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Chapter 48ErudR.1.48

Sextum capitulum, quod ex affectu debito protectio subditorum nascitur quae in pace firmatur.

The Ruler's Root Affection

Because right affection naturally protects subjects, rulers must seek the heavenly pattern of unity so that peace may endure among those entrusted to them.

Since the protection of their subjects follows from the right disposition of affection in rulers, kings and princes ought to do this according to their ability: protect their subjects in such a way that the people entrusted to them may stand firm in the unity of peace. And if heavenly things are the models for earthly ones, and eternal things the models for what is present, let us consider the origin and source of unity — from which peace is derived — and how unity may endure in kingdoms, and how unanimity thrives among those who are subject.

Unity in Heaven

God's own Trinitarian unity is the source of all peace, shared with angels who remain in concord, while the proud apostate angel became inward discord and sows dissension.

In that ineffable and lofty nature of God, then, nothing is so fitting as unity, peace, and concord. For although we faithfully believe and earnestly confess three persons in the Trinity itself, the Trinity is nonetheless one God—united as much in will as in substance. This unity and peace God distributed to all creatures according to their capacity, so much so that he is called by name the God of unity and of peace.✦ From this unity of the Trinity, which the angels contemplate above themselves, they possess peace and concord, devoting themselves continually to unity. Just as they receive from that first light the splendor of light, by which they are inwardly illuminated with truth, and having become light they shine with the brightness of perfect light, so they have been made one—not in substance but by consent—having contemplated the simple unity.1 Among them, that apostate angel who dissented and exalted himself beyond his own measure paid the penalties of swollen dissension.✦ He was made, instead of light, darkness, and instead of unity and peace, an inward, scattered discord.✦ Hence he is as much at odds with himself as he incites others, from an abundance of discord and fury, into the weapons of dissension.

Creation's Sermon of Peace

The cosmic order, sustained by God's Word, preaches peace to rational beings through the silent harmony of the elements.

The elements nonetheless remain bound by the laws of peace; the bonds of peace established by God's Word through the laws of the first covenant no insensible creature can break — and the moment those laws depart from their peace, the world will cease to exist.✦ The sky gives light to the air, the air gives rain to the earth, the earth gives food and life to living things — and so God, ordering and governing all things into the deepest bond of harmony, preaches to us rational beings through silent, insensible things, inviting us to peace and concord.✦

The Prince's Trust and Mercy

Princes reign as Christ's stewards, entrusted with the sword to threaten rather than execute, called to temper justice with mercy so that their mildness reflects God's image rather than the devil's murderous pride.

Therefore, when princes pursue and love this — the people subject to themselves — they protect and govern them. For it is on account of this that they reign with Christ — nay rather, they administer human affairs in the service of Christ's kingdom.2 For this reason, from the Lord has been granted to them, over human beings, the pardon of life and the power of death, and the sword — not so much principally for carrying out executions as for making threats — which would that they might restore, undefiled, like a certain deposit, to the one who entrusted it!✦34 But if they mix mildness with terror, let them anticipate judgment with mercy!5 For many things have been corrected through kindness. People are ashamed to offend devout and merciful princes. But if perhaps someone has sinned shamelessly, let not a shameless person hinder a devout prince from generosity, nor let a grateful one shut out the rest from access to mercy — much less an ungrateful one.67 For the prince, in the exercise of mildness, bears the likeness of the divine image; but the tyrant, relying on tyranny, prefers the one who from the beginning has obtained the title of murderer.✦89

Love That Endures

Christ demands from rulers not martyrdom or poverty but steadfast love and protection of subjects, a love that must remain constant through every trial and never collapse into false clemency that abandons those under care.

Surely we see that some soldiers of the Church Triumphant are enrolled through the shedding of their own blood, while others, having given up everything and distributed all their possessions for Christ, purchase the kingdom of God through poverty, and still others, because they mortify their own members so as to pass over as a whole burnt offering, crucify themselves to the cross of Christ. From rulers, however, Christ regularly demands none of these things, but in their place he requires love and the protection of their subjects. Therefore, on account of the love in rulers — the good of patience and gentleness — let neither time alter it, nor power diminish it, nor necessity tear it apart, nor insolence inflame it, nor the wickedness of any single person wear it down.10 In this way, let the whole disposition of this virtue be supported by the same tranquility of heart, eagerness in action, and serenity of countenance; and if it happens that an act turns out seemingly contrary — to restrain the impulses of crimes — let conscience give assurance that the same act proceeds under constraint and against one's will.1112 For the protection of his subjects, therefore, let him love peace, foster unity, correct any wrongdoing, and let him do nothing out of personal hatred. Troublesome indeed is both the physician to the raving madman and the father to the undisciplined son — the one by binding, the other by beating — both by loving. But if they neglect them and allow them to perish, then according to the venerable Augustine in his letter to Boniface, such gentleness is false and cruel.

