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108 4 M AGNANIMITY Aristotle describes magnanimity or greatness of soul as “the crown of the virtues; for it makes them greater, and it is not found without them.” Politically speaking, magnanimity is “the virtue that disposes us to do good to others on a large scale.”1 Aquinas, who synthesized Aristotle’s teachings with Christianity, includes humility as part of this virtue. For Aquinas, true greatness of soul must take into account Christ’s example of servant leadership in Matthew 20: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The following chapter will reveal Lincoln’s political greatness in terms of Aquinas’s view of magnanimity. Consistent with this teaching, Lincoln ’s character combined Christian humility and pagan greatness.2 Throughout, I use the term biblical magnanimity to reflect Lincoln’s reliance on the Bible as a source of insight and guidance in his private and public life. Informed by the Bible’s teaching of servant leadership, humility , and higher purpose, Lincoln’s political greatness also bears comparison to Hamilton’s description of magnanimity in Federalist No. 71.3 Aquinas considers the virtue of magnanimity in Question 129 of the Summa Theologica, II-II.4 As part of his wider synthesis between faith and reason, he seeks to reconcile Aristotle’s conception of greatness of soul with Christian revelation. Following Aristotle, Aquinas defines magnanimity as a virtue or moral excellence concerning “great honors.” Among “external goods,” he notes, “honors takes precedence over all others.” Aquinas likewise considers magnanimity to be “the ornament of all the virtues.” It crowns, adorns, and displays resplendently the qualities of excellence embodied by the manly man of action. Because “the essence of human virtue consists in safeguarding the good of reason in human affairs,” the particular virtue of magnanimity “observes the mode of reason in great honors.” The virtue of magnanimity strikes the rational mean between the vicious extremes of (1) vanity, MAGNANIMITY 109 whereby one overestimates the honor due to him; and (2) smallness of soul, whereby one underestimates it. Aquinas modifies Aristotle’s teaching on greatness of soul by incorporating the Christian norms of humility and charity into his understanding of magnanimity. The great-souled person does not seek honor as an end in itself but seeks to be worthy of honor insofar as he or she serves the public good and others who are in need. Nonetheless, for Aquinas as well as Aristotle magnanimity concerns great honors, in contradistinction to “ordinary honors.” Aquinas states: “But with regard to great honors there is magnanimity. Wherefore we must conclude that the proper matter of magnanimity is great honor, and that a magnanimous man tends to such things as are deserving of honor.”5 Indeed, the great-souled person is “intent only on great things.” These are “few and require great attention.” Unlike the restive activity of the small-souled person who gains satisfaction in accumulating petty honors, riches, and creature comforts, the great-souled person is stirred only when some momentous issue is at hand, one that is worthy of great honor. The epic task of founding or saving a regime draws him out of his self-imposed exile from mundane affairs. To be sure, “the tending of things worthy of great honor” presumes great ambition. This trait, for better or worse, has defined the epic rulers of history—Alexander, Caesar, and Washington. Lincoln was no exception . William Herndon, his former law partner, memorably described his colleague’s ambition as “a little engine that knew no rest.” In point of fact, Lincoln candidly and frequently acknowledged his own thirst for distinction. In 1832, at the age of twenty-three, in his first run for political office, he confessed, “Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition . Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.”6 Is great ambition necessarily malignant ? Does the thirst for distinction necessarily lead to the wellspring of despotism? In describing his own ambition, Lincoln was most likely imitating...

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