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← Eruditio regum et principum (Education of Kings and Princes)/Book 1 · Eruditio regum et principum
Chapter 42ErudR.1.42

Decimum capitulum, de executione justitiae quam debet facere princeps circa seipsum pro paupere.

The Judge's Sacred Accountability

Princes must appoint judges who remember they answer to God, swearing to uphold equity without favoritism, deciding clear cases promptly but withholding judgment in doubtful ones.

Let princes also consider those they appoint as judges or governors in their own courts or in the provinces. These men ought to be all the more careful and conscientious, inasmuch as they are reserved for the examination of One whose wisdom cannot be deceived and whose justice cannot be violated. For a good measure — pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing — will be bestowed on them by a just Judge, so that with the measure they have used, it will be measured back to them.✦1 If they are appointed to offices under princes, let them first swear that they will administer judgment in truth and in observance of the laws. For as Cicero's common proverb says: whoever takes on the role of a friend strips off the role of a judge. Equity, to which a judge owes obedience, knows no left hand of hatred or right hand of favoritism. But where the case is clear, let it be decided without the cost of delay. Where the case is doubtful, let the decision be postponed. The traveler who sets out on the journey while thick darkness still covers the land, before the morning star has risen, is rushing ahead too fast.

Justice Above Power

When a case involves the prince himself, judges must follow the merits of the cause, as shown by the example of Machedon, whose just condemnation won him the judges' favor.

So if a question or complaint about a prince or a king is brought forward, or a judgment is rendered for him or against him, let it be handled as the nature of his case requires. For we read that in a court case the cause of Machedon — a man of Alexander — was condemned, and because the judges had placed justice above power, he went on to do them a favor.2

The Poor Man's Advocate

When a poor man sues the prince, corrupt judges rage against him, but the prince must then become the poor man's own advocate.

But now consider: a certain poor and humble man brings a legal action against the prince. Nearly the entire assembly of the prince's judges and counselors speaks on his behalf, and they seem to vie for the prince's favor to the prejudice of their own souls, so that from the indication of their countenance the judges are rightly seen to be suspect.3 They grow angry at the poor man and, as if they were raging with madness, they attack him with reproaches and provoke him. And when they have stripped away the rectitude of justice, they strip away the severity of a judge. For it is not proper to an upright and steadfast judge that the movement of his mind be read in his face and made evident. For where at a single word the cheeks easily grow pale, the skin itself wrinkles, the eyes flash, the expression or appearance of the face is disturbed, the blood frequently inflames it, the arms are thrown about, the body trembles, the lips are contorted — what is expressed is not so much anger as madness.4 When, therefore, the prince sees the poor man suffering these things, he must necessarily fulfill the role of an advocate on the man's behalf against himself.5

Judges Must Not Sell What Is Not Theirs to Sell

Judges and councillors must never accept gifts from litigants; the example of Pope Eugenius, the Julian law, and Samuel's blameless integrity all condemn the selling of judgment, while distant magistrates plunder provinces shamelessly.

Judges and councilors alike, by order of the prince, are not to accept a gift from any person involved in litigation, or from anyone they believe a lawsuit threatens. For while an advocate may sell his just patronage, and a skilled lawyer his sound advice, in no way may he sell his judgment. Hence the supreme pontiff Eugenius, when a prior was offering and pressing him more devoutly to accept a gold mark, said — since he had not yet heard the man's case — "You haven't yet entered the house, and already you wish to corrupt the master." By the Julian law on extortion, the official who stripped a province is held liable to restore fourfold what was taken from the provincials through his actions. And again we order and urge that if perhaps any honored man — decurion, landowner, or even colonist — of whatever rank, has been shaken by a judge of any order for any reason, if anyone knows that a legal sentence was for sale, or that a penalty was remitted for a price, or inflicted through the vice of greed, or finally, if anyone can prove a wicked judge guilty of any such charge, let that person come forward in public, whether the judge is still administering office or has already been deposed, bring the charge, and prove the crime reported; once proven, he will carry away victory and glory. Does not the justice of Samuel agree with the very letter of the law?✦ "If I have falsely accused anyone," he says, "if I have oppressed anyone, if I have accepted a gift from anyone's hand, I will disregard it today and restore it to you."✦ Samuel had harassed no one unjustly, for he shut out all false accusations.✦ But now the magistrates of princes, the councilors of the courts — straying from justice — plunder the provinces all the more bitterly and shamelessly the farther from the prince they see the people have been placed.

