De militihus gloriosis qui militiae inutiles mnt
The Vanity of False Soldiers
The author critiques soldiers who prioritize superficial appearance and boastful storytelling over genuine military discipline and courage.
These soldiers might well blush—those who represent the comic character Thraso more in their lives and habits than in their actual profession and name—to see these duties of armed service, which to them don't so much smell of military discipline as of the hardships of an ignominious slavery. They think military glory consists in appearing in a more polished outfit, in pulling and twisting their linen or silk clothes so tightly that they seem to make them cling to their skin as if it were white lead or some other cosmetic, in sitting more softly on their ambling horses, and in being so curled and groomed that they don't yield to the Actaean Apollo, standing out more for their luxuries than for their virtue. If you were to draw up their battle line, you'd find it safer to storm the castle of Thais than that of Hannibal. Whoever among them is the most boastful in the hall will, when the crisis of battle arrives, send the Laconians under Sanga into the fight first, following behind them for protection along with the slingers and others who prefer throwing missiles from a distance to engaging in hand-to-hand combat. But when they return home without a wound or a scar—which happens more often—they sing of battles fought with heavy Mars; here Aeacides stood, there Achilles; they paint all of Troy in flowing wine, and each one boasts that he wandered through a thousand deaths around his own temples. From then on, you won't be able to stand their glory. This story will drag on for a hundred years; the children who are born and grow up will tell it to their own children, too. If someone breaks a few spears—which diligent laziness has provided as fragile as hemp—or if gold, lead, or some other paint falls off a shield from any blow or accident, a gossiping tongue will, if allowed, turn it into a memorial for ages to come.
Luxury in the Camp
These soldiers avoid hardship and labor, preferring to live in luxury and decorate their equipment with excessive ornamentation.
These men take the best seats at dinner and—whatever our friend Renatus may have written about military affairs—they feast sumptuously every day if fortune allows; they flee from any labor or exercise that isn't forced upon them by unavoidable necessity as if it were a snake or a dog, and they dump whatever difficulty arises onto their subordinates. Meanwhile, they gild their shields and decorate all their camp equipment so lavishly that you’d take any one of them for a high priest of Mars rather than a soldier. If you were to strip the shield or helmet from any one of them, the spoils themselves would be enough to honor Mars in person.
Read the original Latin
Erubescent forte milites glorios et qui Trasonem comicum potius uita et moribus quam professione et nomine repraesentent haec armatae militiae munia quae non tam (ut eis uidetur) diseiplinam redolet militarem quam ignominiosae seruitutis angustias. In eo namque militarem constare gloriam opinantur, si nitidiori splendeant habitu, ut lineas suas uestes uel sericas sic perstringant et torqueant ut quasi cutem cerussatam aliisue fucis obnoxiam carni faciant coherere, si gradariis equis insideant mollius, si calamistrati curatiue Acteo non cedant Apollini et deliciis sint magis quam uirtute praesignes. Eorum si forte construxeris aciem, castrum Thaidis quam Hannibalis tutius expugnabis. Quisquis eorum in aula iactantior est, cum ad praelii discrimen acceditur, lacones duce Sanga turmatim praemittet ad pugnam, nouissimos praesidii causa subsequens cum funditoribus aliisque qui in hostem tela eminus mittere quam manum conserere uolunt. Cum uero sine uulnere et cicatrice (quod frequentius euenit) domum redeunt, tunc exhausta canunt praelia Marte graui; illic Eacides, illic tendebat Achilles; et pingunt fluido Pergama tota mero; et quisque mortes mille circa tempora sua errasse gloriatur. Exinde gloriam eorum ferre non poteris. Fabula haec in annum centesimum protelabitur; filii quoque, qui nascentur et exurgent, enarrabunt filiis suis. Si hastas aliquot, quas ad modum cannabis fragiles diligens inertia procurauit, quis fregerit, si aurum minium colorue alius quocumque ictu casuue a clipeo excidit, hoc garrula lingua, si licuerit, memorale faciet in seculum seculi.
Isti primos recubitus habent in cenis et (quicquid Renatus noster de re militari tradiderit) epulantur, si fortuna permittit, cotidie splendide, omnemque laborem et exercitationem, quem non inuincibilis necessitas ingerit, cane et angue deterius fugiunt, et quicquid imminet difficultatis, reiciunt in subiectos. Interim clipeos sic inaurant, sic exomant omnia instrumenta castrorum, ut quemlibet eorum non tam cultorem quam praesidem Martis credas. Cuiuis istorum clipeus detrahatur aut galea, spolia eius ipsum Martem poterunt honorare.
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