surmount, that are troublesome: But the Efforts we are oblig'd to make
upon our selves to be truyly Valiant are infinitely greater; and, in
order to it, we are overcome the First, the strongest and most lasting
Passion, that has been implanted in us; for tho' we may hate and have
Aversion to many Things by Instinct, yet this is Nothing so generally
terrible, and so generally dreadful to all Creatures, rational or not
rational, as the Dissolution of their Being.

Upon due Consideration of what has been said, it will be easy to
imagine how and why, soon after Fortitude had been honoured with the
Name of Virtue, all the other Branches of Conquest over our selves
were dignify'd with the same Title. We may see in it likewise the
Reason of what I have always so strenuously insisted upon, _viz._ That
no Practice, no Action or good Quality, how useful or beneficial
soever they may be in them selves, can ever deserve the Name of
Virtue, strictly speaking, where there is not a palpable Self-denial
to be seen. In Tract of Time, the Sense of the Word _Virtus_ received
still a grated Latitude; and it signify'd Worth, Strength, Authority,
and Goodness of all Kinds: _Plautus_ makes use of it, for Assistance.
_Virtute Deum_, by the Help of the Gods. By Degrees it was applied not
only to Brutes, _Est in juveneis, est in equis patrum Virtus_,
but likewise to Things inanimate and was made Use of to express the
Power, and peculiar Qualities of Vegetables and Minerals of all Sorts,
as it continues to be to this Day. The Virtue of the Loadstone, the
Virtue of Opium, &c. It is highly probable, that the Word _Moral_,
either in _Greek_ or _Latin_, never was thought of before the
Signification of the Word _Virtue_ had been extended so far beyond its
Original; and then in speaking of the Virtues of our Species, the
Addition of that Epithet became necessary, to denote the Relation they
had to our Manners, and distinguish them from the Properties and