Corrupt Judges as Demons in Disguise

Corrupt magistrates are not judges but extortionists who rekindle extinguished lawsuits like demons stirring up crime, making laws into snares for the poor, unlike Samuel who traveled his circuit and returned home without taking so much as a meal.

God forbid that I should call them "judges" — they are, more truly, extortionists! From afar they scent war and the fire of litigation already extinguished, and they rekindle it — just as the infernal powers, to stir up torches for some crime, send Tisiphone or Megaera; and they scarcely hold back their tears when they see nothing to weep over. This is why the laws and customs by which kingdoms ought to be governed today have become snares to entangle the poor, and the instruments of slanderers. Satan goes out from the presence of his Lord to be sent into some province and shake the corners of the house of Job's sons, who were feasting in the sabbath of the heart; nay, he stirs up and disturbs the earth so that there may appear to be something that needs healing.✦ Or perhaps in this they imitate the demons themselves — because they are thought to do good when they cease to do harm. Therefore let these men be compelled by princes to make restitution, and they will not be such difficult exactors. Truly I know that provinces must be traversed, and cities, and fortifications, and officials, and the people visited — but would that it were as when Samuel did it!✦ Every year he would travel through the province, and after judging the people, he would hasten to his home, which was in Ramah.✦

The Innkeepers of Judgment

Modern judges cloak their greed in respectable language, grow wealthy from gifts, and then turn with lion-like ferocity on the very benefactors who enriched them.

Yet it is never recorded that he accepted food or anything in the name of handouts.6 For thus today there are not judges but innkeepers of judgment, who cloak their wickedness with a certain respectability of words — they want to color the malice of their own injustice, seeking from their dealings some profit, or at least a balancing of gains or losses.7 And when their goodwill has been won by gifts, when they have become wealthy, forgetting the favors done to them — those who had put forward the face of a serpent with a simple show of courtesy toward their benefactors — they put on the ferocity of a lion; nay, since they do not have the generosity of a lion, they tyrannize more cruelly than a lion.8

The Lion Who Remembered

Andronicus, condemned to the beasts, is recognized and spared by a lion whose wounded foot he once healed in a desert cave, proving that even a beast remembers a kindness.

Let this one example of his generosity be put forward to prove his ingratitude, and so let the letter end. For when Andronicus, condemned to the beasts, was being thrown to a terrifying lion, as though to be devoured at once, the lion looked at him and came toward the man playfully, and began to lick his hands and legs, and to hint at favor with a flick of its tail, and, setting aside his fear, the man rejoiced at the lion's deference; and when he was summoned and questioned by Caesar, he began to unfold the sequence of events in this way: "When my lord was holding the province of Africa with the proconsul's authority, and was tormenting me with daily and unjust beatings, I turned to flight and went out into the desert sands.9 And as the sun beat down fiercely because of the extreme heat, I went into a hidden cave, to which this lion later came, with bloodied foot, and began to groan and reveal its great distress by unmistakable signs. So the lion entered its den as though it were its own home, and when it saw me distressed in spirit, it approached me gently, and held out its foot, wounded by a large stake, to me as a plea for healing. I quickly pulled the stake sticking in its foot, pressed out the running infection, and dried the wound. The lion, freed by my efforts, lay down and rested, and from that day the lion and I spent three whole years in the same den, and whatever it caught in hunting it faithfully brought to the den to help me.10 But indeed, once when the lion went out to hunt without my knowledge, I, seeking safety in flight, was spotted and captured by some soldiers, and about three days later I was taken from Africa to Rome to my master, who at once arranged for me to be condemned to the beasts and, as you can see, threw me to the lion. This lion, however, is the one that was captured after I left; not forgetting the favor shown to it, it now repays me the reward of its healing.

