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Chapter 34ErudR.1.34

Secundum capitulum, de executione justitiae in principe.

The Royal Garment of Justice

A prince's good reputation rests on justice, exemplified by Job's testimony of clothing himself with justice and serving the vulnerable.

Now more than ever, a good reputation for princes spreads far and wide, since they carry out works of justice. That is why that distinguished king says: 'I have clothed myself with justice, and I wrapped myself in it like a garment.'✦ I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.✦ I was a father to the poor, and I most diligently investigated the case I did not know.✦ I crushed the millstones of the wicked, and from that one's teeth I snatched the prey.✦ What follows, in which the model of ruling and the justice of the one who rules is made clear.

Justice Adorned with Mercy

Justice is the royal ornament, but it must be joined with mercy, for the fountain of justice gives rise to the stream of mercy.

Well said: I am clothed with justice, because justice is the royal ornament. It greatly befits royal dignity to be clothed honorably in this way — to appear before the people in splendid display, and for the king to surpass others in adornment.1 Through this his dignity is adorned, his power is not harmed, and due reverence is preserved. Therefore, blessed Job, about to recount the works he had mercifully bestowed upon the needy, pours forth from justice.2 He who first knows to preserve what is just acts well in what is merciful, so that, having been poured out upon his neighbors, a stream of mercy may be drawn from the fountain of justice.3 Hence it is written: Mercy and truth guard the king.✦ For one without the other is not praised, but the other is found more praiseworthy because of the other.

Alexander and Aristotle: Conquest Tempered by Counsel

Alexander consults Aristotle on whether to destroy the Persians; Aristotle counsels ruling through love rather than slaughter, and Alexander obeys with great success.

When Alexander the Macedonian had subdued the Persians by his power, he sent a letter to Aristotle, consulting him in these words: "O outstanding teacher, teacher of justice, I make known to your wisdom that I have found in the land of the Persians certain peoples abounding in reason and sharp understanding, eager to dominate others and to acquire a kingdom." Therefore we have resolved to kill them all. Whatever you teach us on this matter, make it known in your writings. Aristotle answered him: "If you can change the air and water of that land, and besides the arrangement of the states, your plan is ungodly." But if you are to rule over them in goodness, and listen to them with kindness. If you do this, I am confident that, with God's help, all will be subjected to your good pleasure and command, and through the love they will have for you, you will rule over them peacefully with triumph. Alexander therefore, having received the letter, diligently carried out his plan, and the Persians were more obedient to his command than all other nations.

Justice Tempered: The Warning Against Excessive Righteousness

Ecclesiastes warns against excessive righteousness, for justice must be tempered by mercy, just as the sun's brilliance must be moderated for weak eyes.

From this comes the written warning: Do not be excessively righteous.✦ Not that justice isn't good in itself, but because, given the fragility of our human condition, it must be properly tempered so that it doesn't become too severe. In the same way, the physical sun, though it is good and necessary, nevertheless harms weak eyes with the brilliance of its splendor, and its heat harms a weak head if it isn't moderated. That is why this holy man tempered justice through works of mercy, saying: I was a father to the poor — defender, that is, of the innocent, and protector of those in misery.

The Bragmans' Rebuke to Alexander

The Bragmans, a people of radical simplicity, rebuke Alexander's insatiable conquest, showing that true contentment needs neither riches nor adornment.

It is reported that when the great Alexander was surveying the farthest shore of the ocean, he was preparing to subdue the island of the Bragmans. To him they sent a letter in these words: 'We have heard, most just king, of your battles and the happiness of victory that has followed you everywhere — but what will be enough for a man for whom the whole world is not sufficient?'✦4 We have no riches whose greed you should conquer us for. The goods of all things are shared by all. Food is our wealth; coarse and scanty clothing is our refinement and gold. Moreover, our women are not adorned to please — they regard such cultivation of ornaments as a burden rather than an adornment. For they do not know how to strive for more beauty in enhancing their appearance than what they were born with. Caves serve us a double purpose: shelter in life, and burial in death.

Alexander Spares the Bragmans

The Bragmans need no king for justice since they have no injustice; Alexander, moved by their words, chooses peace over conquest.

We have a king not for justice, but to preserve his noble standing. What room would punishment have where there is no injustice? Moved by these words, Alexander, thinking it no victory if he were to disturb their perpetual peace, let them go in his own tranquility.5

The Triumph of Innocence Over Armed Malice

Had Alexander attacked the innocent Bragmans, he would not have prevailed, for innocence is not easily overcome and truth triumphs over armed malice.

And perhaps if he had attacked them with war, he would not have prevailed at all against the innocent, because innocence is not easily overcome, and truth, standing firm in its own strength, triumphs over malice no matter how armed it is.

Aristotle's Counsel: Spare the Shedding of Blood

Aristotle urges Alexander to spare human bloodshed, for judging the secrets of men belongs to God alone, not to royal authority.

