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The Church Fathers · c. 570–579
Rules for an Honest Life
Formula Vitae Honestae
Martin of Braga · c. 520 – 579
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What it is
A short handbook of the four cardinal virtues for a Suevic king, drawn almost entirely from Seneca and containing not one scriptural quotation or Christian doctrine — written by a bishop, for a recent convert, as the way in.
Why it lasted
Copied through the Middle Ages under Seneca's name, which is why it survived so widely. It shows a missionary bishop deciding that a barbarian king needed Stoic ethics before he needed theology.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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