Quintum capitulum de malis quae fiunt in civitatibus, cum populus abutitur acceptis legibus.
Turning the Eye from Hidden Sins to Public Evils
Having acknowledged that hidden sins belong to God alone, the author redirects contemplation toward the visible disorders of civic life.
But since these things are hidden, and since they require a different kind of corrector—not a temporal king or a prince, but the One who searches the depths of what is secret—let us not make public the hidden sources of disgrace, nor dig through the wall so that the idol of abomination is exposed; for we are neither censors nor judges of what is hidden.✦1 Let the eye of our contemplation turn back, then, and let us see what is happening among the multitude of the people and in the cities.
The Corruption of Law and Justice Among the People
The people abuse legitimate laws, pervert justice, and enact unjust statutes, yet law remains a divine gift that must either be just or be abolished.
Since legitimate discipline ought to be maintained, offenses are committed even within the laws, sins are committed even among rights, the malice of those who disagree rages against each other, everything is filled with disputes, various wrongs burn far and wide in many forms, children are shut out from inheritances, and property is given away to strangers. There is no fear of the laws, and dread of the judge is slight or nonexistent. Nothing is feared that can be bought off, nothing is punished for which a price can be found. And, as blessed Cyprian laments, the laws have given their consent to sins, and what serves the common good has begun to be treated as permissible. The sanctity of the laws is violated, customs are introduced, citizens dictate what ought to be established at the discretion of their will, they tear down what has been decreed, they condemn the innocent and acquit the guilty. But woe to those who enact unjust laws and write down injustice — they nullify the law of truth or allow it to be nullified!✦ For law, even though it is a human invention, is nevertheless a gift of God — the teaching of the wise, the correction of willful excess, the destruction of sins, according to which all who are engaged in the political community ought to live. For either a law is unjust — and it should not be called a law at all, but ought to be quickly abolished — or it is just, and everyone is subject to it.
The Ruler's Obligation to Equity and the Inversion of Right Order
A ruler must serve equity and the common good rather than private will, yet when civic authorities harden their hearts, they usurp spiritual authority, persecute the clergy, and invert the proper order of things.
For even if a ruler is said to be free from the bonds of the law, that does not mean he is permitted to do what is unjust. Rather, it means he ought to be someone who cultivates equity not out of fear of punishment but out of love of justice — someone who serves the common good and who in all things puts the welfare of others before his own private will. For it is not the prerogative of the powerful to rage against their subjects at will, but rather to acquit the innocent and punish the guilty according to the nature of their deeds. And if in public affairs a ruler may do nothing except what law or equity persuades, or what the reasoning of common utility requires, then it is certain that his subjects are permitted to do nothing except what proceeds from the fairness of judgment, as it is written: 'Let my judgment come from your face; let your eyes look upon equity.'✦ Indeed, if a lesser authority has no power over a greater, then no human enactment is valid that does not conform to divine law. Therefore let those citizens tremble and beware who establish so many gross abuses — such as the recovery of usury before an ecclesiastical judge, which is never to be allowed — and similar evils, which would take too long to enumerate, and which are a cause of sin to those who commit them and those who consent to them. Indeed, no custom, however longstanding, can protect the authors of such abuses from being bound to make restitution — both they and their heirs — to those who have been harmed by this wicked custom or statute. The hearts of such men are often hardened; they refuse sound counsel, scorn excommunication, and do not fear interdict. They place worldly things above spiritual ones, undermine the liberties of the Church, rage against the clergy, and — whether the clergy are devout or corrupt — they lord it over the ministers of the altar, so that the house hangs downward by its own head, the plow is preferred over oxen, an ignorant man teaches the cleric, and the saw boasts against the one who wields it — just as Uzziah presumed to handle what is spiritual and usurped it.✦✦ On occasions like these, the divine proclamations sometimes cease; the doors of churches are closed and the instruments of song are silenced. The ministers of the altar are driven into exile, begging for alien stipends, half-naked, cast down, overwhelmed with reproach. A pitiful spectacle is presented to their own people, a shameful mockery to outsiders. And those whom it befits to be free — by the dignity of their order and by the order of their dignity — are miserably compelled to serve.