Thanks Be to God

Andronicus is freed, the lion is given to him amid public acclamation, and the chapter closes with a rebuke to the ungrateful and a doxology to the eternal God.

And Andronicus, freed from punishment, received the lion as a gift by the consent of the whole people, with everyone shouting together and saying: "This is the lion, the man's guest; this is the man, the lion's doctor." Let them be confounded, then, who worship the image of ingratitude, who do not know or who are unwilling to render thanks for benefits received.11 But thanks be to God, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.

Read the original Latin

Considèrent etiam principes quos in curiis suis aut in provinciis constituunt judices sive praesides. Quos tanto circumspectiores esse oportet atque sollicitos amplius quo illius reservantur examini cujus prudentia non potest circumveniri, nec justitia violari ; quibus mensura bona, conferta, coagitata et supereffluens a justo judice conferetur, ut in quo judicaverint, judicentur. Qui si constituantur in officiis principum, primitus ipsi jurent quia judicium cum veritate et legum observatione disponent. Nam, ut ait vulgare proverbium Ciceronis : Exuit personam judicis quisquis amicum induit. Aequitas enim, cui judex obsequium debet, odii sinistram aut amoris dexteram nescit. Ubi autem causa est evidens, sine morae dispendio decidatur. Ubi vero causa est anceps, dilatio proteletur. Nimis enim festinat viator qui, crassis adhuc tenebris, iter aggreditur antequam lucifer oriatur.

Quod si proponatur quaestio vel querimonia de principe, vel de rege, vel pro eo, vel contra eum feratur sententia, prout exegerit qualitas ejus causae. Legimus enim in judicio causam fuisse damnatam Machedonis Alexandri, unde et judicibus egit gratiam quia praetulerant justitiam potestati.

Sed ecce nunc vir quidam pauper et modicus contra principem quaestionem intentât. Omnis pro principe judicum et consiliariorum fere coetus allegat, et in animarum suarum praejudicium videntur pro principe aemulari, adeo ut ex vultus indicio merito videantur judices esse suspecti. Irascuntur in pauperem et velut insaniunt, impetunt eum opprobriis et lacescunt. Et cum exuerint justitiae rectitudinem exuunt judicis severitatem. Non est enim proprium recti judicis et constantis quod ejus facie legatur et pateat motus mentis. Ubi enim ad verbum facile pallent genae, cutis ipsa rugatur, scintillant oculi, faciei scema vel figura turbatur, sanguis eam fréquenter inflammat, jactantur brachia, corpus trépidât, labia distorquentur, non tam iratus exprimitur quam insanis. Ubi ergo princeps pauperem viderit ista pati, vicem contra se necesse est expleat advocati.

Judices etiam et consiliarii ex edicto principis nullius hominis litigantis munus recipiant, aut cui litigium imminere credant. Nam licet advocatus vendere possit justum patrocinium, et peritus juris sanum consilium, nullo modo vendere licet judicium. Unde pontifex summus Eugenius priori sibi offerenti et instanti devotius ut acciperet marcam auri, cum nondum ejus causam audisset, ait : Nondum ingressus es domum et jam vis corrumpere dominum. Lege quoque Julia repetundarum dux qui nudavit provinciam in quadruplum tenetur restituere quod per eum provincialibus est ablatum : Et iterum jubemus ethortamur ut si quis forte honoratonim, decurionum, possessorum, postremo etiam colonorum, a cujuslibet ordinis judice fuerit aliqua ratione concussus, si quis sciât venalem de jure fuisse sententiam, si quis poenam vel praetio remissam vel vitio cupiditatis ingestam, si quis postremo improbum judicem quacumque de causa potuerit approbare, is vel administrante eo, vel post administrationem depositam, in publicum prodeat, déférât crimen, delatum approbet, cum probaverit victoriam reportaturus et gloriam. Nonne et verbo legis consonat justitia Sa'muelis ? Si quempiam, inquit, calumniatus sum, si oppressi aliquem, si de manu cujusquam munus accepi, et contemnam illud hodie restituamque illud vobis. Neminem injuste IO vexaverat qui omnes calumnias excludebat. Nunc vero magistratus principum, consiliarii curiarum, errantes justitiae, provincias spoliant tanto acerbius et inverecundius quanto populum viderint a principe constitutum remotius.

