The Code of Man: Love Courage Pride Family Country by Newell Waller R

Author:Newell, Waller R. [Newell, Waller R.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub, pdf
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-06-02T16:00:00+00:00

M ODERN N OBILITY

The classical idea of pride as a balance of mind and passion, and an intertwining of masculine and feminine, is not as far away from us as it first might appear. Indeed, the positive tradition of manliness is readily available to us through the influence of its modern followers, including Thomas Jefferson, Alexis de Tocqueville, Theodore Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill, all of whom were steeped in the ancient wisdom; they were also modern-day exemplars of the very virtues they had read about and admired in others. That influence still shapes us, even if we are suffering from a temporary amnesia about its exact whereabouts and its day-to-day connection with life in the present. Our interest in manly pride isn’t just a matter of antiquarianism or museum culture. We still need to draw on those energies, in both our personal and our public lives. As Jefferson writes in his Notes on the State of Virginia, the citizens of a democracy must be given a liberal education in the same moral and intellectual virtues praised by the ancients if they are to be on guard against potential demagogues and tyrants. Modern men still need to absorb the lesson of that charming fable by Aesop, and learn to spot the wolves in our midst. As long as free peoples and self-governing republics exist, they must encourage noble public service and discourage tyrannical ambition.

We saw in the last chapter that some of the greatest soldiers and statesmen of the twentieth century discussed courage in terms familiar from the traditional Western teachings going back to the ancients. The same is true of pride. These same outstanding men, both in their careers and in their reflections, vindicate the classical idea of a balance of virtues and the importance of what Aristotle calls “greatness of soul” in the major affairs of the day.

In Winston Churchill’s brief, eloquent 1935 essay on T. E. Lawrence, “Lawrence of Arabia,” we encounter one hero praising another in precisely these terms. Churchill narrates the main elements of Lawrence’s astonishing life—his legendary prowess and daring as a military commander in the Arab world, and his official role as a broker along with Churchill of the conflicts in that region. Particularly striking, though, is Lawrence’s personal charisma, “the generous majesty of his nature”—his immense quiet charm, his air of effortless command, the modesty that came not from humility but because he would not lower himself to boast or plead. Whether he was dressed like a gentleman for his London club or more magnificently in his Arab robes, Lawrence’s handsome features and flashing eyes shone forth: “He looked what he was, one of Nature’s greatest princes.”

Lawrence was a brilliant general and leader of men. But even more admirably, from Churchill’s viewpoint, he was an outstanding scholar and author, “a savant as well as a soldier.” The author of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Lawrence was also an archaeologist and a classicist best known for his translation of Homer. Not untroubled in his

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