Truth about Virtue ...

M.K. Gandhi's greatness is marked by virtue that may be described as under:

Virtue is never in her proper element but when death and danger seem to have hemmed her in on every side; she scorns the prize whose purchase requires not the use of all her nerves. Imperia dura tolle, quid virtus erit? (Remove the restraints of law, where will virtue be found?) saith the Tragic. Inveniet viam, aut faciet: wheresoever she become, she will either find a way or make one. No calamity is of power sufficient to bring her under. This majesty alone knows what it is to suffer check; it can neither be elevated nor dejected. Her greatness, like the highest heavens, is always firm and without clouds. Are you desirous to see her? You shall find her in the temple, in the market, in the court; you shall find her standing at a breach or scaling of a wall, her garments dusty, her countenance all tanned, and her hands as hard as iron. Wherefore, whosoever is possessed with her, let him prepare himself for dangerous assaults.

-- Daniel Tuvill, Essays politic and moral, and Essays moral and theological, (John Leon Lievsay, ed.) (Folger Shakespeare Library, Univ. Press of Virginia, 1971) at p.43.