Tertium capitulum, in quo ostenditur quod princeps debet in specula mentis suae elevari ut contempletur et corrigat mala dominii sui, et videat mala universi quae fiunt aperte.
The Prince as Watchman Over the Oppressed
The prince must guard the poor and recognize that sufferers deserve more compassion than oppressors, since suffering corrects while wickedness only deepens ruin.
Therefore, let royal watchfulness keep guard over the poor and the oppressors of the poor — alas! — lest the poor suffer evils of punishment, and lest the oppressors commit evils of guilt. And although wickedness is allowed to abound — while one person acts and another suffers — let us see that we ought to sympathize more with those who suffer evil than with those who commit it. For those who suffer evil are more frequently corrected by it, while those who commit evil advance toward worse things and are raised up ruinously.
Gazing Upon the Wickedness of the Age
With spiritual eyes one must grieve over the age's abundant wickedness, seeing how violence, pride, wrath, ambition, lust, cruelty, and greed drive human conduct.
And who, I ask you, would not grieve with their whole heart if they considered with spiritual eyes the wickedness of this age that abounds on every side? For violence provokes, pride inflates, wrath inflames, ambition delights, lust hurls headlong, cruelty goads, and greed disturbs.
Ascending the Watchtower of the Mind
By sharpening the spiritual eye and rising above the senses into a higher watchtower, the prince beholds a world overrun by error, bloodshed, and ever-multiplying crimes.
And so that we may more fully sympathize with the perishing secular world, and learn to be more grateful to the Lord our Liberator, let each one sharpen the spiritual eye of understanding as much as possible; and with the senses and sensible things transcended, raised above oneself as if into a purer air and a more excellent watchtower, one will be able to see, placed beneath oneself, the whole of reality growing wild with errors and clouded in its morals. He will see roads closed by robbers, seas besieged by pirates and plunderers; the world soaked in mutual blood; discords stirred up and carried out without just title, just cause, or just intent; one person slaughtering another, and with impunity. For crimes do not die of old age, nor are they buried by the antiquity of the times; but like the hydra, when its head is cut off, they spring back more strongly and more abundantly, sprouting anew.
Vice Displayed and Applauded
Sinners win public praise for their vices, and the open spectacle of wickedness is so pervasive that even those who witness it can scarcely remain upright.
Sinners earn the crowd's praise and applause for the various kinds of evil they do, and once their harmful, pestilent inventions of vice are made public, the more deeply someone immerses himself in them, the more skilled he's judged to be — and the more shameful. Such great enormities are committed everywhere, in broad daylight and forced upon people's eyes for their gaze, that anyone who has looked on them can scarcely even be considered upright or chaste.
Read the original Latin
Invigilet igitur sollicitudo regia super pauperes et pauperum oppressores IO, ne sint mala pœnae patientes, super illos ne sint mala culpae facientes. Et licet habundare malitiam dum hic agit, hic " patitur, videamus, magis tamen mala facientibus quam mala patientibus condolere debemus. Illi enim mala patiendo frequentius corriguntur, isti mala faciendo dum in pejus proficiunt dampnabiliter eriguntur. Et quis, obsecro, toto corde non doleat si spiritualibus oculis ipse consideret temporis malitiani quae habundat ? Nam violentia irritât, superbia inflat, iracundia inflammat, ambitio delectat, libido praecipitat, crudelitas stimulât, rapacitas inquiétât. Et ut compatiamur amplius saeculari populo pereunti et esse discamus liberatori Domino magis grati, acuet unusquisque quo magis poterit intelligentiae spiritualem oculum, et, transcensis sensibus et sensibilibus supra se velut in puriorem aéra et excellentiorem speculam elevatus, sub ipso positum silvescentem erroribus, et calligantem moribus videre poterit uni versum. Videbit itinera clausa latronibus, obsessa maria piratis et praedoni bus; madet orbis mutuo sanguine; suscitantur et perpetrantur discordiae sine justo titulo, justa causa, justo animo; trucidât alter alterum, et impune. Non enim senio crimina moriuntur, non vetustate temporum obruuntur, sed velut ydra resecato capite validius et numerosius pululantia renascuntur.
Laudum praeconia peccatores ex maleficiorum dirïerentiis consequuntur, et publicatis pestiferis adinventionibus vitiorum, qui se magis in eis exercet tam peritior quam turpior judicatur. Tanta passim enormia fîunt communiter et in oculis solis hujus et ingeruntur intuenda hominibus ut qui ea spectaverit vix etiam habeatur integer aut pudicus.
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