Capitulum decimum de expositione hujus : Non declinet in partem dexteram vel sinistram.
Two Ways of Reading the Command
The prohibition against turning aside to the right or left applies differently to a private person and to a public official.
The tenth section follows: "Do not turn aside to the right or to the left" — words that urge us toward justice. They are explained one way if we take them as addressing a public role, and another way if we take them as addressing a private person.✦12
The Private Soul's Drift into Pride
For a private person, turning left means falling into sin, while turning right means being puffed up with pride, which the devil smuggles in even through shabby and hidden acts of devotion.
So when a private person turns aside to the left, they're walking into the wandering path of sinners; and when they turn aside to the right, they're swelling up over their virtues. The devil, you see, who could never have bred empty glory under the outward show of a beautiful and shining garment, now tries to smuggle it in through what's shabby and unkempt — so that your drawn-out prayers won't be stained by the contagion of vainglory, you have to guard your eyes against the praise of others, keep your practice of those prayers hidden, and let no one witness them. Yet it usually doesn't escape the eyes of vanity any more than an onion is found covered with finer and finer new layers of skin each time it's been stripped of the old ones.
The Teacher's River and the Hunter's Focus
The author excuses his digression by comparing a teacher's discourse to a river that fills side valleys before returning to its channel, and a hunter who does not abandon his quarry for new prey.
It's not the purpose of this letter of mine to pursue the nature of vices, except that the manner of a divine teacher's speech ought to imitate a river, which flows down through its channel and, when it reaches valleys opening from the side, immediately pours into them, and once it has filled them, returns to its channel. It is not the way of hunters and trappers to let go of the animal they've attacked so that others can chase whatever suddenly appears. So let the pen return to princes, without turning aside to the right or to the left.
The Prince Who Punishes Too Much or Too Little
A public official turns left by punishing too harshly and turns right by sparing the guilty out of excessive mildness.
This is how a prince or public official veers to the left: if in punishing the crimes of those under his authority he has been too quick to take revenge. On the other hand, he turns his step to the right who, out of mildness, spares the guilty beyond what is due and indulges them.34
Eli and Saul: Two Kings Who Left the Royal Road
Eli failed to discipline his sacrilegious sons with judicial severity, and Saul chose sacrifice over obedience to God; both illustrate how self-will becomes an idol that leads leaders astray.
Let us now set before us the figures described as having strayed from the royal road to either side — and examples close at hand are ready to hand, in Eli and Saul themselves. Eli — judge and high priest, no less — incurred death as the penalty for his sons' wickedness: he overturned his seat, fell with his neck broken, and died on the spot.✦ For he punished his sons — who were profaning the divine sacrifices — with too little severity.✦ He had restrained them and he had rebuked them — but with a father's gentleness and mildness, not with the authority and severity of a judge. Saul, however, would in no way have spared the fatter livestock of Amalek — if he had judged obedience to be more important than sacrifice. But Samuel said to him, as though refusing to comply were the sin of soothsaying.✦ An idol of a human being is whatever a person worships or loves more than God. So for the sons of disobedience, their own will is an idol: despising the will of the Lord, they follow the prompting of their own will.
Plutarch and the Beaten Slave
Plutarch, teacher of Trajan, demonstrates that a philosopher can punish justly without anger, calmly refuting a slave's accusation by showing no outward sign of rage.
Let us set forth two from the Roman camp and two from the Jewish camp — a teacher and a disciple from each: namely, Plutarch and Trajan. Let the philosopher convince the pontiff, and the king the king. When Plutarch, the teacher of Trajan, had ordered a slave — one who had greatly deserved it — to be stripped of his tunic and beaten with blows, and when the slave was being rather harshly treated, groaning and pouring out prayers to no avail as he was being flogged, he turned to abusive words, declaring that Plutarch was not conducting himself as a philosopher ought; that it was shameful for him to be angry — he above all others, who had often taught about anger and had written a most beautiful book about patience; and that it was deeply disgraceful that he should thus attack his own teaching by his conduct and torment an innocent man.56 To which Plutarch replied — gently, slowly, and with the greatest gravity: "Surely you don't think I'm angry at you just because you're being beaten?"7 "Is it anger on my part if you receive from me what is owed?" "From my expression, or from my voice, or from my complexion, or even from my words — do you perceive me corrupted by anger, or seized by it?" "My eyes are not, I suppose, fierce; nor is my face agitated; nor do I shout to no avail; nor do I boil into a flush of redness; I say nothing shameful or regrettable; nor do I tremble with anger or exult in it." "If you don't recognize these things, they are the signs of anger — or so they are said to be."8
The Philosopher's Gentle Rebuke
Plutarch redirects the executioner to teach repentance rather than quarrel, confirming that he who holds to justice does not leave the royal road.
