De legibus secularium principum quibus
The Integrity of the Priesthood
The chapter opens by establishing the necessity of holy, blameless, and uncorrupted priests, emphasizing that the priesthood and the empire must work in harmony.
Court officials and civil servants are barred from ecclesiastical honors; and [it is noted] by what examples Dathan and Abiram strove to obtain them. Emperor Justinian says: 'The greatest gifts of God, bestowed by heavenly mercy, are the priesthood and the empire; the former ministers to divine things, while the latter presides over human affairs and shows diligence. Both proceed from one and the same principle and adorn human life.' Therefore, nothing will be as important to emperors as the integrity of priests, since they are the ones who always pray to God on their behalf. For if the priesthood is blameless in every way and full of confidence before God, and if the empire rightly and competently adorns the public life entrusted to it, there will be a good harmony, bringing everything useful to the human race. We therefore have the greatest concern for the true doctrines of God and for the integrity of priests, because we believe that as they hold to these, the greatest gifts will be given to us by God, and we will possess those things that are firm and acquire those that have not yet come. Everything is managed well and competently if the beginning of the matter is decent and pleasing to God. We believe this will come to pass if the observance of the sacred rules is maintained—the rules which the just, praised, and adorable inspectors and ministers of the Word of God, the Apostles, handed down, and which the holy fathers kept and explained. We therefore decree that, while following these sacred rules in all things, whenever anyone is brought forward for ordination to the episcopacy in the future, his life must first be examined according to the holy Apostle: whether he is honest, blameless, and irreproachable in every way, whether he has a good reputation among those outside, and whether he is worthy of the priesthood and does not come from a background as a civil or court official. A person shouldn't suddenly appear as a bishop after being an uneducated man and then passing through some minor office; instead, he should have been living in virginity from the start, or if he has a wife, he should have come to the office from a life of virginity, and he should not have children who are a reproach. Otherwise, anyone who acts against these rules should lose his priesthood, and the person who ordains him should be barred from the episcopate for violating this law. Furthermore, no one unlearned in the sacred doctrines should approach the episcopate; he must first have professed the monastic life or served in the clergy for at least six months, and he must not be living with a wife. Beyond this, we don't permit anyone who has a wife under the provision of the law to have such an ordination imposed upon him. Just as we seek good grace or glory in the one who is to be ordained, so too do we punish the slander of the one who has accused him in vain. If, however, someone claims to be aware of any illicit behavior on his part, he should not deserve the bishop's ordination until an examination of the complaint is made and he appears entirely innocent. But if, after such a contradiction, the one who performs the ordination rushes to the ordination without having allowed a legitimate examination to be imposed on the case, he should know that what he does is null and void; the one who is made bishop contrary to the law should lose his priesthood, and the one who imposes the ordination without proof should likewise lose his episcopal seat. Likewise, Leo says: If someone is promoted to the rank of the episcopate by the authority of God, let him be brought forward by the pure minds of men, with clear knowledge of his election and the sincere judgment of all.
The Rejection of Simony
The author denounces the buying and selling of ecclesiastical offices, calling for a return to humble, prayerful selection of leaders.
