“As St. Augustine noted in City of God, Roman success was built not just on greed, pride and violence. It also flowed from the early Roman virtues of piety, austerity, courage, justice and self-mastery. For Augustine, these virtues had an unfortunate and self-defeating basis in paganism. But in their natural effects, they were wholesome – so long as the Romans actually practiced them. All of these Roman virtues were revered in the thinking of the American Founders.”
– ARCHBISHOP CHAPUT: Life in the late republic: The Catholic role in America after virtue (via Instapaper)