Read the original Latin

Quoniam ex affectu debito sequitur in principibus subditorum protectio, hoc agere debent pro viribus reges et principes ut sic sibi subditos protegant ut in pacis unanimitate consistant subditae sibi plèbes. Et si coelestia sunt exemplaria terrestrium, et aeterna praesentium, videamus originem et principium unitatis unde pax derivatur et unitas persévérât in regnis, et viget unanimitas in subjectis.

In illa igitur ineffabili et excelsa Dei natura nihil tam proprium quam unitas, pax et concordia. Nam licet credamus fideliter et confiteamur alacriter très personas in Trinitate, ipsa tamen ïrinitas Deus unusf est tam unitate vohmtatis quam substantiae unitate. Hanc unitatem et pacem pro earunf-captu proportionaliter universis distribuit creaturis, adeo ut nominetenus appelletur Deus unitatis et pacis. Ex hac igitur unitate Trinitatis quam super se contemplantur angeli pacem et concordiam possident, vacantes jugiter unitati. Qui, sicut ab illo primo lumine splendorem luminis praesuscipiunt unde illustrantur interius veritate, unde lux effecti lucis perfectae radiant claritate, sic unum effecti sunt non substantia sed consensu, et contemplata simplici unitate. In quibus ille apostata angélus qui dissensit, qui supra suam mensuram se extulit, dissentionis tumidae poenas luit. Factus est pro luce tenebra, et pro unitate et pace intiïnseca dissipatus discordia. Unde ipse tam a semetipso discordât quam alios ex abundantia discordiae et furoris in arma dissentionis instigat.

Stant nihilominus elementa pacis legibus foederata ; statutae pacis vincula nulla insensibilis creatura dissolvit quibus eas Dei Verbum primae conditionis legibus jimxit, quae x a pace sua a quando dehciet, statim mundus esse desinet. Coelum aeri lucem, aer terris ymbrem, terra victum et vitam viventibus administrât, et sic in imam compagem concordiae Deus cuncta f"Uj dispensans et ordinans et rationalibus per insensibilia muta praedicans, ad pacem et concordiam nos invitât.

Hanc igitur principes dum sectantur et amant, populum sibi subditum protegunt et gubernant. Ob hoc enim Christo coregnant, imo Christi regno humana dispensant. Ob hoc eis a Domino in homines vitae venia et potestas mortis indulta est, et gladius non tam principaliter ad operandum quam ad comminandum, quod utinam velut quoddam depositum commendanti restituant impollutum ! Si autem misceant terrori mansuetudinem, praeveniant in misericordia judicium ! Multa enim correcta sunt per benignitatem. Erubescunt homines offendere pios principes et clémentes. Quod si quis forsitan inverecunde peccaverit, non impediat a liberalitate pium principem homo inverecundus, neque caeteris aditum miserationis excludat ingratus. Princeps enim in exercitio mansuetudinis tipum divinae portât ymaginis, sed tyrannus, fretus tirannide, praefert eum qui ab initio sortitus est titulum homicidae.