To this exercise of piety Aristotle was urging Alexander while he was instructing him, in this way: "Spare," he said, "the shedding of human blood, since this belongs to God alone, who knows the secrets of men."✦ Do not, therefore, take to yourself the divine office, because it has not been given you to know the divine mystery.6

Heaven's Cry Against the Shedder of Blood

The powers of heaven cry out against unjust killing; divine vengeance belongs to God, and the murderer becomes a self-destroyer facing eternal punishment.

So be as careful as you can not to shed human blood, because the distinguished teacher Hermogenes wrote, saying: 'When a creature kills one like itself, understand it as rational — the powers of heaven cry out to the divine majesty: Lord, Lord, your servant wants to be like you.'✦ But if someone kills unjustly, the Most High Creator will hold them accountable: 'Put them to death, because they killed and will themselves be killed.'✦ 'Vengeance is mine, and I will repay.'✦ And as often as the powers of heaven proclaim the death of the one who was killed in their praises, until vengeance is taken by the one who kills — who will be among the self-destroyers in eternal punishment.✦

The Prince as Minister of Law: Just Punishment and Divine Command

Scripture affirms that blood calls for blood and the sword for the sword, yet the prince who punishes criminals acts as the hand of the commonwealth, not as a murderer.

A parallel to this is read in Genesis: Whoever sheds human blood, his blood shall be shed.✦ And elsewhere: He who kills by the sword shall surely be slain by it.✦ If, however, a criminal is punished, it is by no means held against the prince, who is the hand of the commonwealth and the minister of the law; for the criminal brings death on himself by not keeping the physician's instructions. Whence it is written: You shall not allow evildoers to live.✦

Read the original Latin

Nunc autem maxime principum bona fama diffunditur cum opéra justitiae prosequuntur. Unde rex ille egregius ait : Justitia indutus sum, et vestivi me sicut vestimento. Oculus fui caeco et pes claudo. Pater eram pauperum, et causam quam nesciebam diligentissime investigabam. Conterebam molas iniqui et de dentibus illius auferebam praedam, etc. quae sequnntur, in quibus regnandi forma et regnantis justitia declaratur.

Bene dicit : Justitia indutus sum, quia justitia est regium ornamentum. Multum enim convenit regiae dignitati sic honorifice indui, hoc enim est in pulchro apparatu populo apparere et regem excellere alios in décore. Nam per hoc ejus dignitas decoratur, potentia non laeditur et debita reverentia custoditur. Unde beatus Job opéra sua enarraturus quae misericorditer indigentibus impenderat, de justitia praelibat. Ille enim bene agit quae pia sunt qui scit prius servare quae justa sunt, ut collatus in proximos rivus misericordiae ducatur de fonte justitiae. Unde scriptum est : Misericordia et veritas custodiunt regem. Nam unum sine altero non laudatur, sed alterum ex altero laudabilius invenitur.

Unde cum Alexander Macedo Persas ejus imperio subjugasset, Aristoteli direxit epistolam eum consulens in haec verba : O doctor egregie, doctor justitiae, significo tuae prudentiae me invenisse in terra Perses quasdam gentes abundantes rationem et intellectum penetrabilem, stuâentes super aliis dominari et regnum acquirere. Unde nos proposuimus interficere universos. Quidquid super hoc docueris nobis significa tuis scripturis. Cui Aristoteles ita respondit : Si potes mutare illius terrae aerem atque aquam, insuper et dispositionem civitatum, impie tuum propositum. Sin autem, dominare super eos in bonitate, et exaudi eos cum benignitate. Quod si feceris, fiduciam gero quod, cum Dei adjutorio, omnes erunt subjecti ad tuum beneplacitum et praeceptum, et per amorem quem habebunt in te dominaberis in eis pacifiée cum triumpho. Alexander igitur, recepta epistola, suum adimplevit consilium diligenter, et erant Persae magis obedientes suo imperio quam omnes aliae nationes.

Inde scriptum est : Noli esse nimium justus. Non quiajustitia non sit bona, sed quia fragilitate conditionis humanae ne nimis saeviat est débite temperanda. Sicut sol corporeus, licet sit bonus et necessarius, tamen excellentia splendoris infirmis nocet oculis, et infirmo capiti fervor ejus si non fuerit temperatus. Inde est quod sanctus iste justitiam temperabat per opéra misericordiae dicens : Pater eram pauperum, defensor scilicet innocentium et protector miserabilium personarum.

Fertur enim quod cum magnus Alexander ultimum litus oceani perlustraret, Bragmanorum insulam debellare parabat. Ad quem illi in his verbis epistolam miserunt : Audivimus, justissime rex, praelia tua et felicitatem victoriae ubique subsecutam, sed quid erit homini satis, cui totus non sufficit orbis ? Divitias non habemus quarum cupiditate nos debeas expugnare. Omnium bona omnibus communia sunt. Esca est nobis pro divitiis, pro cultibus et auro vilis et rara vestis. Feminae autem nostrae non ornantur ut placeant, quem quidem cultum ornamentorum potius députant oneri quam decori. Etenim nesciunt in augenda pulchritudine plus affectare quam quod natae sunt. Antra nobis duplicem usum praestant, tegumentum in vita, in morte sepulturam.

