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Chapter 9ErudR.1.9

Quintum capitulum, de expositione hujus : Postquam sederit in solio regni sui, describet sibi Deuteronomium, etc.

The King's Duty to the Law

The king must write out Deuteronomy for himself, for Scripture is the source of just law and all the arts of governance flow from books.

The rule for the king continues: after 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 book.✦ In these words it is established that a king who sits on the throne of judgment, if by his own gaze he busies himself to destroy evil, needs to know the sacred Scriptures. By these the kingdom is governed; from these legitimate laws are derived. For if the commonwealth is to be governed, if battles are to be fought, if a camp is to be laid out, if siege engines are to be erected, if ramparts are to be renewed, if bulwarks are to be built, if the peace of liberty is to be secured, if the practice of justice is to be upheld, if reverence for the laws is to be maintained, if the friendships of neighboring peoples are to be preserved — books teach all these things to perfection. Who indeed would not have Vegetius Renatus, if he intends to defend or besiege camps or cities? Palladius plants, Vitruvius builds, Euclid measures, Socrates divides, Plato explains, Aristotle entangles, Aeschines flatters, Demosthenes rages, Cato advises, Appius dissuades, Tullius persuades. From these the manner of speaking is formed equally and three times over, and in them examples of how to live are sometimes given.

Holy and Christian Models of Learned Kingship

David, Hezekiah, Josiah, the Christian emperors, and Charlemagne are held forward as exemplars who governed through the law of the Lord, and kings are warned that one who ignores divine law cannot judge the earth.

But because it is neither lawful nor fitting for kings to be occupied with such things, let us therefore bring forward kings—and persons of the sort to whom they ought to conform themselves. Let us call forward, then, from the camps of Israel David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, who trained themselves in sacred writings, kept the law of the Lord, and left it to be kept by those who came after them. Let us call forward from the Gospel Christian princes: Constantine, Theodosius, Justinian, and Leo, whose examples and deeds can instruct a Christian ruler—indeed, whose words and sayings are the greatest incitements to virtue. For they formed, as it were, another world out of a formless one, while by their most sacred and clearly articulated laws they consecrated the world itself as a kind of temple of justice. Let us add also the pious, ever-august, most Christian, and most unconquered prince Charlemagne the Great—whose memory is in blessing—your predecessor. Did he not, having meditated on the law of the Lord, receive from it the instruction by which he afterward governed the world with his own laws—not so much by the strength of arms or the successes of battle as by his skill and mastery of letters? And now, kings, understand—the Lord cries out through the prince and prophet: Be instructed, you who judge the earth.✦ For how does he judge the earth who ignores the law of the Lord—the law from which all law is derived?

Wisdom, Learning, and the Legitimacy of Rule

All princely authority is void without conformity to sacred law and ecclesiastical discipline, and wisdom is the supreme excellence that makes learned princes prudent, discerning, and worthy successors.

For the enforcement of all laws is void and empty if it does not bear the image of the sacred law, and the decree of every prince is useless if it is not in conformity with ecclesiastical discipline.1 But what is more exalted than wisdom for attaining the happiness of life, what more pleasant for practice, what stronger against vices, what more praiseworthy in every station — whose excellence, if we believe Solomon, nothing desirable can match?23 Without doubt, we read that learned princes have almost always been prudent in the administration of affairs, discerning in their judgments, cautious in giving commands, and circumspect in their counsels. If only, then, the sons of kings and princes would be instructed in letters, as is fitting — so that they might have heirs to their rule who are successors in wisdom as much as in rank!4

Pagan Witnesses: Ptolemy, Philip, and Alexander

Ptolemy had the law of God translated by the Seventy; Philip of Macedon sought Aristotle's instruction for Alexander; and Alexander, though great, sinned by killing Callisthenes, the philosopher sent to correct him.

