Johan Huizinga

The virtue of a man of quality consists in the set of properties which make him fit to fight and command. Among these, liberality, wisdom and justice occupy a high place. It is perfectly natural that with many peoples the word for virtue derives from the idea of manliness or "virility", as for instance the Latin virtus, ,which retained its meaning of "courage" for a very long time - until, in fact, Christian thought became dominant.