Whether the subject of virtue is a power of the soul?

❌ Objection 1 : It would seem that the subject of virtue is not a power of the soul. For Augustine says (De Lib. Arb. ii, 19) that "virtue is that by which we live righteously." But we live by the essence of the soul, and not by a power of the soul. Therefore virtue is not a power, but in the essence of the soul.

❌ Objection 2 : Further, the Philosopher says (Ethic. ii, 6) that "virtue is that which makes its possessor good, and his work good likewise." But as work is set up by power, so he that has a virtue is set up by the essence of the soul. Therefore virtue does not belong to the power, any more than to the essence of the soul.

❌ Objection 3 : Further, power is in the second species of quality. But virtue is a quality, as we have said above (Question [55], Article [4]): and quality is not the subject of quality. Therefore a power of the soul is not the subject of virtue.