# A medieval virtue of making jokes

Commentary on Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton.

On [CH07.P033](https://glosses.org/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH07.P033/#char=1939,1967): "Seriousness is not a virtue."

Medieval theology gives Chesterton's provocation a substantial precedent, with qualifications. In *Summa theologiae* II–II, question 168, article 2, Aquinas defends *eutrapelia*, the virtue governing playful speech and action. Mental work exhausts finite human powers; amusement supplies necessary rest. Article 4 goes further: refusing all pleasure and obstructing other people's recreation can itself be a fault. The inspected translation is the Dominican Fathers' second revised edition (1920), available through New Advent; Aquinas's work belongs to the thirteenth century. [Aquinas, II–II.168](https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3168.htm).

This is a useful comparison rather than proof of direct borrowing. Aquinas regulates jokes by their content, circumstances, and relation to serious duties; he does not condemn gravity as such. Chesterton likewise announces that calling seriousness a vice would be a heresy. His immediate target is the habit of taking *oneself* gravely. The surrounding images distinguish proud solemnity from an active self-forgetfulness. Read against Aquinas, the sentence challenges the assumption that a solemn manner proves virtue, while leaving room for earnest responsibilities and for jokes that fail morally.

## Sources

- [Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae II–II, question 168](https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3168.htm), Article 2, response and replies; article 4, response; Dominican Fathers' second revised English edition, 1920

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