Septimum capitulum, de malis quae faciunt officiales in curiis.
The Predators of the Court
The author descends into the courts of princes to expose how corrupt officials prey upon the poor, silence the afflicted, and persecute those who dare to defend justice.
We who have already stood for a while on the threshold, let us now descend into the courts of princes and of authorities and officials, and witness the excesses that ought not to be passed over in silence, nor can safely be ignored. It is written: The wild ass is the lion's prey in the desert.✦ So it is that the poor are the pastures of the rich — because the poor experience this daily at the hands of court officials, who seem to have borrowed their name from the verb 'I harm, you harm' (officio, officis), meaning 'I injure, you injure,' rather than from the noun 'duty' or 'office' (officium, officii). For this class of people — whom they call 'office-destroyers' — plunders the poor and lies in wait for the simple, favors the wicked, and oppresses the innocent. They revel in the tears of the needy, in the destitution of the poor — and what is worse, the afflicted, crushed in this way, do not dare to disclose the malice or violence of those who afflict them. But if a poor man does so — if he endures worse treatment than before, and if he sets forth his own case in the sight of officials — the courtiers are gravely angered. The fraud sets himself against the simple man, the impious against the just, the courtier against the rustic. Faithless judges tolerate these things, nor do they restrain evildoers — because, as the common saying goes, 'The cow's heart rejoices in the deeds of the wolf,' and an ungodly judge applauds the minister of iniquity. As it is written: 'Your rulers are faithless, companions of thieves; they all love bribes.' For they run along with thieves as partners in crime, adding their share of iniquity, so that they may receive whatever portion of profit comes their way.✦ Whoever has pitied a poor person and has raised up justice from its downfall — if he decides to help, if he dares to stay silent — he will be compelled to render an account before the Herodians, as though charged with the crime of violated majesty.
The Cunning Advocate and the Perishing Innocent
Through the story of Demosthenes defending a helpless maidservant against fraud, the author illustrates how rhetorical cunning can save the innocent, yet laments that few intercede with prayer for the miserable.
If only judges would follow the cunning of Demosthenes — but directed toward God and neighbor — rather than that of the impious and the unjust. A certain maidservant had received money as a deposit from two guests, on the condition that she would return it to both of them at the same time. After some time had passed, one of them — as if his partner were dead — covered in squalor, deceived the maidservant, and was the one who received the deposit back from her. Then the other one arrived, pressing his claim and demanding back the deposit. The wretched woman was stuck — in the greatest lack of money and without any defense — now almost desperate, thinking about the noose and hanging. But Demosthenes was there as her advocate, and when the maidservant was called into court, he answered on her behalf as follows: 'Woman,' he said, 'she is prepared to keep faith and return the deposit — but unless you bring her partner, she cannot do it, because, as is expressed in your own words, this was the law and condition of the deposit: that the money not be returned to one without the other.' So it is that innocent people perish — because few pour out the prayers owed to miserable persons.
The Teacher Who Saved a City
Anaximenes turns Alexander's wrath against the town of Lansacus into its salvation by using the king's own oath as a weapon of deliverance.
We read that Alexander, while he was being driven by the highest zeal to destroy the town of Lansacus, was met by his teacher Anaximenes, who wanted to turn away his anger with warnings and at the same time, with prayers, to render him appeased and peaceable. Because Alexander weighed this carefully, he swore that he would not do what that man had asked. Anaximenes therefore said: 'I ask that you destroy Lansacum.' And so that town has been saved from the destruction to which it had been destined.
Read the original Latin
Qui jam aliquantisper in superliminari stetimus, in curias principum descendamus, et potestatum "et officialium videamus excessus, qui non debent sub silentio praeteriri, nec possunt sine periculo ignorari. Scriptum est : Venatio leonis onager in heremo. Sic pascua divitum pauperes, quod ab ofïicialibus curiarum pauperes experiuntur cotidie, qui ab hoc verbo : officio, officis, quod est : noceo, noces, non ab hoc nomine : officium-officii, videntur vocabulum mutuasse. Nam genus hoc hominum quod dicunt officiperdi depraedatur pauperes et insidiatur simplicibus, fovetimpios, opprimit innocentes. Luxuriantur in lacrimis egenorum, in pauperum nuditate, et, quod est deterius, etiam sic afflicti non audent affligentium eos malitiam aut violentiam aperire. Quod si fecerit, détériora prioribus sustinebit, et si causam suam in conspectu officialium proposuerit ipse pauper, aulici moventur graviter, opponit se simplici fraudulentus, justo impius, rustico curiaster. Sustinent ista judices infidèles, nec maleficos cohibent, quia, sicut vulgariter dici solet : operibus lupi congratulatur cor vus, et ministro iniquitatis impius judex applaudit, sicut scriptum est : Principes tui infidèles, socii furum, omnes diligunt munera, quia cum furibus participantes currunt, cum eis adicientes iniquitatis partem, ut lucri qualemcumque recipiant portionem. Qui misertus pauperis fuerit, occasum justitiae rleverit, si decreverit subvenire, si audeat obmutare, rationem cogetur reddere coram Herodianis, quasi criminis majestatis laesae.
Utinam Demostenis astuciam vellent sequi judices in Deum et proximum impii et iniqui. Pecuniam enim depositi nomine a duobus hospitibus ancilla quaedam acceperat, ea conditione ut eam simul utrique redderet. Quorum alter, interjecto tempore, tanquam mortuo socio, squalore obsitus, ancillam decepit, qui depositum ab ancilla recepit. Supervenit deinde alter urgens et depositum repetens. Haerebat misera et in maxima penuria pecuniae et defensionis existens, prope jam desperata, de laqueo et suspendio cogitabat. Sed Demostenes ei patronus affuit, et, vocata ancilla, in jus sic pro eadem respondit : Mulier, inquit, parata est fidem servare, depositum reddere, sed nisi socium adduxeris, id facere non potest, quia, ut in verbis tuis exprimitur, ista fuit depositi lex et conditio ne pecunia alteri sine altero redderetur. Sic ergo innocentes pereunt, quiapreces débitas pro personis miserabilibus pauci fundunt. Legimus Alexandrum dum summo studio ferretur ut destrueret oppidum Lansacenum, occurrit eidem magister ejus Anaximenes, volens iram ejus avertere monitisque simul et precibus reddere placitum et pacatum.
Quod perpendens Alexander non facturum se quod petisset ille juravit. Anaximenes ergo dixit : Peto ut Lansacum diruas. Et sic illud oppidum ab exitio, cui destinatum fuerat, est servatum.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Job.39.5-Job.39.6 — Who has sent out the wild donkey free, and who has loosed the bonds of the onager? Job.39.6 — to which I have made the wasteland his home, and the salt land his dwelling place.
- ↩Isa.1.23 — Your princes are rebels, companions of thieves; every one loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the orphan, and the widow's case never reaches them.
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