Prima epistola, secunda pars, ubi agitur de diligentia sui. Capitulum primum in quo proponitur regula regum, cum expositione hujus partis : Rex non multiplicabit sibi equos. In quo agitur de venatione et aucupio, et aléa, et pugna dardana.

The Divine Law for Kings

The chapter opens by introducing the rule of kings and expounding Deuteronomy 17:14–20, where God commands that a king must not multiply horses, wives, or wealth, but must write and read the law daily so that his heart remains humble and obedient.

It is time now, after reverence for God, to speak briefly about personal diligence, to bring the rule of kings into the open, and to instruct the multitude of princes in what the king must be. And so that princes don't think themselves freed from the laws, let them hear what is written in Deuteronomy: When you have entered the land that the Lord your God will give you, and you say, 'I will appoint a king over me, just as all the nations around us have,' you shall appoint the one whom the Lord your God will choose from among your brothers. And once he is appointed, he must not multiply horses for himself, nor lead the people back to Egypt, having raised up a force of cavalry.^✦¹² He must not have many wives, nor immense quantities of silver and gold.^✦³ Once he has taken his seat on the throne of his kingdom, he is to write out for himself a copy of this law of Deuteronomy in a scroll, taking the exemplar from the priests of the Levitical tribe. He is to keep it with him and read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and his heart may not be lifted up in pride over his brothers, and he may not turn aside to the right or to the left, so that he himself and his son may reign over Israel for a long time.^✦⁴⁵

The Forbidden Multiplication of Horses

The author reflects on the prohibition against multiplying horses, interpreting it as a warning against arrogance and excess, and challenges princes who claim the right to indulge in hunting, hawking, and gambling as royal prerogatives.

I think that if princes truly understood each individual word of the law that the Lord laid upon them, it would resound in their hearts like thunder. And in this way of living that is prescribed for the king — setting aside for now the question of his appointment — multiplying horses in great number is forbidden him, lest he become a burden to his subjects and arrogant toward himself. Now by the term 'horses' the lawgiver means his retinue and outward possessions, whose proper measure is fixed by the standard of necessity, or of usefulness, and of what honor requires. Plato, as the histories of the nations report, when he saw Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, surrounded by guards for the protection of his own body, said: 'What great evil have you done, that you need to be guarded by so many?' How much safer this man would have been if he had bound to himself the affection of his own citizens, so that just as the limbs are exposed for the head, so subjects would expose themselves for a prince or for a king! But let those who disparage kings and, behind closed doors, speak evil of princes against Solomon's counsel — let them answer me, I beg: If a king is not permitted to multiply horses, which are nonetheless necessary for military service and for the many uses of this life, will he be permitted to multiply dogs, or hunting birds, or wild beasts — say, apes, and such monstrosities of nature? For concerning mimes, actors, pimps, and such prodigies of humanity — which a prince ought to banish rather than foster — there was no need for mention in the law, since they are to be uprooted not only from the prince's court but entirely from God's people. It belongs to kings, they say, to exercise themselves in hunting for the sake of recreation, to sport with birds of the sky, to gather dice quickly, to roll them cleverly, and to frequent games of chance.

The Vanity of Hunting

Hunting is condemned as a boyish and worldly pursuit unworthy of kings, traced from its corrupt Theban origins to its empty triumphs, and contrasted with the true path to blessedness walked by the holy.

But if it's fitting for a king or prince to have boyish gestures — I'll admit this, since these things suit them, because they delicately provoke an itch for frivolity — but woe to you, land whose king is a boy, that is, boyish in character. Hunters, by the witness of Jerome in Sacred Scripture, are condemned — unless perhaps they're seeking the wild beasts of the reed, namely souls wandering in the mountains of pride, and hunting them more eagerly. And if we follow the account of history, the Theban people — foul with parricides, incests, and detestable, notorious fraud, famous for perjuries — gathered the precepts of this art or rather sorcery, which they later passed on to the Phrygians, a soft and shameless people. From then on this art has spread even among the nobility. They hunt a wretched little creature — a hare or a stag — with such great circuit, pursue it with such great superstition, that if it comes into the territory of the plunderers, there is innumerable applause, the hunters exult as if victorious now that prey is captured; the head of the prey and certain solemn spoils are carried before the triumphant ones, and so flute-players and horn-players declare the glory of the triumphant one as if over kings of barbarian peoples having been conquered. These are, in our times, the liberal pursuits of the nobility; these are their first elements of virtue. Not by these steps of the virtues did the holy and chosen of God teach us to ascend to blessedness, but Nimrod, or Esau, and the rest of the lost, a similar crowd.