Certe videmus aliquos inter ecclesiae triumphantis milites effusione proprii cruoris ascribi, quosdam vero dimissis omnibus et erogatis pro Christo regnum Dei paupertate mercari, quosdam vero quia membra sua mortificant ut in holocaustum transeant et se cruci Christo crucifigant. A principibus autem regulariter Christus expetit nihil horum, sed pro hiis affectum et protectionem exigit subditorum. Ergo propter affectum in principibus patientiae et mansuetudinis bonum nec tempus immutet, nec potentia mutilet, nec nécessitas rampât, nec insolentia exulceret IO, nec mal or uni hominum improbitas defatiget. Sic intègre hujus virtutis habitus astipulentur eidem cordis tranquillitas, operis alacritas et serenitas vultus, et si contingit actum exire quasi contrarium " ad refrenandos impetus criminum, conscientia fîdem faciat eumdem prodire coacticium, et invitum. Propter subditorum ergo protectionem pacem diligat, foveat unitatem, corrigatur praevaricatio, nihil ex personae faciat odio. Molestus est enim et medicus furenti frenetico, et pater indisciplinato filio, ille ligando, ille caedendo, ambo diligendo. Si autem illos negligunt et perire permittant, secundum venerabilem Augustinum ad Bonefacium, ista falsa et crudelis est mansuetudo.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩2Cor.13.11;Rom.15.33 — Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Be restored, be encouraged, think the same thing, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Rom.15.33 — Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
  2. ↩Isa.14.12-Isa.14.14;Ezek.28.17 — How you have fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who laid low the nations! Isa.14.13 — And you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to the heavens; above the stars of God I will raise my throne, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north." Keep the quotation open into v.14 for continuity. Isa.14.14 — I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'" Close the quotation here so the transition to v.15 lands clearly. Ezek.28.17 — Your heart became proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor. I cast you to the earth; I set you before kings, for them to gaze upon you.
  3. ↩Matt.24.29;Acts.26.18 — But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Acts.26.18 — to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.
  4. ↩Col.1.17;Heb.1.3 — And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Heb.1.3 — He is the radiance of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's own being, and he upholds all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
  5. ↩Rom.1.20 — For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes have been clearly perceived, being understood through the things that have been made: both his eternal power and divine nature. So they are without excuse.
  6. ↩Eph.6.17;Rom.13.4;1Tim.6.20;2Tim.1.14 — And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Rom.13.4 — For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is God's servant, an avenger for wrath against the one who practices evil. 1Tim.6.20 — O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you, avoiding the profane empty talk and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. 2Tim.1.14 — Guard the good deposit entrusted to you, through the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
  7. ↩John.8.44 — You are of your father the devil, and you desire to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The phrase 'non substantia sed consensu' distinguishes angelic unity (by agreement/will) from divine unity (of substance), a theologically significant contrast.
  2. 2 ↩coregnant rendered 'reign with Christ'; imo introduces a corrective intensification, rendered 'nay rather' to capture the self-correcting move from co-regency to stewardship.
  3. 3 ↩vitae venia et potestas mortis: the pairing of 'pardon of life' and 'power of death' captures the dual authority — to spare and to punish. The gladius (sword) is treated as a depositum (deposit/entrustment), a key theological image of delegated authority held in trust.
  4. 4 ↩non tam principaliter ad operandum quam ad comminandum: the gerundives express purpose; rendered as 'not so much principally for carrying out executions as for making threats' to preserve the comparative force.
  5. 5 ↩praeveniant in misericordia judicium: the imperative sense is optative/exhortatory — 'let them get ahead of judgment by showing mercy,' i.e., let mercy precede and thus temper judgment.
  6. 6 ↩The sentence plays on the contrast between inverecundus (shameless) and ingratus (ungrateful). The final ingratus is set in apposition to the subject of excludat, intensifying the reproach: it is especially unfitting for someone who has received mercy to deny it to others.
  7. 7 ↩aditum miserationis: 'access to mercy' — the phrase suggests that mercy should remain open and that one person's sin should not close the door for others.
  8. 8 ↩tipum...ymaginis: 'the type/likeness of the image' — a layered theological phrase. The prince in meekness reflects the divine image (imago Dei). Rendered as 'bears the likeness of the divine image' to capture both typus and imago without over-translating.
  9. 9 ↩eum qui ab initio sortitus est titulum homicidae: 'the one who from the beginning has obtained the title of murderer' — widely understood as a reference to the devil (cf. John 8:44, 'a murderer from the beginning'). The tyrant aligns himself with the devil rather than with God.
  10. 10 ↩The words 'IO', 'mal', and 'or' in the final clause are textually uncertain. 'IO' may be a marginal gloss or interjection; 'mal' and 'or' have uncertain readings. The translation renders the most plausible intended sense: that no individual's wickedness should exhaust this love.
  11. 11 ↩'astipulentur' is a rare verb; rendered as 'be supported by' following the sense of agreement/alignment with the virtue's disposition.
  12. 12 ↩'coacticium' is rare and uncertain; rendered as 'under constraint' to convey that the act is compelled by duty, not by desire.

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