"The four cardinal virtues (fortitude, tmperance, prudence, justice,) belong amon the most widely used philosophical concepts that the Latin Middle Ages borrowed from the Ancient world. ... This book aims at showing how the four-square construction permeates variety of seemingly unrelated texts and how a modern reader can use it to gain access into the premodern literary sphere, alien and attractive at the same time. ... This book offers twenty readings of various medieval and post-medieval texts, arranged in four groups, each consisting of five essays. Each group is dedicted to one of the virtues ... . The essays are supplemented with recordings, which were made by the Czech public broadcaster Český rozhlas Vltava and aired in 2016 as a part of the celebrations of the 700th anniversary of Charles IV, the Holy Roman Emperor."--Page 180.