De principis justitia

De principis justitia

No virtue is more fitting for a ruler than justice, through which, while preserving the bond of human society, it breaks the ambitious impulses of the powerful and safeguards the security and tranquility of the lesser. Just as a leader is expected to defend with arms, so too must they govern and maintain the state of the republic through laws and justice. Therefore, in the book of Elements, you will find written at the beginning, "The imperial majesty is adorned not only with arms but also with laws." The same poet also declares, saying to Caesar, "When you bear so much," etc. Sydonius says, "Just as the people are under arms, so weapons must be restrained under laws." Horace teaches that without morals, laws are of little value, saying, "What are laws without morals?" Isidore also notes that the effect of justice is observed through laws. He clearly states in these words, "The laws are established so that human audacity may be restrained by their fear," etc. Therefore, Tiberius, the Roman Emperor, the forty-fourth from Augustus, having adopted Maurice as his successor, said, "Use your power well," he said, "and keep justice in mind and Hor." , Epp. Carmen. Twenty-four. , Justice is a requirement, right? It is the mark of the best ruler. Peter, however, the apostle and chief of the apostles, vigorously exercised the powers of justice. . . And Sapphira, with an extract from Gratian's Decretum, Sec. Part, Cause XXIII. , Qacest, beginning "Occidit" Phinees hominem," and ending "et illi reddidit f. cs. by praying. . . . It's important to note that in the newness of a more severe awareness, there is a need for rigor to be felt in the discipline that has been established. Therefore, at the beginning of the law, a stricter discipline is required to ensure that the severity of the law is felt. Salphaat was stoned for collecting wood on the Sabbath; at the beginning of the priesthood, two sons of Aaron were consumed by fire for offering strange fire. Likewise, at the start of the nascent Church, Ananias and Sapphira, who defrauded the price of the land from the apostle, were rebuked and breathed their last. Moreover, the Psalmist David teaches that this virtue, like others, belongs to our Savior Christ. XLIV. , IX. , IXVI. , XLVII. ; Sapient. I. ; Matthew. Ixxxiv. ,, Ixxi. ; Isai. Twenty-eight. Forty-five. Matthew. Furthermore, concerning earthly justice, it is necessary. Yet, it descends from above; let us return through which human society and cohabitation are united. As long as people live together, one person holds either land or other possessions that another needs. Some engage in military service, others in trade, and still others in various ways of living, which often results in one person's gain diminishing another's; such circumstances would stir up resentment and conflict if justice were not present, distributing and preserving each person's due. . . . Here is another extract from Hildebert, Mor. Phil. I. , beginning "On this Tullius, 'No one Ed. Lyons, pp. , Dial. Migne, clxxi. It is. Chiefly, it is. I. While life is lost, the corruption of the body, namely death, will occur; but if I cast away this affection, I will incur the fault of the soul. And just as the vice of the soul is worse than that of the body, so the good of the soul is better than that of the body; virtue, indeed, is better than life. Therefore, there must be a strictness in dealing with offenses, but the sword must be drawn in all cases. Then the sword is truly the judge's instrument, when either the severity of the offense or the wickedness of the wrongdoing demands it. You are provoked by your own habits. (As Ovid says: Trist.) "If, whenever people sin, Jupiter sends down his thunderbolts, he will be defenseless for a short time." Just as in the human body a member, although wounded, although weak and depraved by some fault, is not immediately to be cut off or thrown away, but since the wounded parts return to health, the severed ones should be treated with medicine and bound with compresses, so that the integrity of the whole may rejoice in the health of its parts; but if there is a corruption of an incurable partial ailment, lest the pestilential force of evil spread through the entire body, that member, as useless, should be removed from the whole as soon as possible; in the same way, a good prince of the kingdom pursues the hope of a corrupt part with all diligence and gentleness. Desperate and irreparable wickedness should be removed from society with no less care; for just as a sick sheep must be removed from the flock to prevent it from contaminating the others, so too should some individuals be separated from human society, who, through their incorrigible wickedness, become more notorious day by day. Those who are indeed most worthy live only for this purpose: to either lead others astray through their actions or corrupt them by their example. For, as Cicero says, "it must be exterminated from among men." "There is a pestilential kind of humanity; for just as certain members are amputated when they begin to lack blood and spirit and harm the rest, so this ferocity and brutality in the figure of man must be separated from the common life." For what does it matter whether it is from the perspective of reality or merely in name? Hiid. , ^. . Phil. Whoever turns himself into a beast, or remains under the control of a man, is lost. Does a figure bear the nature of a beast? Therefore, such people should not be spared; for "the judge is