Quos absit ut dixerim " judices, sed verius concussores ! Procul odorantur bellum et ignem litigii jam extinctum diutius reaccendunt, sicut ad tedas in facinus excitandas inferi Thesiphonem vel Megeram mittunt, vixque tenent lacrimas cum nil lacrimabile cernunt. Inde est quod leges et consuetudines, quibus hodie dirigi debent regna, laquei sunt ad irretiendos pauperes, tendiculae et calumniantium instrumenta. Egreditur Sathan a facie domini sui ut mittatur in provinciam aliquam et concutiat angulos domus filiorum Job qui in cordis sabbato vescebantur ; imo commovet et conturbat terram ut videatur esse quod sanari oporteat. Vel forte in hoc taies ipsos daemones imitantur quod tune prodesse putantur cum nocere desistunt. Hii ergo ad restituendum cogantur per principes, et non erunt ita difficiles exactores. Vere scio quod oportet provincias circuiri, et civitates, et munitiones, et praepositos, et populum visitari, sed utinam sicut Samuel ! Per singulos annos provinciam circuibat, et, judicato populo, in domum suam quae erat in Ramatha properabat.

Nunquam autem accepisse legitur esculentum vel aliquid nomine sportularum. Sic enim hodie non judices sed caupones judicii, qui nequitiam suam quadam verborum palliant honestate, volunt iniquitatis suae malitiam colorare quaerentes ex negotiis aliquod emolumentum, vel saltem compensationem fructuum vel damnorum. Et cum eorum benevolentia muneribus est adepta, cum fuerint locupletes effecti, beneficiorum obliti, qui faciem serpentis obtenderant quadam simplici comitate, erga suos beneficos leonem induunt feritate, imo, cum liberalitatem leonis non habeant, leone crudelius tyrannizant.

Cujus liberalitatis ad convincendam ingratitudinem exemplum unicum proponatur, et sic epistola terminetur. Cum enim Andronicus damnatus ad bestias obiceretur leoni terrifico sicut illico devorandus, intuitus eum leo processif ad hominem jocabundus, manus et crura coepit leo lingere, et insinuare gratiam signo caudae, et, metu deposito, videns leonis obsequium, gratulatus est homo, qui vocatus, a Caesare requisitus, coepit in hune modum rei seriem aperire : Cum provinciam , inquit, Africam, proconsulari officio meus dominus obtineret, et me cotidianis et iniquis verberibus afïiigeret, in fugam versus sum, abiens in solitudinem harenarum. Et, aestuante sole, propter intemperiem nimiam intravi caveam latebrosam, ad quam veniens postmodum leo iste, cruento pede, coepit ingemiscere et dolorem nimium signis evidentibus aperire. Introgressus igitur leo specum sicut proprium ejus habitaculum, ut me vidit animo consternatum, ad me mansuetus accessit, et pedem magno stipite sauciatum mihi gratia medicinae porrexit. Ego haerentem pedi stipitem mox evulsi, et saniem effluentem expressi, vulnusque siccavi. Leo vero mea liberatus industria recubuit et quievit, et ex eo die ego et leo totum [in eodem specu exegimus triennium, et quod venatione ceperat fideliter mihi subveniens portabat ad specum. Sed profecto leone semel ut venationem quaereret, ipso nesciente, quaerens ego fuga praesidium, a quibusdam militibus visus, apprehensus, fere post triduum ex Africa ad dominum raeum Romam deductus sum, qui me statim damnandum ad bestias procuravit et leoni, sicut videtis, objecit. Leo autem iste est qui post recessum meum captus est ; qui non immemor exhibitae sibi gratiae modo mihi reddit salarium medicinae.

