Quae nostratibus rtiala proueniant ab
The Vanity of Modern Soldiers
The author laments the decline of military discipline and the rise of vain, incompetent soldiers who prioritize luxury over duty.
Because of a lack of discipline. But why do I keep talking about the virtues of the ancients? Our age has failed and is reduced almost to nothing; it swells with honors while knowing nothing of their true rank, and it delights in the vanity of titles while despising the truth and fruit of things. Gamblers, bird-catchers, and—what is more surprising—fools, and those who have never handled manly tasks nor even known what those duties are, are rejected as unfit for the work of pleasure because of their unkempt hair and hardened skin; yet they put on the soldier's armor, aspire to the rank of commander or general, and promise to be leaders and teachers of a profession they have never learned. Furthermore, no empire has ever been expanded by virtue in such a way that these people wouldn't be enough to shrink its borders or completely drain its strength. If you don't believe me, at least believe the works themselves. It is shameful to say that this is a source of pain and ignominy to endure. While our armed military sleeps, while they assault the modesty of others and prostitute their own, while they scout out the homes of the nobility for banquets so they can feast sumptuously every day, while they throw around bombastic, long-winded words, slaughtering Saracens and Parthians—and anyone else considered an enemy—without shedding a drop of blood; while these 'glorious soldiers' do this, the indomitable 'Snow-hillers' grow insolent, the unarmed Britons swell with pride, and they force those who are called Palatine counts and boast of royal blood almost to surrender, turning them into tributaries.
The Vulnerability of the Unprepared
The author observes that the current military fails to engage effectively with adversaries, allowing even the weak to plunder the land.
No one wants to engage them in hand-to-hand combat or test their strength in a fair fight. The armed provoke the unarmed to the open plains, but the unarmed provoke them to the woods, because no one of ours trusts in his own strength to pursue them. I wish they had remembered what Roman history says about the Cisalpines: 'The inhabitants of Cisalpine Gaul had the spirits of wild beasts but bodies that were more than human; yet experience has shown that their strength, while greater than men's in the first charge, is less than women's in the next.' Alpine bodies, raised in a damp climate, have something in common with their own snows; as soon as they heat up in battle, they immediately break into a sweat and, with the slightest movement, melt away as if in the sun. Elsewhere, too, the savagery of the Alpine peoples is easily shown even by their women, who, when weapons ran low, threw their own children—battered against the ground—into the faces of the opposing soldiers. If there were clearly anyone to attack our 'Snow-dwellers,' they would undoubtedly be defeated; but, as Amentius says, there is no one to do what must be done, which spontaneous fortune almost forces to be accomplished. An unarmed and unwarlike barbarism attacks, plunders, and lays waste to an armed province, and he who goes hungry in his own home... ...is satisfied by our own soldier as he retreats, and makes a feast day of luxury at our expense.
A Call to Courage and Shame
Using historical examples of women shaming men into battle, the author urges the modern military to reclaim their honor and defend their country.
Doesn't a soldier surrender if he doesn't repel an enemy who is attacking and closing in? If, however, neither love of country, nor the loss of property, nor the danger of being destroyed by the enemy, nor the sting of shame could stir the courage of our military—which the unarmed and insolent Welshman now mocks—then he has surely failed. It's a common proverb that a land is miserable when it's being ravaged by a stable boy or a mule driver. But if our soldiers cannot be stirred to manly deeds by any manly exhortation, then let the mothers and wives of those who are retreating urge them toward courage. We find something like this in ancient history: when the Persian battle line was beaten and driven into flight by the attacking Medes, and, failing completely, they didn't dare even to look back at the victor, their mothers and wives ran out to meet the fugitives everywhere and, in a dense line of women, begged them to return to the battle. To those who refused, they lifted their garments and showed their naked bodies, asking if they wanted to hide back in the wombs of their mothers or wives. Chastened by this rebuke, they returned to the battle, and by making a charge, they forced those they had been fleeing to flee in their turn. If only the wives and mothers of our Marchers would do the same, so that they might keep the country safe and remove the stain of shame at every turn.
