Tertium capitulum, in quo ostenditur quod ex affectu pietatis securi sunt principatus.
The Necessity of Piety in Rulers
Piety is essential for all people, but especially fitting for kings and princes.
A feeling of piety is most of all a necessity in a human being, who among all other creatures is called a social animal.1 Yet this feeling is especially fitting in kings and princes among all people.2
The Prince as Physician of the State
A prince governs like a physician tending ailing limbs, and his punishments, like a physician's failures, are no disgrace when exercised with reason.
A prince is the head of the state, and when he spares himself while seeming to spare others, he handles the correction of his inferiors just as a physician handles ailing limbs. It is womanish, in a fit of rage — indeed, with the bridle of reason thrown off — for a man to turn into a wild and savage beast. It is bestial fury to delight in the blood of citizens, to cut off heads, and to eagerly investigate varieties of torture. For what else would they do if lions and bears and harmful serpents were to rule or reign over us? And, as someone has said, many punishments are no more shameful to a prince than many deaths are to a physician.
Gentle Authority and the Stubborn Will
Mild command wins ready obedience, for the human will resists force but yields to gentle guidance, as noble horses respond to a light bridle.
The more gently one commands, the more easily one is obeyed. The human mind is stubborn, and it strains against opposition — it's easier to follow than to be led. In the same way, well-bred and noble horses are better guided by a light bridle.
The Calm Spirit and the Peace of Kingdoms
A great spirit remains tranquil, and just as clear skies gladden the world, so calm rulers make their kingdoms safe and secure.
Isn't it the mark of a great spirit to remain always calm and tranquil? Isn't the state of the world more pleasing, more beautiful, when clear skies smile down?3 So too kingdoms are safe and secure when we experience those same calm and serene conditions.4
Terror and Tyranny
Miserable is the power that rules through slaughter and terror; where paternal affection is banished, tyranny reigns, and the difference between king and tyrant lies in ruling from necessity versus unbridled pleasure.
O miserable power, exercised through plunderings and slaughters, that uses its ministers as instruments of death, at whose wrath everything is shaken, and which, like a thunderbolt, strikes terror into all but endangers only a few! Where paternal affection is banished, clement rule is cast aside, and madness takes its place — there, it more truly tyrannizes. For this is the difference between a king and a tyrant: the tyrant rages for pleasure and with unbridled license, but the king punishes only out of necessity and for just cause.
The Beloved and Serene King
A praiseworthy ruler is secure in benevolence, beloved by all, affable and serene, judging rightly from a calm mind, for no one is safe whom all suspect.
O praiseworthy and salutary power, that uses arms for royal adornment more than for protection — because, secure in its own benevolence, it contrives nothing hostile, nothing savage, but is loved, defended, and honored by all, because it deserves nothing harmful from its subjects! For who would plot danger against him, who would attack him — under whom security, peace, and the seed of good work flourish? Who is affable in speech, easy to approach, amiable in countenance, unperturbed in mind, and always serene? For just as clear, pure water never rises from a murky source, so right judgments do not come from a disturbed mind but from a royal one. Let no one consider that king safe whom everyone suspects, and in whose presence nothing is believed to be secure.
Cruelty Multiplies Enemies
Cruelty spawns new enemies as cut trees sprout anew, and a ruler need only be feared as much as he desires.
For just as trees that have been cut back sprout again with a great many branches, and many kinds of seed, while they are being pruned, rise up again even thicker, so the cruelty of kings and princes increases the number of their enemies by raging against them. For the parents and children of those who have been killed, their relatives and friends, come and take their place by succeeding them. It is only necessary to be feared as much as one desires to be feared.
Read the original Latin
Pietatis affectum homini maxime proprium esse est necesse, qui inter caetera dicitur animal sociale. Praecipue tamen in hominibus decet reges et principes hic affectus.
Est enim princeps caput rei publicae, sibi parcens dum aliis videtur parcere; sic se habens in corripiendis inferioribus sicut medicus in membris languentibus. Muliebre est enim in irafurere, quinimo freno rationis abjecto, hominem in animal ferum et silvestre transire. Ferina est rabies sanguine delectari civium, praecidere capita, gratanter tormentorum gênera perscrutari. Quid enim aliud facerent si leones, et ursi, et serpentes noxii, nos regerent aut regnarent ? Et, ut quidam ait, non minus turpia sunt principi multa supplicia quam medico multa funera. Remissius imperanti levius paretur. Contumax est humanus animus, et in contrarium nititur, sequiturque facilius quam ducatur. Sic enim equi generosi et nobiles freno facili melius diriguntur.
Nonne magni est animi proprium semper esse placidum et tranquillum ? Nonne mundi status gratior, pulchrior, apparet cum serenum tempus arridet ? Sic regna tuta sunt et secura cum experimur eadem placida et serena.
O miserabilem potentiam quae rapinis et caedibus exercetur, quae ministris in mortem utitur, ad cujus iracundiam omnia quatiuntur, quae vice fulminis omnium timoré sed paucorum periculo suscitatur ! Ubi paternus affectus exulat, quae non régnât abjecta clementia sed assumpta dementia verius tyrannizat. Haec enim inter regem et tyrannum est differentia quod tyrannus voluptate saevit et licentia effrenata, rex vero sola necessitate punit et causa. O laudabilem et salutarem potentiam, quae armis utitur ad regium ornamentum magis quam ad praesidium, eo quod suo tuta beneficio nihil hostile, nihil efferum machinatur, sed ab universis amatur, defenditur, colitur, quia nihil a subditis R" demeretur ! Quis enim illi periculum strueret, quis illum impeteret sub quo securitas, pax, et boni operis semen effloret ? Qui sermone affabilis, accessu facilis, vultu amabilis, animo inperturbato, serenus semper apparet ? Nam sicut nunquam oritur liquidum sincerum ex turbido, sic judicia recta non prodeunt ex animo perturbato sed regio. Ne quis tutum aestimaverit regem illum cui omnia suspecta sunt, apud quem nihil creditur esse tutum.
Nam quemadmodum praecisae arbores plurimis ramis repululant, et multa satorum gênera dum rescinduntur surgunt iterum densiora, sic regum et principum crudelitas auget inimicorum numerutn saeviendo. Parentes enim et liberi eorum qui interfecti sunt, propinqui et amici, in locum eorum veniunt succedendo. Tantum necesse est timeat quantum appétit quis timeri.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin compresses 'maxime proprium [eius] esse necesse est' with hyperbaton; the sense is that piety's affection is most especially proper to, and necessary for, the human person.
- 2 ↩tamen carries a concessive-adversative force here: piety belongs to all humans, yet rulers have a special obligation.
- 3 ↩mundi status rendered as 'state of the world' — could also bear the sense 'condition of the world' or 'worldly status' depending on whether mundi is taken cosmically or morally.
- 4 ↩eadem placida et serena — the neuter plural 'eadem' ('the same things') is rendered as 'those same conditions' to supply an English noun for the adjectives placida and serena, which function substantively here.
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