Corruption in the Royal Court and the Futility of the King's Compassion
Proud and corrupt citizens manipulate royal counsel through bribes, and even the king's sealed letters of compassion for the wretched are ignored.
But if a case is brought before the royal court, citizens who are puffed up with pride, cunning in their craftiness, boasting in their words, and confident in their bribes — they aim to hunt down favor with money rather than to honor innocence with integrity. They try, if they can, to manipulate the religious counsel of the king, so that they may shake and bend the cedars of Lebanon to their own will.23 But if the lord king, moved by compassion for the condition of wretched persons, has sent sealed letters to his citizens or bailiffs, experience teaches — and the common proverb is on everyone's lips — that nothing or very little is done on account of sealed letters.45
Read the original Latin
Sed quoniam haec occulta sunt et alium desiderant correctorem, non regem temporalem aut principem, sed occultorum intimum inspectorem, ne publicemus occulta dedecoris, aut ne parietem fodiamus ut appareat ydolum abhominationis, quia nec censores sumus nec judices de occultis. Revertatur igitur nostrae contemplationis oculus, et quid in populi fiât multitudine vel in civitatibus videamus.
Cum enim légitima cohiberi debeat disciplina, inter leges delinquitur, peccatur etiam inter jura, saevit invicem discordantium malitia, litigiis replentur omnia, flagrant passim et multiformiter diversa delicta, arcentur haereditatibus liberi, bonis donantur alieni. Nullus est de legibus metus, de judice pavor modicus sive nullus. Non timetur quod potest redimi, non punitur pro quo potest pretium inveniri. Et, ut beatus conqueritur Cyprianus, consensere jura peccatis et cœpit licitum esse quod publicum est. Legum sanctitas violatur, consuetudines inducuntur, cives pro voluntatis arbitrio statuenda dictant, dictata convellunt, innocentes dampnant, reos absolvunt. Sed vae eis qui condunt leges iniquas et scribentes injustitiam, veritatis legem évacuant vel evacuari permittunt ! Vb Lex enim, etsi inventio sit hominum, est tamen Dei donum, doctrina sapientum, correctio voluntariorum excessuum, exterminatio peccatorum, secundum quam decet vivere omnes qui in politicae rei versantur universitate. Aut enim injusta est lex, et lex dicenda non est, sed debet velociter aboleri ; vel justa est, et ei sunt omnes subjecti.
Nam etsi princeps esse dicatur legis nexibus absolutus, non hoc est quia sibi quod iniquum est liceat, sed quoniam is esse debet qui non timoré poenae sed amore justitiae aequitatem colat, rei publicae serviat utilitati, et in omnibus aliorum commoda privatae praeferat voluntati. Non est enim potentis pro libito saevire in subditos, sed pro qualitate factorum innocentes absolvere et punire reos. Et si in negotiis publicis nihil liceat principi nisi quod lex aut aequitas persuaserit, aut ratio communis utilitatis inducit, certum est ejus subditis nil licere nisi quod de judicii prodierit aequitate, sicut scriptum est : De vultu tuo judicium meum prodeat, oculi tui videant aequitatem. Imo si minor in majorem non habet imperium, nihil est humana constitutio quae non sequitur jus divinum. Ergo paveant et caveant illi cives qui tôt constituunt enormitates, ut de usuris coram ecclesiastico judice nullatenus repetendis, et hujusmodi, quae nimis longum est prosequi, quae facientibus et consentientibus sunt causa peccati. Imo, nulla obstante consuetudine, conditores talium possunt defendi quin ad restituendum teneantur ipsi et eorum haeredes, si qui dampnificati sunt occasione hujus pravae consuetudinis aut statuti. Indurantur plerumque corda talium, salubre non admittunt consilium, excommunicationem contempnunt, interdictum non timent, saecularia spiritualibus anteponunt, énervant ecclesiasticas libertates, saeviunt in clerum, et tam converso ordine quam perverso, ministris dominantur altaris, ita ut ca pite deorsum domus pendeat, bobus aratrum praeferatur, idiota doceat clericum, glorietur serra contra eum qui tenet eam, tractet Ozias spiritualia et usurpet. Cessant occasione similium quandoque divina praeconia, clauduntur ecclesiarum aditus et canticorum organa suspenduntur, exulant ministri altaris, aliéna mendicantes stipendia, seminudi, abiceti, saturati obprobriis; proponitur triste spectaculum suis, turpe ludibrium alienis, et miserabiliter servire coguntur quos liberos esse decet et dignitate ordinis et ordine dignitatis.