Read the original Latin
indisciplinatione. Sed quid maioram uirtutem replico et reuoluo? Defecit etas nostra et fere ad nichilum redacta est, honoribus intumescit honoram nesciens gradus, uanitate nominum delectatur contempta reram ueritate et fractu. Aleator, auceps, quodque magis mirere, stulticines et qui uirilia numquam tractauerunt sed neque nota habuerunt officia, cum ad opera lasciuiae pilo fruticante cuteque indurata tamquam inhabiles reprobantur, militem induunt, primipilatum ducatumque affectant et se ductores et doctores pollicentur officii quod numquam didicerunt. Porro nullum umquam imperium sic uirtus dilatauit, cuius isti non sufficiant contrahere fines aut omnino uires euacuare. Si michi non credis, uel operibus crede. Pudet dicere quod dolor est et ignominia sustinere. Dum armata nobis militia stertit, dum alienam expugnant pudicitiam, suam prostituunt, dum nobilium circueunt domos, conuiuia explorant ut epulentur cotidie splendide, dum ampullas proiciunt et sesquipedalia uerba, sine cruore trucidantes Saracenos et Parthos et si quid aliud hostili censetur nomine, dum hoc faciunt milites gloriosi, Niuicollinus indomitus insolescit, inermes Britones intumescunt, ipsosque qui dicuntur Palatini comites et regum sanguine gloriantur, fere ad deditionem compellunt et quasi tributarios faciunt.
Non est qui cum eis uelit manum conserere aut qui uelit aequo Marte quid ualeant experiri. Armati inermes ad campestria prouocant, sed inermes ad siluestria, quia de propria uirtute diffidit, nemo nostrorum persequitur. Vtinam memoriter tenuissent quod de Cisalpinis Romana narrat historia, euius uerba sunt haec: Cisalpinorum incolis animi ferarum, corpora plus quam 6i3 a humana erant; sed experimento deprehensum est quia uirtus eorum sicut primo impetu maior est quam uirorum, ita sequens minor quam feminarum est. Alpina enim corpora humente celo educata habent aliquid simile niuibus suis; cum mox incaluerint pugna, statim in sudorem eunt et leui motu quasi sole laxantur. Alibi quoque Alpinarum gentium feritas facile uel per mulieres ostenditur, quae deficientibus telis infantes suos afflictos humi in ora militum aduersa miserunt. Si essent plane qui impugnarent NiuicoUinos nostros, proculdubio uincerentur; sed, ut ait Amentius, non est qui faciat facienda, quae fere perfici ultronea fortuna compellit. Armatam prouinciam inermis imbellisque barbaries aggreditur depopulatur et uastat, et qui domi suae esurit. milite nostro cedente,de nostro satiatur et in nostro facit luxuriae diem festum.
Numquid enim non cedit miles qui non repellit hostem irruentem et imminentem 'i Si uero nec amor patriae nec rerum dampna nec salutis imminentis ab hoste dispendiimi, uel pudoris stimulus uirtutem militiae nostrae excitare debuerat, cui iam inermis et insolens Walensis insultat. Prouerbialiter dici solet quia misera terra est quam agaso uel mulio depopulatur. Quod si nulla exhortatione uirili nostri possunt milites ad uirilia incitari, uel matres et uxores cedentium eos urgeant ad uirtutem. Nam aliquid tale in priscis historiis inuenitur, Cum enim irruentibus Medis acies Persarum pulsata in fugam ageretur et omnino deficiens nec uictorem respicere auderet, matres et uxores eorum passim obuiam fugientibus currunt et mulierum densata acie orant in praelium reuertantur. Nolentibus sublata ueste obscena corporis ostendunt, rogantes num in uteros matrum uel uxorum uelint refugere. Hac repressi castigatione in praelium redeunt et facta impressione quos fugiebant fugere compulerunt. Vtinam sic faciant uxores et matres nostrorum Marchionum, dum quacumque occasione patriam seruent incolumem et labem pudoris amoueant.
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