Sophrosyne view in subsequent Western European thought. Sophrosyne is one of the cardinal virtues. An adjectival form is "sophron". Sophrosyne Sophrosyne () is an ancient Greek concept of an ideal of excellence of character and soundness of mind, which when combined in one well-balanced individual leads to other qualities, such as temperance, moderation, prudence, purity, decorum and self-control. In other languages there is no equivalent word. In Greek literature sophrosyne is considered an important quality, and is sometimes expressed in opposition to the concept of hubris. A noted example of this occurs in Homer's "The Iliad". When Agamemnon decides to take
Sophrosyne virtues. Later Stoics like Musonius Rufus, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius took a practical view of "sophrosyne" and share a definition of it as the restraint of the appetites. Demophilus, a Pythagorean philosopher of uncertain date, wrote: "the vigor of the soul is sophrosyne, the light of a soul free of disturbing passions." (Ρώμη ψυχής σωφροσύνη αύτη γαρ ψυχής απαθούς φώς εστιν.) Cicero considered four Latin terms to translate "sophrosyne": "temperantia" (temperance), "moderatio" (moderateness), "modestia" (modesty) and "frugalitas" (frugality). Through the writings of Lactantius, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, the virtue's meaning as temperance or "proper mixture" became the dominant