The Folly of Fowling

The author turns to bird-hunting, acknowledging it as a milder madness but still frivolous, tracing its invention to Ulysses, searching Scripture for any precedent among patriarchs and kings, and finding only condemnation.

But let it be granted — let hunting be set aside. Perhaps this is owed to kings and princes — that they occupy themselves with fowling and pursue birds with birds. I confess this craft to be a milder madness, but not one lacking in frivolity. Ulysses, moreover, is read as the founder of this art, so that he might offer his Greek citizens new consolations of vanity — they who were wasting away in mind and body during the Trojan war after their parents had been killed. But even so, he did not want his own son trained in this art. An unprofitable and laborious art — one to which no son of a Christian ought to devote himself too excessively! I turn the pages of Scripture. From the state of innocence I look back to the patriarchs. Given the law, I'm drawn to leaders; I move on to judges; I look upon kings, and I examine the prophets — their duties, and also the pursuits of the faithful people. I find no one engaged in similar pursuits, except that some boast Judas Maccabeus as the author of bird-hunting.⁶ But if his wars and their outcomes are weighed, it will appear more clearly that he rejected this kind of vanity — as though, having tasted it, he refused to drink. "Where are they," says that scribe of Jeremiah, "who play among the birds of heaven?"⁷ They vanished with their birds, and down to the underworld they descended. If only our fowlers would hunt down gnats, wasps, and gadflies — so that they'd no longer be armed with their stings or spikes for the vengeance of man! They say that Virgil, when he wanted to restrain his nephew Marcellus from fowling, asked him whether he'd like a bird trained for catching other birds, or a fly shaped for the extermination of flies.⁸ But by Augustus's advice, he chose instead to have a fly made — one that would drive the flies away from Naples and free the city from an incurable plague.

When Hunting May Be Permitted

The author offers a measured concession: hunting can be respectable when done under necessity, with moderation, on one's own land, at proper times, and without neglecting prayer or overstepping one's station.

I know, however, that what I said earlier — rather too loosely — needs some explanation, because hunting itself can be both useful and respectable, depending on the reason, manner, place, time, and person involved. A deed gains both appeal and excuse if it's done out of necessity, promotes genuine good, or reflects what is honorable — because the mind's disposition determines the character of the action. For if this activity couldn't be undertaken without harming one's salvation, so great a patriarch would not have sent his son — the son through whom the promised blessing would be won by devoted, wholehearted obedience. There's no danger to one's salvation here, then: if necessity's goad presses and someone is driven to live this way; if, wanting to avoid idleness and sloth, they occupy themselves with real responsibilities while building endurance through effort; if, fleeing the burden of bodily excess, they help themselves by such exercise — as long as in all of this they preserve the dignity of their person. The approach is considered praiseworthy when someone acts with moderation and good judgment — and, where possible, with real benefit — so as not to overstep into excess, or to take on what is commanded and then let it lapse. The place, too, must be taken into account: when hunting is pursued on one's own land, or on shared or common ground, no injury should be done to the poor's small holdings, and places of recognized renown should be treated with the reverence they're owed. Time, for its part, both adds to fault and diminishes it — whenever vanity usurps what religion or prayer claims for itself, or what devotion rightly preserves. One's person also lends distinction to the pursuit, as long as, standing firm in one's own duty, it doesn't seize what belongs to another.

The Dignity of Office and the Condemnation of Gambling

The author warns that hunting is unworthy of those in high office, citing canonical penalties and Themistocles' counsel, then turns to dice and games of chance, condemning them as the mother of lies, blasphemy, theft, and contempt for the Church.