Let us bring forward other witnesses as well, so that the examples of the nations may support our position, and let us gather everything into one treasury. Ptolemy, in order to hand over the law of God to the Greeks, had it translated from Hebrew into Greek by the Seventy interpreters with as great diligence as reverence, into the books of the Old Testament. Philip, king of the Macedonians — if what Aulus Gellius says in his Attic Nights is true — was distinguished in war and even more distinguished in learning, except that writings worthy of mention are precisely those that resound with the name of Jesus and display the devotion of faith. This same Philip, when Alexander had recently been born, wanting to have his son educated in learning, wrote to Aristotle in this form: 'Philip to Aristotle, greetings.' Know that a son has been born to me, for which I am grateful to the gods — not so much because he was born, but because it fell to him to be born in the time of your life. For I hope that, once educated and instructed by you, he will prove worthy both to us and to the undertaking of these matters. Alexander, as Aristotle's student, made great progress, and — once called and named great — was greatly exalted. But there is one deed of Alexander's that should displease princes: he killed Callisthenes, Aristotle's student, whom Aristotle had sent to Alexander to correct his life and reform his character — and did so with the violence of an unjust death.

The Peril of Approaching an Angry Prince

The anger of a king is a herald of death, and to instruct an offended prince is like casting nets in a storm; one must wait for calmer seas before approaching.

I have learned that the anger of the king is a herald of death, and Callisthenes experienced this in his own person, to the letter, because to accuse or instruct an offended prince is nothing other than casting out nets to catch fish while the sea swells with whirlwinds and storms. For whoever thrusts himself into a storm and does not wait for the face of the sea to grow calmer is hastening to lose himself and his own nets. They say there is such a thing as a royal disease — 'Don't touch me' — unless perhaps a more favorable hour shall smile upon you, or a kinder breeze shall blow, or the face of the sea itself shall begin to grow calmer.✦

Roman Learning and the Wisdom of Princes

Julius Caesar and the Roman emperors were learned men, for through Wisdom princes rule and kings reign, and Socrates declared states blessed when rulers devoted themselves to wisdom.

Let me pass over the Greeks now and turn to the Romans' tents. Julius Caesar, they say, used to dictate four letters at once, all at the same time — a man who had the leisure for philosophy, founded the laws, and worked out the subtlety of the leap year. Why should I recount the names of individuals, since I cannot recall that the Roman emperors or generals were illiterate while their republic flourished? Through me, says Wisdom, princes rule and kings reign.✦ That is why Socrates the philosopher declared that states were blessed only when their rulers happened to devote themselves to wisdom — and the ancient philosophers judged that the image of wisdom should be painted before the doors of every temple, with these words inscribed beneath it: Practice gave me birth, memory bore me; the Greeks call me Sophia, we call me Wisdom. I hate foolish people, idle works, and philosophical opinions.

True Wisdom and the Meaning of Deuteronomy

The wisdom of the philosophers was imaginary, but the wisdom commanded to kings is the Christian understanding taught by Dionysius: an ecstatic ascent of the mind into God, where the soul chooses suspension and death of self.

See that the wisdom they had in mind was not true but imaginary, the kind of wisdom whose image and words they set down in writing. That is not the kind of wisdom belonging to kings, who are commanded to write out Deuteronomy for themselves. By 'Deuteronomy' — because it means 'second law' — the wisdom of Christians is understood, which Dionysius teaches after the Evangelists and Apostles in his book on mystical theology, and reaching its perfection is the highest fulfillment of human understanding in this life. For this same Dionysius says to Titus: When you transcend yourself and all things through an ecstasy of mind, hampered by no lower attachment, freed and purified from every desire and care, then at last, withdrawing from all things and loosed from everything, you will be led upward to the supersubstantial ray of the divine incomprehensibility. So here, ascending from lower to higher, once the mind's ecstasy is reached, all speech fails, both of mind and body, and nothing remains for the mind except to be united through knowledge and love to the ineffable and eternal Word, as it is written: My soul has chosen suspension, and death my bones.5 This is the suspension: a super-extension of the mind into God. The intellect and the soul's affection he signified by the 'bones,' in which nothing is stronger in divine matters. And what do we understand by 'death' except a failing and a division?

The Soul's Ecstasy and Inner Division

In mystical ecstasy the mind transcends itself, the body lies dead in the Lord's tomb, and within the soul the higher spiritual part rises while the lower animal part collapses, revealing a division not of body and soul but within the soul itself.