And turning toward the one who was striking him, he said: "While you and I are debating this matter — come now, set aside your stubbornness without anger — you should teach the wrongdoer to repent rather than to quarrel." So it's clear that the one who held to the measure of justice, and taught that it must be held to, did not turn aside from the royal road.
Trajan and the Widow's Plea for Justice
Trajan dismounts to render justice to a widow before departing for war, refusing to defer it to a successor, because each man is a debtor who will be repaid according to his own deeds.
Trajan too, when he was emperor, had already mounted his horse and was about to set out for war when a widow — seizing his foot, weeping miserably — asked that justice be done for her concerning those who had killed her son, a young man of the highest character and innocence. "I'll make it right to you when I return," said the emperor. "What if you don't return?" she said. "My successor will make it right to you," he said. "What good will it do you if someone else does the good deed?" she said. "You are a debtor to me and will receive the reward according to your deeds."✦
Justice Owed and Trajan Freed
Deferring justice is fraud, for each leader is personally accountable; Trajan at once judged the widow's case, and blessed Pope Gregory later prayed him free from hell's punishments.
And so it is fraud to refuse to give back what is owed. Your successor will be held accountable to those who suffer the injury, on his own account. Another's justice will not set you free. Things will go well with your successor if he has freed himself. At this he dismounted from his horse, examined the case, pronounced sentence, and with fitting satisfaction consoled the widow. This is Trajan, for whom blessed Pope Gregory wept in prayer for so long, until by revelation it was told to him that Trajan had been freed from the punishments of hell — yet on this condition: that Gregory would not thereafter pray to God on behalf of an unbeliever. How, then, did this man ever turn aside, who judged so justly and mercifully, without any delay at all?
Read the original Latin
Sequitur loco decimo : Non declinet in partem dexteram vel sinistram, quae verba justitiam exhortantia aliter exponuntur si personam respiciunt publicam, aliter si privatam.
Privata igitur persona déclinât ad sinistram cum in devium peccatorum pergit, déclinât ad dextram cum de virtutibus intumescit. Cui enim sub specie vestis pulchrae et nitidae dyabolus vanam gloriam aliter non potuit generare, per squalida et inculta fréquenter conatur inferre ; ne vanae gloriae contagio maculetur orationes prolixas a proximorum sibi quis cavet oculis, et quod eas latenter exerceat, et nullum habeat conscium : plerumque non effugit oculos vanitatis, sicut cèpe totiens tuniculis novis subtilioribus tam invenitur obtecta quotiens eisdem fuerit spoliata.
Non est inhac epistola meura propositum naturam prosequi vitiorum, nisi quod divini doctor eloquii morem debet fluminis imitari, quod dum per alveum defluit, si valles ex latere contingit, in eas protinus se infundit, et, cum repleverit eas, in alveum redit. Non sicut cainibus et venatoribus contingeré solet Va ut aggressam dimittant bestiam et aliani prosequantur quae ex inopinato apparet. Stilus ergo revertatur ad principes, neque ad dexteram neque ad sinistram declinare debentes.
Hic igitur princeps vel persona publica defiectitur ad sinistram, si in ulciscendis subditorum criminibus nimium pronus extiterit ad vindictam ; ad dexteram vero gressum torquet qui delinquentibus ex mansuetudine parcit ultra debitum et indulget.
Proponantur in medium jam personae quae déclinantes altrinsecus a via leguntur regia recessisse, sed quemadmodum exempla suppetunt Heli et Saul ipsi sufficiunt. Heli IO siquidem judex et pontifex pro filiorum iniquitate mortem incurrit, qui aversa sella fractis cervicibus corruens expiravit. Filios enim divina sacrificia temerantes minus severa animadversione plectebat. Et quidem cohercuerat et corripuerat, sed levitate et mansuetudine patris, non auctoritate et severitate judicis. Saul autem pinguioribus Amalech nullatenus pepercisset si meliorem esse obedientiam quam victimam attendisset sed dictum est ei a Samuel e quasi peccatum ariolandi est nolle acquiescere. Ydolum est hominis quiquid plus quam Deum colit aut diligit. Filiis ergo inobedientiae sua voluntas est ydolum qui, contempta Domini voluntate, sequuntur propriae voluntatis nutum.
