Tertium capitulum in quo ostenditur per exempla Novi et Veteris Testamenti quod irreverentia Dei in principibus subvertit regna et principatus.
Reverence of Emperors and Kings
Constantine and Theodosius exemplify the reverence rulers owe to God and His ministers through humility and obedience.
Constantine, the most faithful emperor of the Romans, showed this reverence: when he had summoned a council of priests at Nicaea, he neither wished to hold the first place nor mingled himself with their sessions, but took the last seat. Was it not Theodosius who, through blessed Ambrose, having been suspended from the insignia of empire and the use of royal regalia, patiently and solemnly performed the penance granted for his homicide?
The Duty of Reverent Rule
A prince must bear the person of his community with ordered charity, supported by priestly prayers, to secure an everlasting kingdom.
So it was that Samuel, pronouncing sentence against Saul — the son of Jesse whom he had anointed after the feast — confirmed him in his kingship.✦1 Furthermore, although the one who blesses is greater than the one who is blessed, if a prince has carried out his entrusted ministry reverently, so great a reverence is to be shown to him as the head itself excels all the members of the body.✦2 But when is this ministry conducted reverently? When the prince, not forgetful of his own condition, remembers that he bears the person of the whole community of his subjects, and recalls that he owes his life both to God and to his subjects for God's sake, and distributes that life to them with ordered charity. And this is the reverence which, supported by the prayers of priests, leads to an everlasting kingdom, and through the grace of God will make the throne of the lord king and his successors immovable.
The Fall of Irreverent Kingdoms
History shows that kingdoms are overthrown and transferred when rulers fail to keep reverence before God.
Search through the histories of kings and kingdoms, unroll the annals of the nations, and you'll see principalities overthrown and kingdoms transferred — because, though they were ministers of kingdoms, they did not keep this reverence before God. Indeed, the more illustrious they were considered, the more they were brought low in disgrace once they began to swell with arrogance against the things of God — as it is written: 'Kingdom is transferred from nation to nation because of injustices, wrongs, outrages, and various deceits.'✦
Warnings from Fallen Kings
Saul, Elah, Zimri, Hazael, and many other kings met violent ends as warnings against irreverent rule.
King Saul died in disgrace along with his sons, because his end did not match his beginning.✦ King Elah, the son of Baasha, is killed by Zimri, his own servant — but when that same servant took the throne, he himself was burned up along with the royal house by his own hand.✦ Hazael kills King Ben-hadad and succeeds him in the kingdom.✦ I'll pass over the cases of kings Joash, Jeroboam, Menahem son of Gadi, and likewise Shallum, and the son of Remaliah, King Amon, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah — all of whom met a violent death.
Read the original Latin
Hanc reverentiam Constantinus, fidelissimus Romanorum imperator, exhibuit qui, cum apud Nicheam sacerdotum concilium convocasset, nec primum locum tenere voluit, nec consessibus eorum se miscuit, sed sedem novissimam occupavit. Nonne Theodosius, per beatum Ambrosium insignibus imperii et regalium usu suspensus, indultam homicidii penitentiam patienter et sollemniter egit ? Sic Samuel in Saul dictans sententiam, quem de post fêtantes accepit Ysai fîlium confirmavit. Ceterum etsi major sit qui benedicit eo qui benedicitur, si tamen princeps susceptum ministerium reverenter gesserit, tanta sibi est exhibenda reverentia quantum caput ipsum omnibus membris corporis antecellit. Tune autem reverenter geritur cum, suae conditionis non immemor, universitatis subditorum se personam gerere recordatur, et vitam suam Deo et subditis propter Deum meminit se debere, et eam illis ordinata distribuit caritate. Et haec est reverentia quae sacerdotum suffulta precibus, deducit ad regnum perpetuum, et per Dei gratiam faciet domini regis et successorum ejus immobilem esse thronum.