This, then, is what happens once that saint has begun to long for it: through pure understanding the mind transcends itself, enters fully into that brightness of bodily light, draws from the things it sees in the deepest interior a certain taste of inner sweetness, seasons its own understanding with that sweetness, and transforms it into wisdom. In this ecstasy of the mind, a serenity will be found such that a silence made in heaven — or a half-hour — is perceived, and a serenity that surpasses every human sense without any doubt; by a certain blessed passing-over, the purer part of the soul is turned toward the divine state, while the body lies without sensation, without movement, dead and buried in the Lord's tomb.✦✦ Sensuality does nothing, imagination does nothing, and every lower faculty of the soul is stripped of its proper function; but the higher powers — namely intellect and affection, which we have called the bones — are strengthened in the exercise of divine things. You see now the division — not of body and soul, but within one simple and undivided substance, namely the soul itself: the higher part is called spirit, and the lower part is designated by the name of soul. In this division, what is animal remains below, but what is spiritual flies upward; what is gross and impure, like a dead body, gives out and collapses back upon itself and under itself, while what is refined and purified, like a breath of spirit, rises within itself and transcends beyond itself.

Deuteronomy Fulfilled in the Spirit of Love

Deuteronomy, the second law, is perfectly understood as the life-giving Spirit, not the killing letter; Christians know God not through a mirror and enigma but through the elevation of the mind and union in the kiss of love.

This is how I think Deuteronomy — the second law — can be perfectly understood: as the life-giving Spirit, not the killing letter.✦6 The first law — whatever knowledge of God comes through a mirror and an enigma in created things — has therefore yielded to the philosophers and yields to the worldly wise; but to Christians, knowledge of God comes through the elevation of the mind and union in the kiss of love, just as the bride sighs for the divine ray to be exercised and contemplated.✦✦78

Read the original Latin

Sequitur in regula regis : Postquam sederit in solio regni sui, describet sibi Deuteronomium legis hujus in volumine. In hiis verbis astruitur quia rex qui sedet in solio judicii, si malum intuitu suo satagit dissipare, ei scire sacras litteras esse necesse. Hiis regnum regitur, ab hiis leges legitimae derivantur. Nam si respublica regenda est, si praelia committenda sunt, si castra metanda, si machinae erigendae, si renovandi aggeres, si propugnacula facienda, si quies libertatis, si cultus justitiae, si reverentia legum, si finitimarum gentium amicitiae sunt servandae, libri haec omnia erudiunt ad perfectum. Quis enim Vegetium • Renatum non habeat, si castra vel civitates tueri vel obsidere disponat ? Plantât Palladius, aedificat Vitruvius mensurat Euclides, dividit Socrates, explicat Plato, implicat Aristoteles, blanditur Eschines, Demosthenes irascitur, Cato suadet, Appius dissuadet, Tullius persuadet. Ex quibus formatur modus loquendi pari ter et in eis aliquando dantur exempla vivendi.

Sed quia nec licet nec decet reges in talibus occupari, ideo producamus reges, et taies quibus debeant conformari. Procédant igitur de castris Israël David, Ezechias et Josias, qui se in sacris litteris exercentes et legem Domini servaverunt et servandam posteris reliquerunt. Procédant de Evangelio principes christiani : Constantinus, Theodosius, Justinianus et Léo, quorum exempla et facta principem possunt instruere christianum, immo quorum verba et dicta sunt maxima incitamenta virtutum. Quasi enim de informi mundum alterum formaverunt, dum sacratissimis et enucleatis legibus ipsum orbem quasi quoddam justitiae templum consecrarunt. Addamus et pium et semper augustum christianissimum et invictissimum principem Karolum Magnum, cujus memoria in benedictione est, vestrum praedecessorem. Nonne in lege Domini meditatus accepit unde instructus postmodum suis legibus orbem rexit, non tam fortitudine armorum aut successibus praeliorum quam peritia et militia litterarum ? Et nunc reges intelligite, clamât Dominus per principem et prophetam, erudimini qui judicatis terram. Nam terram quomodo judicat qui legem Domini, a qua lex omnis derivatur, ignorât ?

