Quod princeps minister est sacerdotum eit minor
The Prince as Minister of the Church
The prince serves as a subordinate minister to the priesthood, exercising authority with humility and charity under the guidance of the Church.
The prince receives this sword from the hand of the Church, even though the Church itself possesses no sword of blood at all. The Church does hold that sword, but it uses it through the prince's hand, to whom it has delegated the power to restrain bodies, while reserving authority over spiritual matters for its bishops. The prince is, therefore, a minister of the priesthood, performing the sacred duties that the hands of the priesthood are considered unworthy to touch. For every duty of the sacred laws is religious and holy, yet that duty is lower which is exercised in the punishment of crimes, as it seems to represent a kind of executioner's image. This is why Constantine, the most faithful emperor of the Romans, did not dare to take the first place when he summoned the council of priests to Nicaea; he didn't presume to join the priests' sessions, but instead took the lowest seat. Indeed, he revered the judgments he heard approved by them just as if he had felt they had emanated from the judgment of the Divine Majesty. He even received the documents of accusations that had been drawn up against one another—containing the crimes of the priests—but he kept them sealed and tucked away in his own robe. However, when he called them back to charity and harmony, he said that for him—as a man subject to judgment himself—it was unlawful to examine the cases of priests, who can be judged by no one but God alone. He burned the books he had received without even looking at them, fearing he might publish the crimes or insults of the fathers and incur the curse of Ham, the reprobate son who failed to cover his father's nakedness. For this reason, the writings of the Roman pontiff Nicholas record that he once remarked: 'Truly, if I had seen with my own eyes a priest of God, or anyone clothed in a monastic habit, committing a sin, I would spread my cloak and cover him so that no one else could see.' Yet even the great Emperor Theodosius, for a deserved fault—though not one so grave—was suspended by the priest of Milan from using his royal regalia and imperial insignia, and he patiently and solemnly performed the penance imposed upon him for homicide. Indeed, to use the testimony of the Teacher of the Gentiles, the one who blesses is greater than the one who is blessed, and he who holds the authority to confer dignity takes precedence in the privilege of honor over the one to whom that dignity is conferred; furthermore, by the logic of law, it belongs to the one who has the will to grant it, and it belongs to the one who has the legal right to confer it to take it away. Did Samuel not pass a sentence of deposition against Saul because of his disobedience, and did he not replace him with the humble son of Jesse at the pinnacle of the kingdom? If, however, an appointed prince faithfully carries out his ministry, he is owed such honor and reverence as the head holds over all the members of the body. He carries out his ministry faithfully when, mindful of his own condition, he remembers that he acts in the person of the entire body of his subjects, recognizes that he owes his life not to himself but to others, and distributes it to them with ordered charity. Therefore, he owes his whole self to God, a great deal of himself to his country, much to his parents and relatives, and at least a little—though still something—to strangers.
The Duty of Self-Sacrificial Leadership
True leadership requires a selfless devotion to the common good, exemplified by the historical figures of Codrus and Lycurgus.
He is, therefore, a debtor to the wise and the foolish, to the lowly and the great. This oversight is common to all prelates, to those who have the care of souls, and to those who exercise secular jurisdiction. This is why Scripture first introduces Melchizedek as both king and priest (to say nothing for the moment of the mystery by which he prefigures Christ, who was born in heaven without a mother and on earth without a father). He, I say, is recorded as having had neither father nor mother—not because he lacked both, but because flesh and blood do not, by their nature, beget kingship and priesthood. When creating either, the regard for parents shouldn't prevail over the merit of virtues; rather, the healthy desires of the faithful subjects should. And when anyone has ascended to the peak of either office, he ought to forget the attachments of the flesh and do only what the salvation of his subjects demands. Therefore, let him be a father and a husband to his subjects, or, if he knows he has a more tender affection, let him use it. Let him strive to be loved more than feared, and show himself to them in such a way that they prefer his life to their own out of devotion, and consider his safety a kind of public life. Then all things will go well for him, and, supported by the service of a few, he'll prevail, if need be, against countless numbers. For love is as strong as death, and the wedge that the cords of love bind together isn't easily broken. When the Dorians were about to fight the Athenians, they consulted the oracles about the outcome of the battle. The response was that they would be the victors, provided they didn't kill the king of the Athenians. When they entered into battle, the soldiers were instructed, above all else, to guard the king. At that time, Codrus was king of the Athenians. Having learned of the god's response and the enemy's orders, he changed his royal attire, carried brushwood on his neck, and entered the enemy's camp. There, a crowd of those blocking his way was killed by the soldier he had struck with a scythe. Once the king's body was identified, the Dorians withdrew without a battle. And so, the Athenians were delivered from war by the courage of their leader, who offered himself to death for the safety of his country. Likewise, Lycurgus, in establishing decrees for his kingdom, strengthened the people in their obedience to their princes, and the princes in the justice of their rule. He removed the use of gold and silver, the source of all crimes; he gave the senate custody of the laws and the people the power to elect the senate. He decreed that a maiden should marry without a dowry so that wives would be chosen for character, not money; he willed that the greatest honor should belong to the elderly according to their age; and indeed, nowhere on earth does old age hold a more honorable place. Then, to give his laws permanence, he bound the city by an oath that they would change nothing of his laws before he returned. However, he set out for Crete, where he lived in perpetual exile. Upon dying, he ordered his bones to be thrown into the sea so that they wouldn't think themselves released from the religious obligation of their oath to dissolve the laws if his remains were brought back to Lacedaemon.