condemned when the guilty is acquitted." Exod. XXII. ; Kings, XX. . Therefore, Jerome writes about Jeremiah, "Murderers and sacrilegious men." To punish those who commit acts of violence is not an act of shedding blood, but rather a function of the law. And in Genesis, it also says, ix. . The Lord says, "Whoever sheds human blood, by man shall his blood be shed," etc. However, it must be understood on its own, and not by the authority of law or judge. But anger is most often guarded when it comes to punishment. . . , punishing. No one will hold mediocrity, which is between nothing and something. And little. To this Augustine says: "This mercy does not hinder, if the wicked are punished; they must be punished, for it is not out of a spirit of vengeance but of love." But when a stronger person comes along and you can't correct or advise them, just bear with it, knowing that they won't go unpunished. Rom. Similarly, the one who binds the insane and the one who stirs the lethargic both love them, even though they are a burden to both; a father disciplines the son he loves; a doctor offers bitter drinks to the sick, and sometimes applies fire and iron to their afflicted limbs. Sometimes, even a blacksmith's hand can be heavy, as in the case of Hildebert, Mor. Phil. The sayings of Publius Syrus, No. Orelli, p. C. Ovid, from Ex Ponto, I. The bones are scraped, now the flesh is cut away, and not without painful suffering does something separate, so that the remaining strength may recover with greater health through grace. For, as Jerome says, 'the physician does not spare the wound out of cruelty, but rather to heal it, and he is harsh so that he may show mercy.' In the same way, a good prince, while justly angry, confines the wicked and unruly in prisons, corrects them with punishments, and sometimes even punishes them severely; nor does a prince resort to the ultimate penalties unless he has exhausted all remedies. Therefore, a prince should approach healing not to inflict pain, just as a doctor does; he should not act out of cruelty but out of compassion, and he should not destroy but rather alleviate suffering, for pain is the remedy for pain. Hence the poet says: "The prince is slow to punishment," etc. To thirst for blood and to pour it out willingly and often without cause is indeed a brutal and cruel thing; however, to be dragged into this against one's will, as if for the benefit of the whole community, is just, noble, and virtuous. A good leader will imitate good farmers, who cultivate straight and tall trees, so that they also tend to those that some flaw of nature has corrupted. When they find what they need, they apply it as support; otherwise, they prune away the branches so that the multitude of sprouting shoots doesn't overwhelm the tree, and they make the sap less effective by spreading it too thinly through many branches; some weak ones are nourished by the faults of the location; others, while working, open up the sky to those in the shade; but some, being useless and producing no fruit at all, are pulled up so they don't waste the earth. Thus, a good leader will see how to approach matters with the utmost care, determining how to turn what is wrong into what is right; and just as in trees, so too in other things. In people, some are praised for their nature, while others are judged for their care, and still others for their actions. We have seen something commendable in the customs of the Franks. . . . We see that the customs of the French are commendable. It flows. In the case of serious offenses, if they are not excessively notorious for their cruelty, then, like many lesser faults, they are punished immediately in public view with a severe penalty. Therefore, if someone falls back into sin, they may be cauterized on the forehead and face, or their lower ear may be cut off, or their flesh may be mutilated. Third, if a person is found guilty of a serious offense, they are treated more harshly, as if they were incorrigible, and deemed completely useless to the community; thus, they are punished as a public enemy according to the severity of their crime, either being blinded or executed. This is a commendable and worthy dispensation to remember. It can indeed happen, and often does, that someone may stray into a serious offense from the path of justice due to a misstep, never having been accustomed to it before or intending to return to it afterward. Moreover, we do not find so many blinded by the grace of humanity elsewhere. Indeed, piety has rightly mitigated the punishment deserving of the most honorable death, so that those who are made useless in body may be able to live in spirit and be strong in that higher part. However, I deemed it fitting to introduce the definition of justice as presented by the great Valcrio Maximo from Plato. Plato said, Socrates' disciple, the flower and glory of philosophers, while he was a little child sleeping in his cradle, bees would insert honey into his lips, foreshadowing the sweetness of his unique eloquence. The same, driven by a pursuit of wisdom, traversed all the plagues of Egypt, and finally returned to the Academy, where he gathered listeners, among whom he discussed justice with Hisdofinimultum, and defined it this way: "What is justice?" ! "It is a certain kind of divine grace that distributes justice among the lower things." Thrasymachus the orator had previously defined it this way: "Justice is what benefits the one who has the least power." From this, a conversation arose among the most famous