Omnium enim legum censura est irrita et inanis, si non gerat ymaginem sacrae legis, et inutilis est constitutio omnis principis si non est ecclesiasticae disciplinae conformis. Sed quid ad vitae beatitudinem acquirendam sapientia sublimius, ad exercitium jocundius, contra vitia fortius, in omni dignitate laudabilius, cujus excellentiae, si credimus Salomoni, nihil potest desiderabile comparari ? Procul dubio principes litteratos legimus fere semper in amministrationibus rerum fuisse providos, subtiles in judiciis, in praeceptis cautos, in consiliis circumspectos. Utinam igitur filii regum et principum litteris, sicut expedit, inbuantur, ut habeant principatus haeredes tam dignitatum quam sapientiae successores !

Producamus et alios testes ut astipulentur nobis exempla gentilium, et R* congeramus omnia in thesaurum. Ptholomeus, ut Graecis traderet legem Dei, cum ingenti tam diligentia quam reverentia transferri fecit a LXX* interpretibus de haebreo in graecum libros Veteris Testamenti. Philippus vero rex Macedonum, si verum est quod dicit Agellius in libro Noctium Atticarum, et eminens fuit in bellis et eminentior in scripturis, nisi quia scripturae dicendae non sunt quae nomen Jhesu sonare nesciunt et pietatem fidei non ostendunt. Hic autem Philippus, Alexandro recenter nato, volens filium erudiri litterarum scientia, scripsit Aristoteli sub hac forma : Philippus Aristoteli salutem dicit. Filium mihi genitum scito, quo equidem diis habeo gratiam, non proinde quia natus est quam pro eo quod eum nasci contigit temporibus vitae tuae. Spero enim fore quod educatus, eruditusque a te dignus existât et nobis et rerum istarum susceptione. Profecit sub Aristotele discipulus Alexander et, magnus appellatus et dictus, magnificatus est vehementer. Sed in hoc debet Alexandri factum principibus displicere quod Calistenem, Aristotelis auditorem, quem ad Alexandrum miserat Aristoteles, dum vitam ejus corriperet et mores componeret, interemit mortis injuria violentae.

Novi quod : Indignatio regis, nuntii mortis, et hoc in se ad litteram Calisthenes est expertus, quia principem offensum arguere vel instruere nihil est aliud quam, intumescente mari turbinibus et procellis, in capturam retia explicare. Seipsum enim et sua retia perdere properat qui tempestati se ingerit et tranquilliorem maris faciem non expectat. Morbum dicunt esse regium : Noli me tangere ; nisi forte faverit hora felicior, vel flaverit aura secundior, vel faciès ipsa serenior cœperit arridere.

Jam de Graecis transeamus ad tentoria Romanorum. Julius Caesar, ut aiunt, quaternas simul et semel dictabat epistolas, qui philosophiae vacans et leges condidit et subtilitatem bisextilem invenit. Quid singulorum nomina referam, cum romanos imperatores aut duces, dum eorum res publica viguit, illitteratos fuisse non recolam. Per me, inquit Sapientia, principes imperant, reges regnant. Unde et Socrates philosophus res publicas tune demum beatas esse asseruit cum earum rectores sapientiae studere contigerit, et philosophi veteres ymaginem sapientiae pro foribus omnium templorum pingi et in hac haec verba censuerunt debere subscribi : Usus me genuit, peperit memoria, sophiam me vocant Grai, nos sapientiam. Ego odi homines stultos et ignava opéra et philosophicas sententias.

Videte quia non veram sed ymaginariam habuerit sapientiam cujus ymaginem statuerunt et verba fixerunt. Non est lalis sapientia regum qui jubentur describere sibi Deuteronomium '. Per Deuteronomium, quia secunda lex dicitur, christianorum intelligitur sapientia, quam post Evangelistas et Apostolos docet Dyonisius in libro de mistica theologia, cujus attingere perfectionem consummatio est humanae intelligentiae in hac vita. Ait enim Dyonisius idem ad Titum : Cum teipsum et omnia per mentis excessum, nullo inferiori retinaculo praepeditus, transcenderis, ab omni concupiscentia et cura absolutus et purgatus, tune tandem sic cuncta auferens et ab omnibus expeditus sursum ageris ad supersubstantialem radium divinae incomprehensibilitatis. Hic ergo ab inferiori ad superius ascendendo, cum perventum fuerit ad mentis excessum, mentis et corporis deficit omnis sermo, nec restât menti nisi per cognitionem et amorem uniri Verbo ineffabili et aeterno, sicut scriptum est : Suspendium elegit anima mea et mortem ossa mea. Hoc est suspendium : superextensio mentis in Deum. Intellectum vero et affectum animae signavit per ossa, quibus nihil est fortius in divina. Et quid intelligimus per mortem nisi defectum et divisionem ?