The Ultimate Model of the Crucified King
The Apostle Paul's preaching of the Crucified Christ provides the ultimate standard for leadership, surpassing all secular philosophical and military examples.
I use these examples all the more willingly because I find that the Apostle Paul used the same ones while preaching to the Athenians. That outstanding preacher was intent on impressing Jesus Christ, and him crucified, upon their minds so that he might teach how the liberation of many came about through the shame of the cross, following the example of the Gentiles. But he also argued that such things were not accustomed to happen except through the blood of the just and of those who held the magistracy of the people. Furthermore, no one could be found sufficient for the liberation of all—that is, of both Jews and Gentiles—except for the one to whom the nations were given as an inheritance, and for whom the entire earth was ordained as his possession. He asserted that this person could be none other than the Son of the almighty God, since no one but God has brought the nations and all the lands into subjection. Therefore, while he was preaching the shame of the cross in this way—so that the foolishness of the Gentiles might gradually be emptied out—he raised the word of faith and the language of preaching little by little to the word of God, to the wisdom of God, and even to the very throne of divine majesty. And so that the power of the Gospel might not be cheapened by the scandal of the Jews or the foolishness of the Gentiles under the infirmity of the flesh, he set forth the works of the Crucified, which were also reinforced by the testimony of fame, since it was clear to everyone that these things could not be done unless by God. But because fame often lies in both directions, it helped that fame that his disciples were doing even greater things, while the sick were healed of whatever infirmity they had at the shadow of the disciple. Why say more? The Risen One, in his death, refuted the cleverness of Aristotle, the sharp arguments of Chrysippus, and the traps set by all the philosophers. It's well known that the Decii, leaders of the Romans, devoted themselves to death for the sake of their armies. Julius Caesar, too: 'I, Paul, etc.' There's no doubt that this comes from the spurious Acts of St. Paul: 'A leader,' he says, 'who doesn't work to be dear to his soldiers doesn't know how to arm them, nor does he know how to make the leader's humanity felt in the army against the enemy.' The same man never said to his soldiers, 'Go there,' but rather, 'Come'; for he said that labor shared with a leader seems lighter to the soldiers. Furthermore, bodily pleasure must be avoided for the same reason; for he used to say that in war men's bodies are wounded by swords, but in peace they are wounded by pleasures. For that conqueror of nations had sensed that pleasure is in no way overcome so easily as by flight, since a shameless woman had bound in the snares of Venus the very man who had conquered nations.
