Quartum capitulum, in quo ostenditur per historias regum gentilium quod irreverentia Dei in principibus subvertit regna et principatus.
The Fall of Rome's First Emperors
The early Roman emperors from Julius Caesar to Tiberius met violent deaths despite their worldly greatness, showing that earthly glory without faith in God is empty and doomed.
I pass over the histories of the nations, and I see that sword or poison was brought against kings on account of their crime and guilt. First to present itself is the house of Romulus, through which nothing was once more powerful, nothing more glorious in this life. Julius Caesar, who was the first to usurp the title and office of emperor, did not escape the death threatened against him through Brutus and Cassius. He was, nevertheless, magnificent without cruelty, great-spirited without recklessness, inclined toward mercy, possessing constancy in favorable circumstances and in adversity — but because he had not built a place for faith in his heart, his piety was not precious or pleasing to God, nor was his virtue of any kind or his integrity, even though he preserved his honor in death.1 For when he perceived in the Capitol, with a great part of the senate consenting, that he was being set upon with drawn daggers, he covered his head with his toga and, with his left hand indeed, pulled its fold down to the lowest point, so that in dying he might more honorably preserve the dignity and honor of his royal title.2 His successor Augustus, showing civility to his subjects and forbidding himself to be called lord, avoided the thing itself — tyranny — and its stigma. Tiberius Caesar, third after Julius, lost his life through poison, and the sure sign of that poison has been held certain: that among the bones of his cremated body his heart was found undecayed. For that nature of poison is believed to be such that fire does not consume it when it is surrounded by the fire itself.
The Bloody End of the Tyrants
From Caligula through the long line of persecuting emperors, Rome's rulers suffered shameful deaths as divine punishment for their impiety, culminating in the scriptural truth that God humbles all who exalt themselves against His knowledge.
His death caused such great joy among the people that they prayed to Mother Earth and the gods not to grant the wretch a resting place except among the godless. Gaius Caligula, third in the line of tyrants, was killed by his own men. Tiberius Claudius, fifth from Julius, had his life ended by poison. The sixth from Julius — Nero, the castoff of the common people, the disgrace of the nation — lived shamefully, destroyed himself more shamefully, and descended to the underworld most shamefully of all; and in him the entire house of Caesar was consumed. The ninth from Julius — Vitellius — along with Galba and Otho (who killed himself), was dragged from the cell into which he had crushed himself, led away naked, and, with dung flung into his mouth and scattered everywhere, was torn to pieces by the tiniest blows, then dragged by a hook into the Tiber. Domitian, the twelfth from Julius — Vespasian and Titus having come between — was inflamed with heavy fury against those who worshipped Christ, and was condemned by the Senate and buried most ignominiously. Aurelius, Commodus, Helvidius Pertinax and his killer Julianus, and Julianus's successor Antonius Aurelius, Macer Macrinus, Marcus Aurelius, Alexander, Maximus, Julianus, Gordianus, Philippus with his son Philippus, Decius with his son, Gallus with his son, and the rest — whom it would perhaps be unworthy to name — all bear witness, most clearly, by their own end: what a terrible sin it is to dare anything against Christ and his Church, and with how heavy a punishment such daring will be atoned for. Truly the Lord is great and terrible, who humbles every height that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and who lifts the rod of sinners over the lot of the just — so as to destroy the adversary and avenger, and to protect the innocent.✦
A Warning to Irreverent Princes
The chapter closes with a prophetic woe against rulers who rage against God's anointed, abuse ecclesiastical authority, and show neither fear of God nor respect for man.