Hoc ergo fit quod ille sanctus appétit cum cœperit animus per puram intelligentiam semetipsum excedere, et illam wcorporeae lucis claritatem totus intrare, et ex hiis quae in intimis videt quemdam intimae suavitatis saporem trahere, et ex eo intelligentiam suam condire et in sapientiam vertere. In hoc mentis excessu serenitas invenietur ita ut in cœlo factum silentium vel hora dimidia sentiatur, et serenitas quae exsuperat omnem sensum procul dubio humanum, puriorem animae partem felici quadam transgressione in habitum convertendo divinum, jacet corpus sine sensu, sine motu, mortuum, et sepultum in dominico monumento . Nihil sensualitas, nihil agit ymaginatio, et omnis animae vis inferior proprio viduatur officio, sed superiores, intellectus scilicet et affectus, quas ossa diximus, in divinorum roborantur exercitio. Videtis jam divisionem, non corporis et animae, sed unius simplicis et ejusdem substantiae, animae scilicet, cum pars superior spiritus dicitur, et inferior quae nomine animae designatur. In qua divisione quod animale est remanet infra, quod vero spirituale est evolat supra ; quod corpulentum et faeculentum est, quasi corpus emortuum, deficit et recidit in se, et sub seipsum, quod subtile et defaecatum est, quasi spiritus efflatus ascendit intra se et transcendit ultra seipsum.

Sic puto perfecte intelligi posse Deuteronomium legem secundam, spiritum scilicet vivificantem, non occidentem litteram. Cessit ergo philosophis et cedit mundi sapientibus prima lex, quantalibet Dei cognitio per spéculum et enigma creaturarum, christianis vero Dei cognitio per elevationem mentis, et unionem in amoris osculo, sicut et sponsa suspirat ad divinum exerceri radium contemplandum.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩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.
  2. ↩Ps.2.10-Ps.2.11 — And now, O kings, be wise; be warned, O judges of the earth. Ps.2.11 — Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
  3. ↩John.20.17 — Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.'"
  4. ↩Prov.8.15 — By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just.
  5. ↩Rev.8.1 — And when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
  6. ↩Rom.6.4 — Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life.
  7. ↩2Cor.3.6 — who also has made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
  8. ↩1Cor.13.12 — For now we see in a mirror, dimly; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
  9. ↩Song.1.2 — Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is better than wine.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Sacrae legis ('sacred law') here refers to divine law as the standard against which all human law is measured; the prince's authority is presented as deriving its legitimacy from conformity to the Church's discipline.
  2. 2 ↩The appeal to Solomon (Salomoni) likely echoes Wisdom 7–8 or Proverbs, where wisdom's incomparability is extolled; exact source pending Moses resolution.
  3. 3 ↩Beatitudo rendered as 'happiness of life' rather than 'beatitude' to keep the register accessible; the theological weight of the term is preserved by context.
  4. 4 ↩Utinam rendered as 'If only' to capture the optative force; igitur as 'then' preserves the inferential connective without stiffness.
  5. 5 ↩Quoted span 'Suspendium elegit anima mea et mortem ossa mea' is a candidate scriptural allusion; final source resolution belongs to a later stage.
  6. 6 ↩The contrast between spiritus vivificans and littera occidens echoes 2 Corinthians 3:6 ('the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life'). The author reads Deuteronomy allegorically as the spiritual law that quickens, set against the bare written code that condemns.
  7. 7 ↩The contrast between knowledge per speculum et enigma (echoing 1 Corinthians 13:12) and knowledge per elevationem mentis et unionem in amoris osculo maps the difference between natural philosophy and mystical contemplation. The 'kiss of love' (osculum amoris) is a traditional mystical image for intimate union with God, drawn from the Song of Songs.
  8. 8 ↩per speculum et enigma creaturarum is a likely allusion to 1 Corinthians 13:12 (per speculum in aenigmate); the addition of creaturarum extends the Pauline phrase into a natural-theology context.

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