by means of this triad.
***Application
The four cardinal virtues discussed again and again by Plato are Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Courage. Each is given slightly different definitions in different dialogues, and later commentators interpreted these as hierarchies of virtue. For example, at the level of ordinary life, Courage might consist in not turning aside from one's task either from danger or for the sake of pleasure. Ascending the spiritual hierarchy, Courage becomes a total disregard of death, as the soul no longer identifies itself with the body.
To these four Christianity added three more: Faith, Hope, and Charity. The original four were called the cardinal virtues; the additional three, the theological, as they were supernatural in nature.
It has always seemed to me that in the Druidic tradition we might make use of the theological virtues, but I did not see how they could be grounded in pagan thought, as they seem thoroughly Christian in origin. The Oracles provide the answer. Faith, Truth, and Love are in fact higher virtues, which have (as our translator Ruth Majercik writes in her introduction) an anagogic effect. Hope may have been understood as a fourth virtue, as in Chaldean and late Platonic theology every Triad is lead by a Monad, so a triad of virtues may be preceded by, or proceed from, a single virtue.
It could be, then, that we could assign the four cardinal virtues to the four material elements, and the three Chaldean virtues to the three modes of spirit.
How?
There are many ways. In my own way of thinking, Earth is courage, Water justice, Air Wisdom, and Fire temperance. Faith may then be assigned to Spirit Above, Truth to Spirit Below, and Love to Spirit Within. Hope may be seen to either connect the material virtues to the spiritual, or else to be a higher virtue from which the spiritual virtues proceed.