Just as it is considered unworthy if a hunter — whether of the woods or of the air — aspires to the pontificate or to a kingdom, so it will be considered even more unworthy if from either height one descends to the butcherings of hunters. Furthermore, concerning the truth and severity of the canons, hunting blocks the ascent of its own dependents not only to higher things but even takes away the rank of the highest priesthood already obtained. Whence Themistocles the philosopher, disapproving of this practice in those who ought to hold rule among the people, says: 'Magistrates must be kept away from games and from whatever lighter pursuits, lest the public affair seem to be playing, and having abandoned its own gravity, foretell its own failure.' If, however, it happens that they are occupied with greater matters in the years of youth, by arrangement of age they are permitted to subtract something from gravity and to be more lenient toward themselves, provided that by the progress of maturity they compensate for it with advantage to the public good. I consider this my response concerning hunts and fowling. Let an answer be given, if it pleases, concerning dice and gaming pieces. But there is no need to linger any longer on these matters, since both canonical and civil laws sufficiently condemn that game which — if one believes the histories of the nations — the Asian Attalus invented; but after the kingdom of Asia was cut down, the game of dice migrated under manifold appearances among the spoils of the overthrown city to the Greeks, and passing from the Greeks now occupies Christians all too much — which, now that the light of truth has been revealed, it would be more useful to unlearn than to teach. Dice are the mother of lies, of perjuries, of blasphemies, of scurrilous and useless words, and even of contempt for the sacrosanct mother Church; and from coveting what belongs to others it squanders its own, and having no respect for inheritance, when it has poured that out, it gradually slips into theft and plunder.

Gambling's Ruin of Poor and Noble Alike

The author refutes the claim that gambling is harmless for the powerful, citing the Spartan Tylon's disgust at Corinthian leaders, the insult of golden dice sent to King Demetrius, and the way vice passes from father to degenerate son.

From dice games men are armed for quarrels; they rush into enmities, and with time consumed miserably, burdened by sins, they fall into even more wretched poverty.⁹ But someone says, that may be true among the poor, but not among kings, princes, or barons. Then let them read the histories and consider how Tylon of Lacedaemon, sent to Corinth to form an alliance, found the leaders and elders of the people absorbed in gambling.¹⁰ His mission having failed, he went back, saying he had no wish to tarnish the glory of the Spartans — whose renown was built up at Byzantium — with this disgrace, so that it would be said they had entered into alliances with gamblers.¹¹ Golden dice were sent to King Demetrius as a childish reproach of frivolity, so that the royal person — who in the majesty of the kingdom feared to commit even slight offenses — would be publicly dishonored.¹² But nowadays the wisdom of nobles and elders is praised if they have any skill in hunting, if they've been trained in gambling, if they've broken the strength of their nature with the soft tones of an effeminate voice, if they've devoted themselves to musical instruments and melodies — and what is more abominable, this abuse passes from parents to children.¹³ If a harmful old man delights in dice, the heir — puffed up and wearing his bulla — plays the same game and moves his weapons with the same little die.¹⁴¹⁵ What will a son ever do except what he has seen his father doing? That's why degenerate heirs are born to the nobility today, and why they dishonor their noble lineage through a monstrous softness of sin.¹⁶

The Dardanian Battle and True Meditation

The author dismisses the Dardanian battle game—Ulysses' invention—as a treacherous exercise that wastes the mind, and contrasts it with holy meditation on the heavenly mansions, which alone sharpens understanding toward blessedness.

And let no one throw the Dardanian battle at me — that invention of Ulysses — and on that basis argue it should be pursued, as they say, because, with the mind suspended in meditation, it seems to sharpen the keenness of understanding; for that very reason it strikes me as all the more ruinous and treacherous, because I know of nothing more unfortunate than to labor hardest at the very thing in which the least progress is made.¹⁷¹⁸ O holy meditation — to devote that work and, with careful effort, to apply oneself diligently to calculating the points of the third sphere, from which the summit of understanding was able to visit the dwelling-places of the heavenly citizens and to range throughout the blessedness of the fatherland!^✦¹⁹²⁰²¹

Conclusion: The Limit Set on Horses

The chapter closes by returning to Deuteronomy 17:16, affirming that the limit set on horses for Israelite kings forbids Christians from the phantasmal abuses of hunting, gambling, and worldly vanity.