Et a poena solutus Andronicus de consensu totius populi leonem accepit in munus, conclamantibus cunctis atque dicentibus : Hic est leo hospes hominis, hic est homo medicus leonis. _ Confundantur igitur qui ingratitudinis adorant simulacrnm, qui nesciunt aut qui nolunt pro receptis beneficiis actionem reddere gratiarum. Deo autem gratias, qui vivit et régnât in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Luke.6.38;Matt.7.2 — Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing, they will put into your lap. For with the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you. Matt.7.2 — For with the judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you measure, it will be measured to you.
  2. ↩1Sam.12.3-1Sam.12.4 — Here I am; testify against me before the LORD and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe to make me look the other way? If so, I will restore it to you. 1Sam.12.4 — And they said, "You have not oppressed us, and you have not crushed us, and you have taken nothing from the hand of any man."
  3. ↩1Sam.12.3 — Here I am; testify against me before the LORD and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe to make me look the other way? If so, I will restore it to you.
  4. ↩1Sam.12.3-1Sam.12.4 — Here I am; testify against me before the LORD and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe to make me look the other way? If so, I will restore it to you. 1Sam.12.4 — And they said, "You have not oppressed us, and you have not crushed us, and you have taken nothing from the hand of any man."
  5. ↩Job.1.6-Job.1.12 — Now there came a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and the Adversary also came among them. Job.1.7 — The LORD said to the Accuser, 'Where have you come from?' The Accuser answered the LORD and said, 'From roaming through the earth and walking back and forth in it.' Job.1.8 — Then the LORD said to the Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil." Job.1.9 — Then the Adversary answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Job.1.10 — Have you not put a hedge around him, around his house, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have spread across the land. Job.1.11 — But stretch out your hand now and strike all that he has, and he will surely curse you to your face. Job.1.12 — And the LORD said to the Adversary, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand; only do not lay your hand on him." Then the Adversary went out from the presence of the LORD.
  6. ↩1Sam.7.16-1Sam.7.17 — And he went from year to year, and he would go around Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places. 1Sam.7.17 — And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel; and he built there an altar to the LORD.
  7. ↩1Sam.7.16-1Sam.7.17 — And he went from year to year, and he would go around Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places. 1Sam.7.17 — And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel; and he built there an altar to the LORD.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The 'measure pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing' echoes Luke 6:38 / Matthew 7:2. Candidate allusion pending Moses resolution.
  2. 2 ↩Machedonis is an uncertain proper noun form; the normalization is tentative. The identity of Machedon and the historical reference remain unclear.
  3. 3 ↩praejudicium rendered 'to the prejudice' — the phrase in animarum suarum praejudicium carries the sense of harm to their own souls' welfare, not merely legal prejudice.
  4. 4 ↩insanis (final word): the gloss gives 'a madman' but the form is ambiguous; rendered as 'madness' to parallel iratus/anger and preserve the comparative force of non tam...quam.
  5. 5 ↩vicem...advocati: the prince is urged to take the part of the advocate against his own judicial apparatus — the prince acts against his own court's injustice.
  6. 6 ↩esculentum is a rare word; translated as 'food' following the gloss. sportularum refers to handouts or small gifts, often distributed by patrons.
  7. 7 ↩caupones (innkeepers/tavern-keepers) is used figuratively for corrupt dealers in justice. palliant (cloak) is late Latin. emolumentum rendered as 'profit'; compensatio as 'balancing' to capture the financial metaphor.
  8. 8 ↩The serpent/lion imagery evokes biblical animal symbolism (the serpent's deception, the lion's power), but no direct quotation is identified. beneficos is read as 'benefactors' (those who did them good) following the gloss.
  9. 9 ↩The Latin is a long narrative sentence; broken into readable English clauses while preserving the logical flow of cum, et, and the direct quotation introduced by inquit.
  10. 10 ↩The normalized text contains an unmatched bracket: 'totum [in eodem specu exegimus triennium'. The bracket is likely a spurious markup artifact; the translation reads naturally as 'spent three whole years in the same den' without interpolating missing text.
  11. 11 ↩simulacrnm is a scribal error for simulacrum; translated as intended.

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