Regem habemus non pro justitia, sed pro nobilitate conservanda. Quem enim locum haberet vindicta ubi nulla sit injustitia ? Hiis verbis motus Alexander nullam ratus victoriam si eorum pacem perpetuam turbaret, in quiète sua dimisit.

Et forte si eos bello fuisset aggressus minime praevaluisset adversus innocentes, eo quod innocentia non facile superatur et veritas suis viribus constans de malitia quantumvis armata triumphat.

Ad hoc pietatis exercitium hortabatur Aristoteles Alexandrum dum eum instrueret in hune modum : Parce, inquit, sanguinis effusioni humani generis, quoniam hoc soli Deo convenit qui novit sécréta hominum. Noli ergo tibi assumere divinum officium, quia non est tibi datum scire arcanum divinum.

Cave ergo tibi quantum potes sanguinem effundere humanum, quia doctor egregius Hermogenes scripsit dicens : Quando creatura interficit I sibi similem, rationalem intellige, virtutes cœlorum clamant ad divinam majestatem : Domine, Domine, servus tuus vult esse tibi similis. Quod si injuste interficit, respondebit creator excelsus : Perimite eum ; quia interfecit et interfîcietur. Mihi vindictam et ego rétribuant. Et toties virtutes cœlorum repraesentabunt mortem iuterfecti in suis laudibus donec vindicta sumatur ab interfîciente qui erit unus de perse veratoribus in pœnis aeternis.

Hujus simile in Genesi legitur : Quicumque effuderit humanum sanguinem, sanguis illius effundetur. Et alibi : Qui in gladio occidit ipse utique occidetur. Si tamen maleficus puniatur, principi, qui reipublicae manus est et minister legis, nullatenus imputatur, eo quod ille seipsum occidit qui praecepta medici non custodit. Unde scriptum est : Maleficos non patieris vivere.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Job.29.14 — I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.
  2. ↩Job.29.15 — I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame.
  3. ↩Job.29.16 — I was a father to the poor, and the cause I did not know I investigated.
  4. ↩Job.29.17 — I shattered the jaws of the wicked, and from his teeth I tore the prey.
  5. ↩Prov.20.28 — Steadfast love and faithfulness guard the king, and by steadfast love his throne is upheld.
  6. ↩Eccl.7.16 — Do not be overly righteous, and do not make yourself overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?
  7. ↩Eccl.1.2 — Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
  8. ↩1Kgs.8.39;Ps.44.21 — then you—hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to each person according to all his ways, you who know his heart—for you alone know the hearts of all the children of humanity, Ps.44.21 — If we had forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a foreign god—
  9. ↩Isa.6.3;Rev.4.8 — And one called to another and said, 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the fullness of the earth is his glory. Rev.4.8 — And the four living creatures, each having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. And they have no rest day and night, saying, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.'
  10. ↩Gen.9.6;Exod.21.23 — Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person's blood be shed; for in the image of God he made humankind. Exod.21.23 — But if there is serious injury, you shall give life for life.
  11. ↩Rom.12.19;Deut.32.35 — Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for wrath, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.' Deut.32.35 — Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slips; for the day of their calamity is near, and what is appointed for them hastens.
  12. ↩Gen.4.10 — And he said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground."
  13. ↩Gen.9.6 — Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person's blood be shed; for in the image of God he made humankind.
  14. ↩Matt.26.52 — Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back in its place, for all who take up the sword will perish by the sword."
  15. ↩Exod.22.18 — Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The form 'décore' is a gallicized spelling of Latin 'decore' (ablative of decus); normalized reading translated as 'adornment'.
  2. 2 ↩The verb 'praelibat' is rare and its sense uncertain; likely 'pours out' or 'distributes' from prae- + libo. Translation renders the most plausible intended sense.
  3. 3 ↩The participle 'collatus' is ambiguous: perfect passive of confero ('poured out/contributed') or distinct lemma collatus. Context favors 'poured out' as a metaphorical stream.
  4. 4 ↩The rhetorical question echoes a widespread classical and patristic topos about insatiable ambition; cf. possible resonance with Ecclesiastes 1:2 or 5:9, though no direct quotation is marked.
  5. 5 ↩in quiète sua: 'in his own tranquility / quietude' — the phrase can mean 'in his own peaceful state' or 'in his own territory undisturbed.' The rendering 'in his own tranquility' captures the sense of Alexander leaving them undisturbed in their peaceful condition.
  6. 6 ↩arcanum divinum rendered as "divine mystery" to preserve the sense of a hidden divine prerogative, not merely intellectual knowledge.

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