Nonum capitulum, de executione justitiae super praefectos et ballivos.
The Lawlessness of Oppressed Peoples
Princes are urged to correct by justice the evil practiced in cities where the weak are oppressed by the strong.
Princes, consider: another kind of evil is practiced in the cities, and it must be corrected by the hand of justice.
The Rot of Sold Offices
Because offices are sold and officials rotate rapidly, the poor are ever more cruelly exploited, as illustrated by Tiberius Caesar's deliberate policy of keeping procurators in place to spare the people from fresh predators.
A people lives without law, because the weaker are oppressed by the stronger, just as it is written: "The face of man, like the fish of the sea, and like creeping things that have no leader."✦ Because the offices of prefectures are put up for sale, and officials are sent in succession one after another, the poor are fleeced all the more cruelly and bitterly. Thus we read about Tiberius Caesar that when he appointed procurators in the provinces, he rarely replaced them. When asked why he did this, he answered: "Because in this way I spare the common people under my authority." For procurators know they hold their post only for a short time, so they squeeze the people down to the blood — and the more briefly they dominate, the more heavily they oppress. And those who newly arrive squander whatever they find.
The Wounded Man and the Flies
A parable of a wounded man tormented by flies shows that driving away satiated pests only invites fiercer ones, illustrating the harm of replacing one corrupt official with another.
This is shown by the example of a certain wounded man who, lying in the road, was being tormented by a swarm of flies. A certain person came along and began to drive the flies away, thinking that because of his weakness the wounded man would let this go. To him the wounded man replied: 'You've done me more harm than good, because the flies you drove away were already full of blood and were bothering me less.' But the flies that come next, swarming in fresh, will sting me all the more fiercely.
The Devil's Fierce Rage
Just as the devil rages more fiercely against the Church knowing his time is short, so corrupt officials grow more oppressive when their tenure is brief.
We read about the devil that the less time he sees remaining for himself, the more fiercely he will begin to rage against the Church.
The Character of True Magistrates
Those chosen for public office are often corrupt, but true magistrates must love God, practice impartial justice, accept no bribes, and judge all equally, for law animated by justice shows no favoritism.
Now if it happens by custom that the leading men of cities — whether they are called prefects or magistrates or go by whatever title of dignity — are chosen by the citizens and placed in public offices, very often they turn out to be usurers or notorious sinners, who become among the people a spark and source of sin. They show themselves devoted to those above them, flattering to those beneath, affable to their equals, kind to the humble, merciful to the penitent, stern toward the proud, and inflexible toward the obstinate.1 But when this infamous brood of Hellekini has learned to seize plunder — and to devour men — it will not be deterred by a greased hide, as a dog is not.23 Therefore, such people should be placed in public office — people who love God, who shudder at sin, who practice justice, who show no favoritism, who accept no bribes, who don't presume on their familiarity with princes or the court, or with those who cling to the side of princes, to gain a confidence born of impunity, nor have the audacity to be cruel, in whose hands the scales of justice do not waver, and who are not swayed by hatred or by love — who, according to that lordly law, hear the lowly just as they hear the great.✦45 For law, animated as it were by justice, shows no favoritism; judging all justly, it spares no one.✦6
Mercy Tempering Justice
When Zaleucus's son faced the law's full penalty, the father shared the punishment with him, wonderfully preserving both mercy and justice.
When in the city of the Locrians the son of Zaleucus was caught in adultery, and by the laws of the city — which he himself had established — he was to be deprived of both eyes, the people wished to relax the punishment owed to the son, out of reverence and honor for the father.7 But the father, hesitating for a moment, resisted; and at last, overcome by the people's insistence, he had one eye torn out for himself and one for his son. And so, with the use of sight left to each, by a wonderful tempering of equity he preserved mercy in the father and justice in the prince.8
Oversight, Divine Law, and the End of Justice
Human laws must conform to divine law, faithful oversight must be exercised over officials, and the ultimate purpose of justice is to protect the innocent and restrain the wicked.
The laws and customs by which people live must also agree with divine law — otherwise they should be abolished and others put in their place. Frequent, faithful oversight must also be exercised — [Text uncertain — possibly an abbreviation or scribal mark: T?] …would administer justice for officials and bailiffs, and promote the rule of love. For all justice exists so that what is owed may be carried out peacefully with innocence, and the recklessness of the wicked may be restrained.
Read the original Latin
Considèrent principes : aliud genus mali in civitatibus exercetur, et manu justitiae corrigatur.