Regum et regnorum percurrantur historiae, gentium revolvantur annales, et videbimus subrutos principatus et regna translata, quia, cum essent regnorum ministri, non est ab eis apud Deum haec reverentia custodita. Quinimo quanto clariores sunt habiti, tanto, cum adversus ea quae Dei sunt coeperunt intumescere, vilius sunt prostrati, sicut scriptum est : Regnum a gente in gentem transfertur propter injustitias, et injurias, et contumelias, et diversos dolos. Rex Saul cum filiis ignominiose decessit, quia finis ejus principio non respondit. Rex Hela, filius Baasa, a Zambri servo ejus, occiditur, sed cum idem servus regnaret, ipse a seipso cum domo regia concrematur. Azael regem Benadab interficit, et eidem in regno succedit. Pertranseo de regibus Joas, Jéroboam, Manaen filio, necnon et Sellum, et filio Romeliae, rege Amon, Joachim, Sedechia, qui omnes morte praeoccupati sunt violenta.
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Sam.10.1 — Then Samuel took the flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, "Has not the LORD anointed you as leader over his inheritance?"
- ↩Heb.7.7 — And without any dispute, the lesser is blessed by the greater.
- ↩Dan.4.17 — The tree that you saw, which grew strong, whose height reached the heavens and whose sight extended to all the earth—
- ↩1Sam.31.1-1Sam.31.6 — Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines, and they fell slain on Mount Gilboa. 1Sam.31.2 — The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. 1Sam.31.3 — The battle raged against Saul, and the archers found him—men with the bow—and he was badly wounded by the archers. 1Sam.31.4 — Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and make sport of me." But the armor-bearer [REDACTED] not, for he was greatly afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it. 1Sam.31.5 — When the armor-bearer [REDACTED] that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him. 1Sam.31.6 — So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, together on that day.
- ↩1Kgs.16.8-1Kgs.16.18 — In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, for two years. 1Kgs.16.9 — And his servant Zimri, commander of half the chariot force, conspired against him while he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was in charge of the palace in Tirzah. 1Kgs.16.10 — Zimri went in, struck him down, and killed him, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned in his place. 1Kgs.16.11 — And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he struck down all the house of Baasha. He left him not one who pisses against a wall, neither his kinsmen nor his friends. 1Kgs.16.12 — Thus Zimri destroyed the entire house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke against Baasha through Jehu the prophet. 1Kgs.16.13 — because of all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they committed and which they caused Israel to commit, provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their worthless idols 1Kgs.16.14 — Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 1Kgs.16.15 — In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the army was encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. 1Kgs.16.16 — And the people who were encamped heard it said, "Zimri has conspired, and he has struck down the king." So all Israel made Omri, commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp. 1Kgs.16.17 — And Omri went up, and all Israel with him, from Gibbethon, and they besieged Tirzah. 1Kgs.16.18 — And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the citadel of the king's house, and he burned the king's house over him with fire, and he died.
- ↩2Kgs.8.7-2Kgs.8.15 — Elisha came to Damascus. Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick, and it was told to him, saying, 'The man of God has come this far.' 2Kgs.8.8 — Then the king said to Hazael, "Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD through him, saying, 'Shall I recover from this illness?'" 2Kgs.8.9 — So Hazael went to meet him, and he took a gift in his hand—every fine product of Damascus, a load of forty camels—and he came and stood before him and said, "Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, saying, 'Will I recover from this sickness?'" 2Kgs.8.10 — And Elisha said to him, 'Go, say to him, "You shall surely live"; but the LORD has shown me that he shall surely die.' 2Kgs.8.11 — And he fixed his face and set it until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept. 2Kgs.8.12 — And Hazael said, 'Why is my lord weeping?' And he said, 'Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will slay with the sword, and their children you will dash in pieces, and their pregnant women you will rip open.' 2Kgs.8.13 — But Hazael said, 'What is your servant, a dog, that he should do this great thing?' And Elisha said, 'The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.' 2Kgs.8.14 — So he went from Elisha and came to his lord, and he said to him, "What did Elisha say to you?" And he said, "He told me, 'You will surely live.'" 2Kgs.8.15 — But on the next day, he took the bed-covering, dipped it in water, and spread it over his face, and he died, and Hazael reigned in his place.
Notes
- 1 ↩The phrase 'de post fêtantes' is an unusual form; the translation renders the likely intended sense as 'after the feast,' taking the ablative participle with 'post' to refer to the sacrificial meal at which Samuel anointed Saul (cf. 1 Sam 9–10).
- 2 ↩The comparison of the prince's reverence to the head's preeminence over the body's members echoes the Pauline body metaphor (cf. 1 Cor 12), though the Latin does not directly quote it.
Eruditio regum et principum (Education of Kings and Princes) companion
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