These things have been said, then, because a limit is set on the number of horses for the kings of Israel — and, since they are Christians, for Christians as well — by which these alarming prodigies of phantasms or of abuses are forbidden.^✦²²²³

Read the original Latin

Tempus est ut, post reverentiam Dei, de personali diligentia breviter disseratur, et in medium regum regula proferatur, et in rege multitudo principum informetur. Et ne se principes solutos legibus opinentur, audiant quid in Deuteronomio conscribatur : Cum ingressus fueris terram, quam Dominus Deus tuus dabit tibi, et dixeris : Constituam super me regem, sicut habent omnes per circuitum nationes, eum constitues quem Dominus Deus tuus elegerit de numero fratrum tuorum ; cumque fuerit constitutus, non multiplicabit sibi equos, nec reducet populum in Egyptum, equitatus numero sublevatus. Non habebit uxores plurimas, neque argenti et auri immensa pondera. Postquam autem sederit in solio regni sui, describet sibi Deuteronomium legis hujus in volumine, accipiens exemplar a sacerdotibus Leviticae tribus, et habebit secum, legetque illud omnibus diebus vitae suae, ut discat timere Dominum Deum suum, nec elevetur cor ejus in superbiam super fratres suos, neque declinet in partem dextram vel sinistram, ut longo tempore regnet ipse et filius ejus super Israël.

Puto quod si haec verba legis singula, quam principibus Dominus imposuit, intelligerent, quasi tonitrum in eorum cordibus personarent. Et in hac vivendi forma quae regi praescribitur, ut intérim taceamus de ejus creatione, equorum ei numerositas, ne fiât onerosus subditis et in se insolens, prohibetur. Equorum vero nomine legislator familiam et extrinseca intelligit, quorum légitima quantitas est quam ratio necessitatis, aut utilitatis, et honestatis exposcit. Plato, ut ferunt historiae gentium, cum vidisset Dionisium, tyrannum Ciciliae, corporis sui septum custodibus, ait : Quod tantum malum fecisti, ut a tam multis necesse habeas custodiri ? Quam longe tutior hic fuisset, si suorum affectus sibi civium devixisset, ut, quemadmodum exponuntur membra pro capite, sic se exponant subditi pro principe vel pro rege! Sed respondeant mihi, obsecro, qui regibus detrahunt et clanculo, contra Salomonis consilium, principibus maledicunt : Si rex equos multiplicare non potest, qui tamen necessarii sunt ad militiam et ad usum multiplicem hujus vitae, canes aut aves praediarias, aut bestias, multiplicare licebit, utpote simias, et hujusmodi portenta naturae. Nam de mimis, et histrionibus, et lenonibus, et hujusmodi prodigiis hominum, quae principem oportet exterminare potius quam fovere, non fuerat in lege mentio facienda, quae non solum a principis aula, sed a Dei populo suntpenitus extirpanda. Regum est, inquiunt, se in venatica exercere, causa recreationis, in avibus cœli ludere, taxillos rapide colligere, argute volvere, et aléas frequentare.

Sed si regem vel principem gestus habere deceat puériles, fateor quoniam haec competunt eis quia délicate provocant pruriginem levitatis, sed vae tibi terra, cujus rex puer est, id est, moribus puerilis. Venatores, teste Jheronimo, in Sacra Scriptura reprobantur, nisi forte feras harundinis, animas scilicet oberrantes in montibus superbiae, quaerant sollicitius et venentur. Et si fidem sequamur historiae, gens Thebana, fœda parricidiis, incestibus, detestanda fraude insignis, nota parjuriis, hujus artificii vel potius maleficii praecepta congessit, quae postmodum ad Frigios, gentem mollem et inpudicam transmisit. Hinc istud artificium jam apud nobiles pertransivit. Miseram bestiolam, leporem sive cervum, tanto venantur ambitu, tanta superstitione sectantur, ut si venerit in partes praedantium, fiât plausus innumerabilis, exultent venatores quasi, capta praeda, victores ; caput praedae, et sollemnia quaedam spolia triumphantibus praeferuntur ; sic tibicines et cornicines declarant gloriam triumphantis quasi barbararum gentium regibus triumphatis. Haec sunt temporibus nostris nobilium liberalia studia, haec eorum prima elementa virtutis. Non hiis virtutum gradibus sancti et electi Dei docuerunt ad beatitudinem ascendendum, sed Nemroth, aut Esau, consimilisve turba caetera perditorum.