Woe, then, to those who rage against the Lord's anointed and, under the common law, claim the right to strip tithes from the church and clergy, who refuse to defer to excommunication, who fear not to empty out the alms of their predecessors, and who fear neither God nor man.✦345
Read the original Latin
Ad historias transeo gentium, et regibus exhibitum video gladium vel venenum propter eorum flagitium et reatum. In primis occurrit domus Romulea, qua nihil olim potentius, nihil gloriosius in hac vita. Julius Caesar, qui primus imperatoris nomen et officium usurpavit, mortem sibi intentatam per Brutum et Cassium non evasit. Erat tamen sine crudelitate magnificus, sine temeritate magnanimis, pronus ad veniam, in prosperis et adversis habens constantiam, sed quia locum sibi non aedificaverat in corde ejus fidei pietas, pretiosa non erat aut Deo placita virtus ejus quantalibet aut honestas, licet in morte servaverit honestatem. Ut enim animadvertit in Capitolio, magna parte senatus consentiente, strictis se pugionibus peti, toga caput obvolvit, sinistra vero manu sinum ad ima deduxit, quo moriturus honestius regio nomini custodiret decentiam et honorem. Successor ejus Augustus civilitatem subditis gerens et se dominum vocari prohibens, rem tyrranidem declinavit et notam. Tiberius Caesar, tertius a Julio, vitam perdidit per venenum, cujus veneni signum certum habitum est quod inter ossa cremati cor ejus inventum est incorruptum. Ea enim natura veneni creditur, ut illud ignis non conficiat quando ipso cingetur.
Hujus morte tanta enim in populo facta laetitia, ut Terram Matrem et deos orarent ne misero sedem nisi inter impios nullam darent. Caius Caligula, tertius'in tyrannis, a suis occiditur. Tyberii Claudii, quinti a Julio, vita toxico terminatur. Sextus a Julio, plebis abjectio, gentis obprobrium, Nero, turpiter vivens, turpius seipsum perimens, turpissime descendit ad inferos, et in eo omnis familia Caesaris est consumpta. Nonus a Julio, Vitellius IO, Galba et Othone, qui et ipse Otho manu propria perimitur, interfectis, a cellula protractus in quam se contruserat ', nudus deductus et, in os ejus fimo passim jactato, minutissimis excarnifîcatus ictibus, unco in Tiberim est protractus. Dometianus, a Julio duodecimus, Vespasia(no et Tyto interpositis, in eos qui colebant Christum gravi furore succensus est, et a senatu damnatus, ignominiosissime sepultus est. Aurelius, Commodus, Helvidius Pertinax, et occisor ejus, Julianus, et Juliani successor, Antonius Aurelius, Macer Macrinus, Marcus Aurelius, Alexander, Maximus, Julianus, Gordianus, Philippus cum Philippo filio suo, Decius cum filio, Gallus cum filio, et ceteri, quos fortassis indignum est memorari,fine suo manifestissime protestantur quantum piaculum sit audere aliquid in Christum et ecclesiam, et quam gravibus ausa suppliciis expientur. Vere magnus Dominus et terribilis qui humiliât omnem altitudinem se adversus Dei scientiam extollentem, tollensque virgam peccatorum super sortem justorum, ut destruat adversarium et ultorem, et protegat innocentem.
Vae igitur eis qui desaeviunt in christos Domini et lege communi sanctiunt ut décimas auferant ecclesiae et clero non déférant, excommunicationem non timeant, eleemosynas praedecessorum évacuent, nec Deum nec hominem vereantur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Pet.5.5-1Pet.5.6;Jas.4.6 — Likewise, younger people, submit to the elders. And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. 1Pet.5.6 — Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Jas.4.6 — But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'
- ↩Ps.2.2 — The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed.
Notes
- 1 ↩The phrase 'locum sibi non aedificaverat in corde ejus fidei pietas' is rendered to convey that Caesar never established a foundation of faith in his heart; the metaphor of 'building a place' is kept to preserve the architectural image.
- 2 ↩sinistra vero manu: vero is rendered as 'indeed' to capture the emphatic force, underscoring the deliberate gesture of the left hand.
- 3 ↩sanctiunt: rare verb; rendered here as 'claim the right' to capture the sense of asserting a legal or customary entitlement under the common law (lege communi). The gloss 'consecrate' or 'treat as holy' is possible but less fitting in this juridical context.
- 4 ↩déférant: rendered 'defer to' (i.e., show respect for or submit to the authority of excommunication); the alternative sense 'bring' is less likely here.
- 5 ↩christos Domini: 'the Lord's anointed' preserves the biblical resonance of the term while keeping it readable; the plural refers to those who hold sacred office in the church.
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