d. Besides these there are the
virtues of those who have already attained to the Divine similitude:
these are called the "perfect virtues." Thus prudence sees nought
else but the things of God; temperance knows no earthly desires;
fortitude has no knowledge of passion; and justice, by imitating the
Divine Mind, is united thereto by an everlasting covenant. Such as
the virtues attributed to the Blessed, or, in this life, to some who
are at the summit of perfection.

Reply Obj. 1: The Philosopher is speaking of these virtues according
as they relate to human affairs; for instance, justice, about buying
and selling; fortitude, about fear; temperance, about desires; for in
this sense it is absurd to attribute them to God.

Reply Obj. 2: Human virtues, that is to say, virtues of men living
together in this world, are about the passions. But the virtues of
those who have attained to perfect bliss are without passions. Hence
Plotinus says (Cf. Macrobius, Super Somn. Scip. 1) that "the social
virtues check the passions," i.e. they bring them to the relative
mean; "the second kind," viz. the perfecting virtues, "uproot them";
"the third kind," viz. the perfect virtues, "forget them; while it is
impious to mention them in connection with virtues of the fourth
kind," viz. the exemplar virtues. It may also be said that here he is
speaking of passions as denoting inordinate emotions.

Reply Obj. 3: To neglect human affairs when necessity forbids is
wicked; otherwise it is virtuous. Hence Cicero says a little earlier:
"Perhaps one should make allowances for those who by reason of their
exceptional talents have devoted themselves to learning; as also to
those who have retired from public life on account of failing health,
or for some other yet weightier motive; when such men yielded to
others the power and renown of authority." This agrees with what
Augustine says (De Civ. Dei xix, 19): "The love of truth demands a
hallowed leisure; charity necessitates good works. If no one lays
this burden on us we may devote ourselves to the study and
contemplation of truth; but if the burden is laid on us it is to be
taken up under the pressure of charity."

Reply Obj. 4: Legal justice alone regards the common weal directly:
but by commanding the other virtues it draws them all into the
service of the common weal, as the Philosopher declares (Ethic. v,
1). For we must take note that it concerns the human virtues, as we
understand them here, t