Si vero ad examen regium causa delata fuerit, fastu elati, astu callidi, cives gloriantes in verbis, confidentes in muneribus, gratiam potius intendunt venari pecunia quam innocentia venerari, religionem consilii regii nituntur circumvenire si possunt, ut cedros Libani ad voluntatem suam incutiant et inflectant. Si vero dominus rex statui compatiens miseriabilium personarum litteras clausas direxerit suis civibus aut ballivis, experientia docet et vulgari clamatur proverbio : Nihil aut modicum fieri pro litteris clausis.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Dan.9.27 — And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and offering to cease, and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, and until the decreed end is poured out upon the desolator.
- ↩Isa.10.1-Isa.10.2 — Woe to those who decree decrees of iniquity, and who write out oppression. Isa.10.2 — to deny justice to the poor, and to rob the afflicted of my people of their rights, so that widows become their spoil, and the fatherless their plunder.
- ↩Ps.17.2 — “Let my vindication come from your presence; let your eyes see what is right.”
- ↩2Chr.26.16-2Chr.26.21 — But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, even to his destruction; and he trespassed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. 2Chr.26.17 — And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of the LORD, sons of valor. 2Chr.26.18 — They stood against King Uzziah and said to him, 'It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out from the sanctuary, for you have trespassed, and there will be no honor for you from the LORD God.' 2Chr.26.19 — Then Uzziah became furious, and with a censer in his hand to burn incense, he raged against the priests; and while he was raging against the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside the altar of incense. 2Chr.26.20 — And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, turned toward him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they hurried him out from there, and even he himself was driven to go out, for the LORD had struck him. 2Chr.26.21 — King Uzziah had leprosy until the day of his death. He lived in a separate house — afflicted with leprosy, because he had been cut off from the house of the LORD. His son Jotham was over the king's household, governing the people of the land.
- ↩Isa.10.15 — Shall the axe boast over the one who wields it, or the saw magnify itself over the one who handles it? As if a rod could wave the one who lifts it, or as if a staff could lift the one who is not wood.
Notes
- 1 ↩ydolum abhominationis: likely an echo of Daniel 9:27 (LXX/Vulgate), 'the abomination of desolation.' The phrase signals a grave spiritual danger in exposing what ought to remain hidden.
- 2 ↩The cedars of Lebanon are a biblical image for the mighty and upright (cf. Ps. 91:12 Vulg.); here they symbolize the noble counselors or the integrity of royal religious advice that corrupt citizens seek to sway.
- 3 ↩The phrase is rendered 'religious counsel of the king' — that is, the spiritual or ecclesiastical dimension of royal deliberation, which these citizens try to circumvent.
- 4 ↩Sealed letters — royal letters close, as distinct from letters patent. The proverb laments that such private royal directives carry little weight in practice.
- 5 ↩A proverbial saying quoted in the text: 'Nothing or very little is done for sealed letters.' The author presents it as common knowledge.
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