auditors of Plato, namely between Timaeus, Hermocrates, Critias, and Xenocrates. For indeed, Plato defined justice in this way before them. "This is indeed true justice, which preserves what is due to those beneath us," he described it as existing among the four elements and among the stars in human form. But read the following: "Justice is that which encompasses both divine and human law." The same person, when asked what the highest good in life was, replied, "Innocence." The triumph of innocence is not to sin, wherever it is permitted. Hence, Ovid says, "From where?" Seventeen. It is a virtue to abstain from good things. In whatever way you can sin more, stop. It is said that he died in the eightieth year under the leadership of Sophronius. I also considered it notable that justice is uniform and not defined by various standards. Because, as Apulegius says, "Truth is a dog!" "Justice is, for the sake of utility, as a faithful observer is to an alien." For if the elders are to be honored by deferring to them, but the younger ones are coerced by condemnation, this is a mere imitation and a monkey of justice, not true justice. Considering this, Anacharsis compared the laws of cities to the webs of spiders. "For," he says, "to retain weaker animals, we see stronger ones being transmitted; thus, by these laws, we see the humble and the poor being bound, while the powerful and the rich are not." "To be bound." Hence Juvenal says: "And the censor, sparing the crows, vexes the doves." Ovid adds: "And only the gods can be angry with the wretched." Such justice, because it is not fictitious but true, was the kind that Apuleius described, under which the Catilinarian conspiracy was uncovered and condemned during the best consul, Cicero, where neither the nobility of the delinquent nor the power or eloquence of such a patron as Julius Caesar could effectively advocate for the accused, especially with Catone persuading against it and against mercy for the sake of justice. . . . On the wisdom of rulers. Wisdom, indeed, which seems to be the refining tool of all virtues, is more fitting for a ruler, the more virtuous he is. Many are held and guided by this virtue. This virtue rightly deserves recognition, for neither justice turns into cruelty, nor courage into recklessness, nor temperance into sloth or indifference. These four virtues, known as cardinal, share a common bond and are interconnected in such a way that no one can attain one of them without the others; they differ not so much in their essence but rather in a certain qualitative property. Therefore, not only our theologians and hagiographers, but also, what is even more remarkable, philosophers, as asserted in Cicero's book On Duties, have established and proven with irrefutable reasoning that whoever possesses one virtue possesses all virtues, and whoever lacks one lacks all. Therefore, in the book of the Tusculans: "If you lose one virtue, you will lose all completely." For virtues are gregarious; they come together and take flight like doves. To return to the earlier points, virtues and vices are so closely linked that unless prudence governs, anyone can easily slip from virtue into vice; for virtue lies hidden in the middle, like a core or marrow surrounded on all sides by the bark of vices. , Epp. It's poisonous. About this, the poet says: "Virtue is the mean between vices." i.' i. Moreover, elsewhere it is said: "There is a measure in all things," etc. Therefore, it often happens that due to the connection between good and evil, one may easily fall from one to the other unless virtue is firmly established. Therefore, Ovid says: "And good things are close to evil ones," etc. A prudent person is said to be one who does not wish to be deceived, and who cannot easily be led astray. It is written about such things: "Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves."^✦ e." From this, Jerome says: "Be simple-minded." Be as innocent as doves, but don't be crafty or deceitful toward anyone. IV. "Be shrewd as serpents, but don't be caught in the snares of others." Sidonius: "Maintain the simplicity of a dove in the church, but in the marketplace be as shrewd as a serpent." Indeed, those who are ready to deceive and defraud, and who apply their talents more eagerly to this end, would excel in nature's gifts if they didn't abuse them; they are utterly unworthy of the honor and title of the wise, yet now they are called clever, astute, and sometimes even cunning, because their talents are directed toward evil and illicit pursuits. Cunning, however, is applied indifferently to both, while wisdom or prudence is reserved only for the virtuous. The wise person should be cautious and discerning in their judgments, especially when dealing with matters that require careful consideration. In this way, they can separate what is good from what is evil, what is true from what is false, and what is right from what is merely useful or honorable. Therefore, for a leader whose court is beset by so many affairs, and who is surrounded daily by so many people, it is fitting that wisdom should be even more firmly established, so that he can discern good from evil, truth from falsehood, and what is right from what is useful and honorable; for it is through the sharpness of discretion that he can make these distinctions. Yet, whoever wishes to see rightly will find nothing good or honorable in the pursuit of mere utility. In military matters, as in war. In military matters, wisdom is of great importance; for as various strategies