Proponamus et duos de castris Romanorum contra duos de castris Judaeorum magistrum et discipulum, Plutarchum scilicet et Trajanum. Convincat philosophus pontificem et rex regem. Cum Plutarchus Trajani magister servum maie meritum, detracta tunica, verberibus praecepisset affici, et ille duriuscule caederetur, post gemitus et preces inaniter fusas dum vapularet servus, ad verba se contumeliosa convertit, damans non ita se habere Plutarchum ut deceret philosophum ; irasci turpe ei maxime qui de ira saepe docuerat et de patientia librum pulcherrimum fuerat ; valde vero probrosum quod sic doctrinam suam moribus impugnaret et sic innoxium affligebat. Ad quod Plutarchus leviter quidem et lente, et cum maxima gravitate : Numquid quod vapu las tibi irasci videor ? Estne ira mea si a me debitum recipis ? Ex vultu meo an ex voce, an ex colore, an etiam ex verbis, ira me corruptum intelligis aut correptum ? Mihi quidem nec oculi, ut oppinor, truces sunt, nec os turbidum, nec inaniter clamo, nec in spumam ruboremque fervesco, neque pudenda dico aut poenitenda, nec omnino trepido ira aut gestio. Haec omnia, si nescis, signa irarum esse soient.
Et con versus ad eum qui caedebat intérim ait : Dum ego et hic disputamus in IO hoc âge, et sine iracundia meo recude similem contumaciam, et iniquum magis pœnitere doceas quam jurgari. Quare patet quoniam qui sic in justitia modum tenuit et tenendum docuit quod non a via regia declinavit. Trajanus etiam imperator cum jam equum ascendisset profecturus ad bellum, vidua, pede illius apprehenso, flens miserabiliter justitiam sibi " fieri petiit de hiis qui filium ejus optimum et innocentissimum juvenem occiderant. Ego, inquit imperator, satisfaciam tibi cum rediero. Quid, inquit illa, si non redieris ? Et ille : Successor meus satisfaciet tibi. Et illa : Quid tibi proderit si alius benefecerit ? Tu mihi debitor es secundum opéra mercedem recepturus.
Fraus itaque est nolle reddere quod debetur. Successor tuus injuriam patientibus pro se tenebitur. Te non liberabit justitia aliéna. Bene agetur cum successore tuo si liberaverit seipsum. Ad hoc descendit de equo, examinavit causam, dictavit sententiam et satisfactione condigna consolatus est viduam. Ipse est Trajanus pro quo beatus papa Gregorius tamdiu orando flevit donec ei in revelatione dictum sit Trajanum a pœnis inferni liberatum, ita tamen quod de caetero pro infideli non rogaret Deum. Iste ergo quomodo declinavit qui tam juste et misericorditer sine dilatione aliqua judicavit ?
Scripture echoes
- ↩Deut.5.32 — Therefore be careful to do just as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left." This makes the discourse consequence explicit.
- ↩1Sam.4.18 — And it came about, when he mentioned the ark of God, that he fell backward off his seat beside the gate, and his neck was broken, and he died, for the man was old and heavy; and he had judged Israel forty years.
- ↩1Sam.2.17 — And the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt.
- ↩1Sam.15.22 — And Samuel said, "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
- ↩Matt.16.27 — For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will repay each one according to his deeds.
Notes
- 1 ↩The quoted injunction "Non declinet in partem dexteram vel sinistram" echoes Deuteronomy 5:32 (Vulgate) and similar passages; final scriptural resolution deferred to tx-08 Moses stage.
- 2 ↩Personam publicam / privatam: the contrast is between one who holds a public office or role and a private individual; the moral application of the scriptural injunction shifts accordingly.
- 3 ↩The left/right imagery frames two opposite failures of governance — excessive harshness versus excessive leniency — as departures from the just middle path. The spatial metaphor echoes the chapter title's 'neither to the right nor to the left.'
- 4 ↩defiectitur rendered 'veers' rather than 'is turned aside' to capture the reflexive sense of swerving off course. mansuetudine rendered 'mildness' to preserve the virtue-term quality without archaism.
- 5 ↩maie (token 5) is an uncertain medieval form, possibly a variant of 'magis'; rendered as 'greatly' to convey the sense of degree with 'meritum'.
- 6 ↩damans (token 30) is an uncertain form; the context strongly suggests 'declaring' or 'accusing,' which fits the slave's reproach.
- 7 ↩vapu las (tokens 13–14) appears to be a corrupted or split form of 'vapulas' (you are being beaten); the translation follows the most plausible intended reading.
- 8 ↩soient (token 7) is an uncertain medieval form, possibly a subjunctive of 'soleo' (are accustomed) or a variant of 'sunt'; rendered as 'are said to be' to capture the sense of common recognition.
Eruditio regum et principum (Education of Kings and Princes) companion
Louis IX kept a daily rule of reading. Keep yours.
After day 21, Chosen Portion keeps the habit going with one historic devotional portion each morning, free on iOS.
Guibert formed Louis IX through short scheduled installments, and Chosen Portion delivers formation in the same daily-installment pattern.
- One reading and prayer per day, about 3 minutes
- Continue with 78 royal and monastic works after the plan ends
- Reflection questions suited to reading with a teen or small group