Read the original Latin
eis; et quid sit ministerium principatus jidditer gerere, Hunc ergo gladium de manu Ecclesiae accipit princeps, cum ipsa tamen gladium sanguinis omnino non habeat. Habet tamen et istum, sed eo utitur per principis manum, cui cohercendorum corporum contulit potestatem, spiritualium sibi in pontificibus auctoritate seruata. Est ergo princeps sacerdotii quidem minister et qui sacrorum officiorum illam partem exercet quae sacerdotii manibus uidetur indigna. Sacrarum namque legum omne officium religiosum et pium est, illud tamen inferius, quod in penis criminum exercetur et quandam camificii repraesentare uidetur imaginem. Vnde et Constantinus Romanorum fidelissimus imperator, cum sacerdotum concilium Niceam conuocasset, nec primum locum tenere ausus est nee se presbiterorum immiscere consessibus, sed sedem nouissimam occupauit. Sententias uero, quas ab eis approbatas audiuit, ita ueneratus est ac si eas de diuinae maiestatis sensisset emanasse iudicio. Sed et libellos inscriptionum, quos ad inuicem conceptos, sacerdotum crimina continentes, imperatori porrexerant, suscepit quidem clausosque reposuit in sinu suo. Cum autem eosdem ad caritatem et concordiam reuocasset,dixit sibi, tamquam homini et qui iudicio subiacet 10; sacerdotum, illicitum esse deorum examinare causas, qui non possunt nisi a solo Deo iudicari.
Librosque, quos receperat, non inspectos dedit incendio, patrum ueritus crimina uel conuitia publicare et Cham reprobi filii maledictionem incurrere, qui patris uerenda non texit. Vnde et in scriptis Nicholai Romani pontificis idem dixisse narratur: Vere si propriis oculis uidissem sacerdotem Dei aut aliquem eorum qui monachico habitu circumamicti sunt, peccantem, clamidem meam explicarem et cooperirem eum, ne ab aliquo uideretur. Sed et Theodosius magnus imperator ob meritam noxam, non tamen eotenus grauem, a sacerdote Mediolanensi a regalium usu et insignibus imperii suspensus est et indictam sibi penitentiam homicidii patienter et sollempniter egit. Profecto, ut Doctoris gentium testimonio utar, maior est qui benedicit quam qui benedicitur, et penes quem est conferendae dignitatis auctoritas eum, cui dignitas ipsa confertur, honoris priuilegio antecedit, Porro de ratione iuris, eius est noUe cuius est uelle, et eius est auferre qui de iure conferre potest. Nonne Samuel in Saulem ex causa inobedientiae depositionis sententiam tulit, et ei in regni apicem huinilem filium Ysai subrogauit? Si uero constitutus princeps susceptum ministerium fideliter gesserit, tantus honor ei exhibendus est et reuerentia tanta, quantum caput omnibus membris corporis antecellit. Gerit autem ministerium fideliter, cum suae conditionis memor uniuersitatis subiectorum se personam gerere recordatur, et se non sibi suam uitam sed aliis debere cognoscit, et eam illis ordinata caritate distribuit. Totum ergo se Deo debet, a plurimum sui patriae, multum parentibus et propinquis, extraneis minimum, nonnichil tamen.
Sapientibus ergo et insipientibus debitor est, pusilHs et maioribus. Quae quidem inspectio communis est omnium praelatorum, et eorum qui spiritualium curam gerunt, et qui se ularem iurisdictionem exercent. Vnde et Melchisedech, quem primum Scriptura regem introducit et sacerdotem (ut ad praesens misterium taceatur, quo praefigurat Christum, qui in celis sine matre et in terris sine patre natus est); ille, inquam, nec patrem nec matrem legitur habuisse, non quod utroque caruerit, sed quia regnum et sacerdotium de ratione non pariunt caro et sanguis, cum in alterutro creando parentum respectus citra uirtutum merita praeualere non debeat, sed salubria subiectorum fidelium uota; et cum alterutrius culminis apicem quisque conscenderit, obliuisci debet afiectum camis et id solum agere quod subiectorum salus exposcit. Subiectis itaque pater sit et maritus aut, si teneriorem nouerit afiectionem, utatur ea; amari magis studeat quam timeri, et se talem illis exhibeat, ut uitam eius ex deuotione praeferant suae, et incolumitatem illius quandam publicam reputent uitam; et ei tunc omnia recte procedent, et paucorum stipatus obsequio praeualebit, si opus est, aduersus innumerabiles. Fortis etenim est ut mors dilectio; et cuneus, quem funiculi amoris constringunt, non facile rumpitur. Dorenses cum Atheniensibus pugnaturi de euentu praelii oracula consuluerunt. Responsum est superiores fore, ni regem Atheniensium occidissent. Cum uentum esset in bellum, militibus ante omnia regis custodia praecipitur.
