Capitulum septimum, quod ex debita protectione subditorum conformantur principes ordini Dominationum.
Princes Called to the Love of the Seraphim
Princes are to be conformed to the Seraphim through love and to the Dominations through the faithful protection of their subjects.
Just as princes ought to be conformed to the most blessed spirits called Seraphim through the affection of love, so too are the Dominations to be conformed in the protection of those under their care.
The Contemplative Peace of the Dominations
The Dominations, beholding Christ's sovereign rule, rest in divine tranquility and share His dominion not for self-advantage but for the humble governance of those entrusted to them.
The Dominations are spirits — the highest order of the second hierarchy — who keep Christ's dominion before their eyes and consider how the courses of time, the movements of bodies, and the inclinations of minds are governed sufficiently and without disturbance. Carried into that sea of divine brightness, they withdraw into a kind of retreat of tranquility, where they enjoy such great peace, security, and joy that, by the prerogative of their reverence, the whole multitude of the remaining spirits of the subject ranks serves them — as the Domination it was made to serve.12 By a natural desire aided by grace, this order of Domination ceaselessly stretches itself upward, and having beheld the dominion of Christ, it seeks to become a sharer of His dominion — not proudly but humbly.3 For in this they are conformed to His likeness: they share in His dominion — not for their own advantage, but for the useful governance of the subjects entrusted to them.4
Four Qualities of True Rule
Drawing on Dionysius, the author names four qualities of the Dominations—disinterested governance, an eternal gaze, generosity, and severity—and exhorts earthly lords to embody them.
And, as blessed Dionysius attests, this order is said to have four of these qualities. For it presides — not to pursue its own advantage, but with its gaze fixed on eternity; it has generosity, and it has severity as well.5 Therefore, faithful lords — I beg you — look to the rule of ruling. Let them consider not their own advantage but the welfare of those under them; let their eye be set not on what is temporary but on eternity; let them have severity in the exercise of power, and generosity in their kindness.6
Lordship Free from Servility and Tyranny
True lordship, as Dionysius teaches, is free from all servility and tyranny, perfected by grace from instability to firmness, and governs according to eternal rather than temporal laws.
Hence blessed Dionysius says: I think the manifestative naming of the holy Dominations is meant to show a lordship that is not servile in any way, free from every lowly subjection, and not universally inclined to any of the tyrannical dissimilarities — that lordship itself, freely and fittingly, as stern, placed above every diminishing enslavement, unyielding in its demand on every subjection, and set apart from every dissimilarity. That is to say — as I think, and as I learned from my teacher — true and complete lordship is stripped of servitude; free in its disposition, in no way tyrannical in its governance over subjects; yet inflexible, severe, and in this respect not making subjects servile; nor is it itself, through external force or its own failure, liable to slip into the safety and subjection of a slave; it is raised above every dissimilarity. Truly, by the very nature of their condition, the celestial Dominations are unstable — but called back to God through grace, purified, illuminated, and perfected, they are firm, and are separated from every dissimilarity. These blessed spirits, however, are stretched forth toward the heavenly and eternal laws, so that according to them they may uniformly govern their subjects and, as far as possible, lead them back from dissimilarity to conformity. Because they lean in no way upon temporal things — which never remain in the same state and are therefore always found to be at odds with themselves.
A Humble Confession and Overflowing Grace
The author confesses the insufficiency of his treatment, asks pardon for exceeding the letter's proper measure, and acknowledges that the material overflowed beyond his original intent.
Above me, most merciful King and Lord, are the things I have briefly touched on. They need a more lengthy treatment, a more diligent and more skilled craftsman. Yet I know that I have exceeded the letter's proper measure, and for this I ask to be forgiven. And to tell the truth, I had meant to write only a letter, but the material overflowed and carried me further than I hoped.
Doxology and Colophon
The chapter closes with thanksgiving and glory to Christ, the fountainhead of all goodness, followed by the colophon dating the work to Paris in October 1259.
To him — to the Lord Jesus Christ, the ever-flowing source of all goodness — I give thanks, since every good thing comes from him.7 To him be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Done at Paris, among the Friars Minor, in the year of grace 1259, in the month of October, on the octave day of blessed Francis.
Read the original Latin
Sicut autem principes beatissimis spiritibus qui dicuntur Séraphin conformari debent propter caritatis affectum, ita et Dominationibus conformandi sunt in protectione subditorum.