Sed esto, supersedeatur a venatica. Forte regibus et principibus hoc debetur ut in aucupio se exerceant, et aves avibus insequantur. Fateor hoc artificium esse insaniam mitiorem, sed non imparem levitatem. Hujus autem artis Ulyxes legitur institutor, ut Graecis civibus suis nova propinaret solatia vanitatis, qui mente et corpore tabescebant, in bello Trajano parentibus interfectis. Sed tamen in hac arte proprium filium noluit exerceri. Artem infructuosam et laboriosam, omis cui non debet immoderatius vacare fîlius christiani ! Revolvo scripturam. A statu innocentiae respicio patriarchas.

Data lege, ducor ad duces ; ad judices progredior ; reges intueor, et prophetas perscrutor, officia, necnon et studia fidelis populi. Nullos invenio in consimilibus exerceri, nisi quod Judam Machabaeum quidam jactitant aeriae venationis auctorem. Sed si bella pensentur ipsius, et exitus, apparebit liquidius eum rejecisse hujusmodi vanitatem, quasi cum gustasset, bibere noluisset. Ubi sunt, ait ille notarius Jheremiae, qui in avibus cœli ludunt ? Evanuenuerunt cum suis avibus, et ad inferos descenderunt. Utinam sic culices, vespas et œstra nostri aucupes venarentur ut acrimoniae suae aculeis aut spiculis non ulterius in ultionem hominis armarentur ! Ferunt Virgilium, dum reprimere vellet ab aucupio nepotem Augusti Marcellum, eum interrogasse an avem vellet instrui in capturam avium, an muscam formari in exterminationein miscarum. Sed, Augusti consilio, muscam fieri praeelegit, quae a Neapoli muscas abigeret, et civitatem a peste insanabili liberaret.

Scio autem quod indiget expositione quod superius immoderatius recolo me dixisse, quia potest esse utilis ipsa venatica, et honesta, sed ex causa, modo, loco, tempore et persona. Causam décorât et excusabile s reddit opus, si vel necessitate fiât, vel utilitate vigeat, vel honestate splendeat, quia operi nomen imponit mentis affectus. Nam si absque detrimento salutis hoc opus exerceri non posset, in hoc ipsum tantus patriarcha filium non misisset, qui promissam benedictionem impensi obsequii merito obtineret. Non est igitur salutis in hoc periculum si, stimulo necessitatis urgente, quis vitam sic cogitur exhibere ; si vitare volens otium et ignaviam, gerendis negotiis membra disponit, dum laboribus assuescat ; si vitiosam corporis molem fugiens, sic exercitando se subvenit, si tamen in omnibus dignitatem personae custodit. Modus autem laudabilis perhibetur, si quis habita moderatione, prudenter, et si fieri potest utiliter, excercetur, ut scilicet ne quid nimis, quod est mandant tum, cowmiti teneatur. Loci similiter est habenda ratio, dum in suo, vel communi, vel publico, exercetur venatio, non pauperum possessiunculis irrogetur injuria, locis etiam celebritate venerandis debita servetur reverentia. Tempus autem culpam et auget et exténuât, cum illud quod religio vel oratio sibi vendicat vel devotio servat, vanitas id usurpât. Persona etiam venustat studium, dum suo insistens officio non praeripit alienum.

Sicut et reputatur indignum si venator IO nemorosus vel aerius aspiret ad pontificium vel ad regnum, sic indignius " reputabitur si ab alterutro fastigio ad venatorum carnificia descendatur. Porro de veritate et severitate canonum, venatica non modo suis clientulis ad superiora praecludit ascensum, sed summi etiam sacerdotii gradum adimit jam adeptum. Unde et Themistocles philosophus hoc improbans artificium in eis qui in populo debent gerere principatum ait : Magistratus a ludis et quibuscumque levioribus esse arcendos, ne res publica ludere videatur, defectumque sui relicta gravitate praenuntiet. Si tamen majoribus eos exoccupari contigerit, in annis adolescentiae, ex dispositione aetatis permittuntur aliquid subtrahere gravitati, et in se clementiores esse, quod maturitatis processu rei publicae utilitate compensent. Responsum arbitror de venationibus et aucupiis. Respondeatur, si placet, de aléa et taxillis. Sed in hiis non est diutius immorandum, cum tam jura canonica quam civilia satis arguant istum ludum, quem, si gentium historiis quis crediderit, asiaticus Attalus hune invenit, sed, exciso Asiae regno, inter manubias urbis eversae ludus aleae sub specie multiplici migravit ad Graecos, et a Graecis transiens jam nimis occupât christianos, quod, jam veritatis patefacto lumine, satis esset utilius dediscere quam docere. Mendaciorum, perjuriorum, blasphemiarum, verborum scurrilium et inutilium, sed etiam contemptus sacrosanctae matris ecclesiae mater est aléa, et ex aliéna concupiscentia sua prodigit, et nullam habens patrimonii reverentiam, cum illud effuderit, sensim I+ in furtum labitur et rapinam.