Vivit populus sine lege, quia minor opprimitur a majore, sicut scriptum est : Faciès hominis quasi pisces maris, et quasi reptilia non habentia ducem. Quia enim praefecturarum officia venalia exponuntur, ministeriales successive mittantur, ideo crudelius et acerbius pauperes emunguntur. Unde de Tiberio Caesare legimus quod statuens procuratores in provinciis eos raro mutabat. Requisitus cur hoc faceret respondebat : Quia in hoc sibi subditae plebi parcebat. Scientes enim procuratores se ad modicum habere procurationem, emungunt usque ad sanguinem et tanto dominantur gravius quanto brevius, et qui récentes superveniunt dissipant quidquid inveniunt.
Quod ostendit per cujusdam sauciati exemplum, qui jacens in via multitudine opprimebatur muscarum . Superveniens quidam cœpit muscas abigere, putans quod hoc ille dimitteret ex imbecillitate. Ad quem ille : Maie fecisti mihi, quia muscae quas amovisti jam sanguine plenae erant, et me parcius molestabant. Quae autem supervenient, sicut texentes acrius jam me pungent.
Unde de diabolo legimus quanto minus sibi viderit superesse de tempore, tanto gravius in ecclesiam incipiet desaevire. Si vero civitatum majores vel praepositos, vel quocumque dignitatis nomine censeantur, a civibus de consuetudine contingat eligi, ponuntur in officiis fréquenter usurarii vel peccatores notorii, qui sunt in subditis fomes et origo peccati, qui se non exhibent devotos majoribus, blandos minoribus, affabiles aequalibus, benignos humilibus, miséricordes pœnitentibus, rigidos superbis, inflexibiles obstinatis. Haec autem infamis familia Hellekini cum didicerit praedam capere, hominesque comedere, Ut canis a corio non absterrebitur uncto.
Ergo taies in publicis ponantur officiis qui Deum diligant, peccatum horreant, justitiam faciant, personas non accipiant, munera non acceptent, qui de familiaritate principum aut curiae, vel eorum qui principum adhaerent lateri, impunitatis fiduciam non assumant, nec habeant audaciam saeviendi, in quorum manibus non titubet libra justitiae, nec moveantur odio vel amore, qui secundum illud jus dominicum ita pusillum audia/zt sicut magnum. Lex enim, animata velut justitia, personam non accipit ; omnes juste judicans nulli parcit.
Unde cum in civitate Locrensium Zeleuci filius esset in adulterio deprehensus, et secundum leges civitatis quas ipse condiderat oculo esset utroque privandus, ob patris reverentiam et honorem, poenam filio debitam populus relaxare voluit. Sed pater aliquantisper haesitans repugnavit, et tandem, populi victus instantia, sibi unum et filio unum oculum erui fecit, et sic, utrique relicto usu videndi, aequitatis temperamento mirabili misericordiam in pâtre et justitiam servavit in principe.
Leges etiam et consuetudines secundum quas vivitur sijuri divino non consonent ablrogentur et aliae subrogentur. Crebra etiam visitatio facta fideliter de . T? b praepositis et ballivis dhïgeret justitiam et regulam proveheret caritatis. Omnis enim justitia ideo exerce tur ut debita quiète gaudeat innocentia, et malignantium temeritas refraenetur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Hab.1.14 — And you make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things with no ruler over them.
- ↩Lev.19.15;Deut.1.17 — You shall not do injustice in judgment. You shall not lift the face of the poor, nor honor the face of the great. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. Deut.1.17 — You shall not show partiality in judgment; hear the small and the great alike. Do not fear anyone, for judgment belongs to God. And the matter that is too difficult for you, bring it to me, and I will hear it.
- ↩Rom.2.11 — For there is no partiality with God.
Notes
- 1 ↩The sentence describes the vices of bad officials in a long catalogue; the positive-sounding qualities listed (devoted, kind, merciful, stern, inflexible) are framed ironically — these are the wrong people displaying a counterfeit version of the right traits.
- 2 ↩The proper name 'Hellekini' is uncertain in form and may reflect a corruption in the manuscript tradition; translated as given.
- 3 ↩The simile 'as a dog is not [deterred] from a greased hide' is rendered with the negation supplied for clarity; the Latin leaves the comparison elliptical.
- 4 ↩The form 'taies' is rare and uncertain; it is read here as 'tales' (such men). The reading 'audia/zt' appears to be a scribal error or abbreviation, likely intended as 'audiat' (let him/her hear), and is translated accordingly.
- 5 ↩Jus dominicum (lordly/divine law) frames the standard of impartial justice as rooted in God's own law, not merely human statute.
- 6 ↩The personification of law as 'animated' by justice presents law as a living expression of justice itself, not a dead letter.
- 7 ↩cum is rendered temporally ('when') per the default reading; a causal or concessive reading ('since' or 'although') is also possible.
- 8 ↩The passage presents a classical exemplum of equity tempering strict justice — mercy and justice held together through a single act of shared punishment.
Eruditio regum et principum (Education of Kings and Princes) companion
Louis IX kept a daily rule of reading. Keep yours.
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