Sunt autem Dominationes spiritus et secundae ierarchiae ordo supremus, qui considérantes secundum dominium Christi cursus temporum, motus corporum, nutus mentium, sufficienter et inperturbabiliter regi, rapti in illud divinae claritatis pellagus recipiunt se in quodam tranquillitatis secessu, ubi tanta pace et securitate fruuntur et gaudio ut pro reverentiae praerogativa militet eis ut Dominationibus caetera 'subditorum spirituum multitudo. Naturali vero appetitu adjuto per gratiam, dictus ordo Dominationum incessanter se sursum extendit, et Christi dominatione conspecta, non superbe sed humiliter dominationis Ejus fieri particeps appétit. Nam in hoc se conformât ad Ejus similitudinem in quo participât dominationem, non ad commoditatem propriam sed ad sibi subditorum utilem gubernationem.
Et, attestante beato Dionisio, quatuor haec habere dicitur iste ordo. Praesidet enim, non ut appetat propiam commoditatem ; aspectum habet ad aeternitatem ; habet liberalitatem ; habet et severitatem. Ergo fidèles domini respiciant, obsecro, regulam dominandi. Non proprium commodum, sed utilitatem considèrent subditorum ; non oculum habeant ad temporalitatem sed ad aeternitatem ; habeant severitatem in potestate, liberalitatem in benignitate.
Unde beatus Dyonisius ait : Sanctarum Dominationum manifestativam nominationem existimo ostendere non servilem quamdam, et ab omni subjectione pedestri liberam reductionem, neque una tyrannicarum dissimilitudinum ullo modo universaliter inclinatam, ipsam libère, decenter, ut severam ya dominationem, omni minorativae servifactioni superpositam, irremissibilem subjectioni omni, et segregatam IO ab omni dissimilitudine. Quod est dicere, sicut puto, et sicut accepi a magistro : vera et plena dominatio est servitute privata ; habitu libéra, nullo modo in subjectos tiranica directione ; tamen inflexibilis, severa, nec in hoc " subditorum servificativa ; nec ipsa in servi tutem et subjectionem aut vi exteriori aut proprio defectu labilis ; omni dissimilitudine superelevata. Vere ex suae conditionis natura Dominationes coelestes sunt labiles, sed in Deum per gratiam revocatae, purgatae, illuminatae et perfectae, sunt stabiles, et ab omni dissimilitudine separantur. Tanien in supernas et aeternas leges ut secundum eas uniformiter regant subditos, et quantum possibile est a dissimilitudine reducant ad uniformitatem, hii beati spiritus superextenduntur, quia rébus temporalibus , quae nunquam in eodem statu permanent et ideo semper inveniuntur sibi dissimiles, nullatenus innituntur.
Supra me sunt, clementissime rex et domine, quae perfunctorie praelibavi. Disputatione indigent prolixiori, artifice diligentiori et doctiori. Scio tamen quod modum epistolarem excessi, super quo postulo veniam mihi dari. Et, ut verum fatear, epistolam solam scribere proposueram, sed, exubérante materia, processit in longius quam speravi.
Ipsi autem Domino Jhesu Christo totius bonitatis jugiter scaturientis fontali principio actiones refero gratiarum, a quo habet originem omne bonum. Ipsi honor et gloria in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Actum Parisius, apud fratres minores, anno gratiae M CC quinquagesimo nono, mense Octobri, in die octabarum beati Francisci
Notes
- 1 ↩pellagus is a poetic/late Latin variant of pelagus (sea); rendered as 'sea' to preserve the image of immersion in divine brightness.
- 2 ↩The ut clause (ut…militet) is taken as resultative: the peace they enjoy is so great that the rest of the subject spirits naturally serve them. A purpose reading is also possible.
- 3 ↩The ablative absolute naturali…appetitu adjuto per gratiam frames the entire motion: the natural impulse is real but is elevated by grace, not replaced by it.
- 4 ↩The contrast between commoditatem propriam (own advantage) and utilem gubernationem (useful governance) is the moral heart of the sentence and the chapter's application to earthly rulers.
- 5 ↩ut rendered as 'so as to' with negative force (non ut) to convey purpose denied; could also be read as result.
- 6 ↩The parallel non…sed… / non…sed… / …,… structure is preserved to maintain the rhetorical force of the exhortation.
- 7 ↩fontali principio rendered 'fountainhead' to capture the water-source imagery of scaturientis (gushing/welling up) combined with fontalis (of a spring or fountain).
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