Ab aleis homines armantur in lites, incurrunt inimicitias et tempore consumpto miserabiliter, honerati peccatis, in miserabiliores incidunt egestates.

Sed, dicit aliquis, apud pauperes ita, sed non apud reges, principes, vel barones. Legant igitur historias et revolvant quomodo Tilon Lacaedemonius, societatis causa jungendae missus Chorinthum, duces et seniores populi ludentes invenit in aléa. Infecto itaque negotio reversus est, dicens se nolle gloriam Spartanorum, quorum virtus constructo Bisancio clarescebat, hac infamia maculare, ut dicerentur cum alleatoribus societatis fœdera contraxisse. Régi Demetrio in puerilis obprobrium levitatis taxilti aurei sunt transmissi, ut sic persona regia dehonestaretur quae in majestate regni levia committere minime verebatur. Nunc vero nobilium atque senum sapientia praedicatur si venaticam utcumque noverint, si in aléa fuerint instituti, si naturae robur effeminatae vocis articulis fregerunt, si vacaverint modulis et musicis instrumentis, et, quod est detestabilius, a parentibus transit in filios hic abusus.

Si dampnosa senem juvat aléa, ludit et haeres Bullatus, parvoque eadem movet arma fretillo.

Quid enim faciet filius nisi quod patrem viderit facientem ? Inde est quod hodie nascuntur nobilibus haeredes dégénères, et qui nobilitatis genus prodigiosa peccatorum mollitie dehonestant.

Nec mihi quis dardanam pugnam obiciat Ulixis inventum, ideoque sectandam, ut aiunt, quia meditatione suspensa videatur intellectus aciem exercere, cum ideo mihi videatur esse perditior atque proditior, quia nescio quid infelicius censeatur quam in eo in quo minimum proficitur plurimum laborare. O sancta meditatio illud operis et opère diligenter in calculandis spaerisfokb terii punctis impendere unde potuit apex intelligentiae supernorum civium mansiones invisere et patriae beatitudinem circuire !

Haec igitur dicta sunt pro eo quod regibus Israël, utpote christianis etiam, numerus equorum praescribitur, quibus haec portenta fantasmatum vel abusuum prodigia prohibentur.

Scripture echoes

↩Deut.17.14-Deut.17.16 — When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and settle in it, and you say, 'I will set a king over me, like all the nations around me,' Deut.17.15 — you shall indeed set over yourself a king whom the LORD your God will choose. From among your brothers you shall set a king over yourself. You may not put a foreigner over yourself, one who is not your brother. Deut.17.16 — Only, he must not multiply horses for himself, and he must not send the people back to Egypt in order to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, 'You must never go back that way again.'
↩Deut.17.17 — And he must not multiply wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn away; and he must not multiply silver and gold for himself exceedingly.
↩Deut.17.18-Deut.17.20 — And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, from the one kept before the Levitical priests. Deut.17.19 — And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes by doing them. Deut.17.20 — so that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and so that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, in order that he may prolong his days over his kingdom, he and his sons, in the midst of Israel.
↩John.14.2 — In my Father's house there are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you? I go to prepare a place for you.
↩Deut.17.16 — Only, he must not multiply horses for himself, and he must not send the people back to Egypt in order to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, 'You must never go back that way again.'