Atheniensibus eo tempore rex Codrus erat. Qui, responso dei et praeceptis hostium cognitis, mutato regis habitu, sarmenta coUo gerens castra hostium ingreditur. Ibi turba obsistentium a milite, quem falce percusserat, interficitur. Cognito regis corpore, Dorenses sine praelio discedunt. Atque ita Athenienses uirtute ducis, pro salute patriae morti se ofierentis, bello liberantur. Item Ligurgus in regno suo decreta constituens populum in obsequia principum, principes ad iustitiam imperiorum firmauit; auri argentique usum et omnium scelerum materiam sustulit; senatui custodiam legum, populo sublegendi senatum potestatem dedit; statuit uirginem sine dote nubere, ut uxores eligerentur, non pecunia; maximum honorem pro gradu etatis senum esse uoluit; nec sane usquam terrae locum honoratiorem senectus habet. Deinde, ut eternitatem suis legibus daret, iureiurando obligat ciuitatem, nichil eos de eius legibus mutaturos antequam reuerteretur. Proficiscitur autem Cretam, ibi perpetuum exilium egit, abicique moriens ossa sua in mare iussit, ne relatis Lacedaemonem solutos se religione iusiurandi in dissoluendis legibus arbitrarentur.
His quidem exemplis eo libentius utor, quod apostolum Paulum eisdem usum, dum Atheniensibus praedicaret, ina uenio. Studuit praedicator egregius lesum Christum et hunc crucifixum sic mentibus eorum ingerere, ut per ignominiam crucis liberationem multorum exemplo gentilium prouenisse doceret. Sed et ista persuasit fieri non solere nisi in sanguine iustorum et eorum qui populi gererent magistratum. Porro ad liberationem omnium, scilicet ludeorum et gentium, nemo sufficiens potuit inueniri, nisi ille, cui in hereditatem datae sunt gentes, et praefinita est omnis terra possessio eius. Hunc autem alium esse non posse quam Filium omnipotentis Dei asseruit, cum praeter Deum gentes et terras omnes nemo subegerit. Dum ergo sic crucis ignominiam praedicaret, ut gentium paulatim euacuaretur stultitia, sensim ad Dei uerbum Deique sapienb tiam et ipsum etiam diuinae maiestatis solium, uerbum fidei et linguam praedicationis euexit et, ne uirtus Euangelii sub camis infirmitate uilesceret a scandalo ludeorum gentiumque stultitia, opera Crucifixi, quae etiam famae testimonio roborabantur, exposuit; cum apud omnes constaret quod ea non posset facere nisi Deus. Sed quia multa in utramque partem crebro fama mentitur, ipsam iuuabat famam, quod discipuli illius maiora faciebant, dum ad umbram discipuli a quacumque infirmitate sanabantur aegroti. Quid multa?
Astutias Aristotilis, Crisippi acumina, omniumque philosophorum tendiculas resurgens mortuus confutabat. Deeios duces Romanorum se pro suis exercitibus deuouisse percelebre est. lulius quoque Cesar: I Paulum etc. : Non dubium est quin ista e S. Pauli actis spuriis Dux, inquit, qui non laborat ut militibus carus sit, militem nescit armare, nescit humanitatem ducis in exercitu aduersus hostes esse. Idem numquam dixit militibus: Ite huc; sed: Venite; dicebat enim quia participatus cum duce labor uidetur militibus minor. Praeterea uoluptas corporis eodem auctore uitanda est; aiebat enim in bello corpora hominum gladiis, in pace uoluptatibus uulnerari. Senserat enim gentium triumphator uoluptatem nullo modo tam facile superari quam fuga, eo quod ipsum, qui gentes domuerat, Veneris nexibus innodauit mulier impudica.
Policraticus companion
Study the argument weekly; pray the tradition daily
Pair the outline with the Chosen Portion app, which serves short daily portions from the same royal devotional tradition — free on iOS.
John of Salisbury argued that rulers must keep the law of God before their eyes daily; Chosen Portion gives modern readers that same daily discipline in five minutes a morning.
- 8 weeks, one book per week, with the 3-4 key chapters flagged in each
- Discussion questions usable for a reading group from week one
- A daily 5-minute companion portion in the app alongside your weekly study