are employed to achieve victory, there are times for preparation, delay, hidden traps, and sudden attacks, as well as times for organizing soldiers into formations and deploying them effectively. Even leaders and tribunes must manage their cohorts carefully, especially in the heat of battle, pressing forward more vigorously and fiercely against the enemy, or sometimes evading and dodging hostile advances, as those who have written about military affairs have taught us, showing that various tactics and precautions are necessary for success. Trogus Pompeius said, "Hannibal, when he had moved the battle to the sea of Exampics, was the author of a new commentary on victory; and others noted that every kind of serpent was placed in clay jars for history." " He ordered that they be thrown into the enemy ships during the battle. " At first, it seemed ridiculous for the enemy to fight with clay rather than with iron; but when they began to fill their ships with serpents, they were surrounded by a double danger and lost the victory to the enemy. Cf. Deuteronomy. Thirty-two. . Isidore reports in his Etymologies that the Velites were a type of soldier among the Romans, who, when they engaged with Hannibal, had young men riding behind the soldiers on horses, quietly waiting to spring into action; and when they reached the enemy, they leaped down from their horses and killed elephants with a blacksmith's tool thrust between their ears, and thus the Velites achieved victory. Furthermore, Valerius Maximus reports that when the two kings, Antigonus and Servandus, had gathered their hostile forces and were almost at the point of entry, a solar eclipse occurred, darkening the entire face of the earth, while stars shone brightly in the sky; this extraordinary event left both armies greatly astonished, and they fell to the ground, throwing down their weapons, believing that the day of worldly resolution was at hand, or that the gods were suddenly and unexpectedly hastening their punishment for their sins. However, Evander, who had been completely cut off from philosophical disciplines, quickly called his men to arms and rallied them, asserting firmly that these shadows would last no more than an hour and a half. . He boldly charged into the enemy ranks, showing no fear of the opposing forces, and he fiercely attacked Antigonus and others in thirty-three battles. This has been slightly altered. The victory gained by ambush was achieved more through cunning than through force. Learning is evident from this and from various other examples. It's clear from this and other examples that the two great leaders of the world, Alexander the Great and Gaius the Dictator, earned a greater distinction than all others through their remarkable learning. . . . There are many accounts related to Alexander and Caesar from Valerius Maximus; Quintilian, in his Institutions, mentions them as well. Additionally, Suetonius, Julius, and Cicero also provide insights. Pliny, Natural History. Pliny, Natural History. VII; Ovid, Fasti, III. Moreover, Charles the Great, who was the greatest of the last princes, was also closer to our times in terms of literature. He had also been devoted to studies, and among all the theological works, he was known to have read and listened to Augustine's City of God with particular pleasure. He had a very learned teacher from the northern borders of Greater Britain, whom he constantly kept with him so that he wouldn't be without a guide at any time, namely Alcuin. It is written that, once, while sitting at a meal before the king with only a table between them, the king, in the midst of eating, jokingly said to him, 'What’s the difference between a Scot and me?' ", referring to the words of the vocabulary. To whom Alquinus gave a rather dangerous and irritating answer, unless he knew the gentleness of the prince, saying, "Only a tablet." &. Therefore, the reading of ancient histories does not lead a learned prince to mediocrity, where the events of various wars are concerned. In uncertain times, harsh circumstances and hidden dangers can arise. He had a tutor. Alcuin's response can help you reflect on past actions, considering what to pursue, what to avoid, and what to flee from, as if looking into a mirror, guided by Scripture's teaching. The wisdom of a ruler is greater than all, so that he may be gentle and pleasing to those under him, and desire to be loved by them more than feared. Let us take Roboam as an example, who was abandoned and forsaken by ten tribes because of his insolent words and intemperate behavior. Prudence ensures that justice doesn't exceed its bounds and that moderation isn't undermined; it also safeguards against arrogance, preventing it from recklessly overstepping or acting without thought. This virtue encourages humanity towards the cruel, gentleness towards the proud and angry, moderation towards the reckless, and on the other hand, courage towards the timid, boldness towards the cowardly, steadiness towards the lukewarm, and severity towards the negligent. It is clear from this that it is openly proposed that virtues are interconnected and related to one another. Claudianus speaks of these things: "Justice advises to prefer what is useful over what is right." "Follow the common laws, and never act unjustly." - "Generosity instructs the body with hard patience, so that you don't desire to cease from labor; temperance, so that you may seek purity; prudence, so that you don't act without thought; constancy, so that you don't bear anything futile."