Notes

1 ↩Quotation from Deuteronomy 17:14–16 (Vulgate numbering). The embedded direct speech ('I will appoint a king over me') follows the biblical text.
2 ↩Cum + subjunctive rendered as temporal 'when'; the perfect subjunctive fueris and dixeris are future-perfect / perfect-subjunctive forms in a temporal clause referring to a completed future action.
3 ↩Continues the Deuteronomy 17:17 prohibitions: the king must not multiply wives or accumulate excessive silver and gold.
4 ↩Quotation from Deuteronomy 17:18–20 (Vulgate numbering): the king must write a copy of the law, read it daily, fear the Lord, not exalt himself above his brothers, and not turn from the commandment to the right or left.
5 ↩autem rendered as a continuative 'once / now' rather than a strong adversative, fitting the narrative flow. Both ut clauses are purpose clauses rendered with 'so that.'
6 ↩aeriae venationis — literally 'of the air,' i.e., fowling or bird-hunting; the phrase is unusual and the gloss is candidate.
7 ↩The quotation attributed to Jeremiah's scribe (Baruch?) is a candidate scripture allusion; final resolution deferred to tx-08.
8 ↩exterminationein miscarum — the form 'exterminationein' appears to be a variant or corruption of 'exterminationem'; translated as intended sense.
9 ↩'Ab aleis' rendered as 'from dice games' (ablative of cause/origin); 'honerati peccatis' as 'burdened by sins' (ablative of cause or ablative absolute — the ambiguity is preserved in the English).
10 ↩Tylon Lacaedemonius is likely Tyllus of Lacedaemon, a figure from ancient Greek diplomatic history. The point is that even great leaders were found in undignified pastimes.
11 ↩constructo Bisancio: 'having been built at Byzantium' — the reference is to a military or political achievement at Byzantium that gave the Spartans their reputation. The exact historical event is uncertain.
12 ↩taxilti aurei: 'golden dice' — sent as an insult implying the king was fit only for childish games. The historical reference is likely to Demetrius I of Macedon or a similar Hellenistic ruler.
13 ↩naturae robur effeminatae vocis articulis fregerunt: 'they've broken the strength of their nature with the soft tones of an effeminate voice' — the critique is that men of standing have traded natural vigor for cultivated, effeminate refinement.
14 ↩'Bullatus' is uncertain: it may mean 'wearing a bulla' (the protective amulet of a freeborn Roman boy) or 'puffed up, swollen with pride.' Both senses fit the context of a young heir not yet mature enough to bear arms.
15 ↩'Fretillum' is obscure; it likely refers to a small gaming piece or die, but the reading is tentative.
16 ↩mollitie rendered 'softness' with pejorative force of effeminacy/weakness; peccatorum mollitie as a causal ablative phrase.
17 ↩The 'Dardanian battle' refers to the Trojan War (Dardanus being the ancestor of the Trojans), invoked here as a metaphor for cunning intellectual combat. The author rejects the idea that such mental sparring sharpens the mind, arguing instead that it is a fruitless and dangerous exercise.
18 ↩The comparative construction 'nescio quid infelicius censeatur quam in eo in quo minimum proficitur plurimum laborare' is rendered to preserve the force of the Latin: the speaker judges nothing more unfortunate than expending the greatest effort where the least progress occurs.
19 ↩The word 'spaerisfokb' (token 10) is corrupt or unidentifiable in the source text and has been omitted from the translation. Its absence does not appear to affect the overall sense, which concerns the contemplation of celestial spheres.
20 ↩'Terii punctis' — 'the points of the third' — likely refers to the third celestial sphere or a tripartite division of contemplative ascent, consistent with medieval cosmological imagery applied to spiritual contemplation.
21 ↩'Supernorum civium mansiones' — 'dwelling-places of the heavenly citizens' — echoes the language of John 14:2 ('In my Father's house are many dwelling-places/mansions'), though the allusion remains a candidate pending scriptural resolution.
22 ↩The Latin numerus equorum praescribitur echoes Deuteronomy 17:16 (non multiplicabit sibi equos), the scriptural rule for kings that frames this entire chapter. The 'horses' function here as a spiritual figure for disordered attachments and worldly power; the 'portenta fantasmatum vel abusuum prodigia' are the monstrous inner distortions that arise when such attachments go unchecked.
23 ↩The phrase numerus equorum praescribitur alludes to Deuteronomy 17:16 (Vulgate: non multiplicabit sibi equos). Candidate scripture allusion flagged for tx-08 Moses resolution.

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