imposed end. Temperance is thus a very comprehensive virtue, which is fully exhibited only by the character whose every activity is rationally controlled, harmonised, and concentrated.
The word temperance has come to be used almost solely in connection with the control of the passion for strong drink. This sense is obviously much narrower than its meaning in ethics; self-mastery in the matter of strong drink is only one aspect of self-control. But it provides a very useful illustration of the need of self-mastery in general. The intoxicated man has very clearly lost his self-control. He is unable to master his words or his actions. His conduct is no longer organised. Intemperance has relaxed the system of his life, and it has fallen apart in disorder. Intemperance may, of course, be manifested in many departments of conduct. A man may be intemperate in eating or in working or in sleeping or in indulging his sexual appetites. Whenever these appetites and inclinations and needs usurp more than their proper place in a man's life, he is intemperate.
§ 5. Justice. The virtues of courage and temperance mainly concern the individual. Of course, they imply that the individual is a member of some community, and in their higher forms they react powerfully on the general level of the morality of the society as a whole. Yet they are primarily individual virtues. On the other hand, justice is essentially a social virtue. It arises in the relation of individual to individual in a society. The just man observes the principles of social harmony and equity, and practises fairness and honesty in his dealings with all men. And justice is manifested by the state