No one should buy the rank of the priesthood with the sale of a price; how each person deserves it should be judged, not by how much they can afford to give. For what place is truly safe, and what excuse could possibly be valid, if the venerable temples of God are taken by storm with money? What wall for integrity or rampart for faith will we provide, if the cursed hunger for gold creeps into the venerable inner sanctuaries? Finally, what can be kept safe or secure if incorrupt holiness is corrupted? Let the profane heat of greed stop looming over the altars, and let this shameful crime be driven away from the sacred thresholds. Therefore, let a chaste and humble bishop be chosen in our times, so that wherever he goes, he may purify all things with the integrity of his own life. A bishop should be ordained through prayers, not through payment; he ought to be so removed from ambition that he is sought out and must be compelled, that he retreats when asked, and flees when invited. Only the necessity of excusing himself should support him. Truly, anyone is unworthy of the priesthood unless they were ordained against their will; for it is clear that whoever is discovered to have attained this holy and venerable seat of a bishop through the intervention of money, or whoever is found to have accepted anything to ordain or elect another, should be removed from the priestly rank, with an accusation brought against them for a public crime and for treason. We have decreed that they should not only be deprived of their office from now on, but also condemned to perpetual infamy, so that a similar penalty may accompany both those whom the same crime stains and makes equal. Likewise, Justinian in his Novella Constitution: Above all else, we decree that this must be observed: that no one is to be ordained a bishop through the favor of any gift. If, however, anything of this sort occurs, those who give and those who receive, as well as their intermediaries, are to be condemned. Therefore, let the one who gives, the one who receives, and the mediator be removed from the honor of the priesthood or the clergy. Whatever has been given for this cause is to be claimed by the church whose priesthood they wished to purchase. If by chance a lay mediator accepts anything for this cause, let them restore double the amount to the church. The same: But it is not permitted for any governor of a venerable house, or anyone performing any ecclesiastical duty, to give anything to the one by whom they are appointed, nor for any person to do so for the administration committed to them. Whoever gives, receives, or acts as a mediator in this, shall be stripped of their clerical status, and the things received shall be claimed for the venerable place. If, however, the one who receives or acts as a mediator is a layperson, they must restore double what was given to that same venerable place. The same: We decree that when it is necessary to ordain a bishop, the clergy must immediately make declarations regarding the three persons, with the holy Gospels set before them, stating in those very decrees that they did not choose these men because of any gift, promise, or friendship, but because they know them to be of right faith and honest life, and that they are literate, and that they have neither wife, concubine, nor children, and are not government officials or agents. The same: But we do not permit a government official or agent to be made a cleric, lest an injury be done to the venerable clergy, unless perhaps one of them has completed at least twenty-five years of monastic life. For we command that such men be ordained only after one-fourth of their own property has been retained for themselves, with the remaining parts to be claimed by the court and the treasury, if they have lived a life befitting a monk while established in the clergy. The same: We decree that religious clerics are to be ordained by God-loving bishops according to divine rules, with much inquiry and only after they are found to be men of good testimony, entirely literate, and learned; but we value no one in sacred ordinations more than those who live in chastity or who do not cohabit with wives.
The Peril of Worldly Ambition
The author warns against those who, like Dathan and Abiram, seek to usurp sacred authority through political favor and worldly power.
These, indeed, are the princes of the age. For although the doctors of the Church pursue these matters at greater length, because their words seem too difficult, they are held in low regard by them. Truly, anyone who doesn't even listen to these men is blinder than Hipsea and deafer than a Dulichian rower, and is someone who deserves to be cast down—prostrate before the angel they despise—into the lowest depths, just as you heard of Nadab and Abiu, who were consumed by their own fire and cast out of the tabernacle by the Lord's command; yet these men strive to break into the temple of the Lord and the holy of holies while Moses resists—that is, while the law of the Lord forbids it. A large offspring has followed them, filling the atrium of the Lord’s house, and they offer strange fire. Forbidden from doing so, they still try to burn incense, and having partnered with the followers of Dathan and Abiram, they rush upon Moses, tearing the Church apart, disrupting the priesthood, and stirring up sedition among the people unless they are allowed to approach the priesthood. For once they have won the favor of those in power, they claim that everything is rightfully open to them, on the grounds that a prince (as they say) is not subject to the laws, and that whatever pleases the prince has the force of law. Since, therefore, the people have conferred all their authority upon him and into him, to oppose him is a crime of high treason and a manifest subversion of the principate. Indeed, it is akin to sacrilege to doubt whether the one whom the prince has chosen is worthy; nor does anyone escape the mark of rashness, and it goes well for him if he escapes even punishment, whoever for any reason whatsoever prepares to nullify the will of the prince. They believe no laws should be preferred to civil ones. Anacharsis compared these to a spider’s web, which catches flies and gnats but lets larger creatures pass through; likewise, civil laws repress the desires of the lowly, but they certainly yield to the more powerful. For they do not impose a legitimate penalty upon them for transgression or contempt, but they do not even pass over those who are questioned with careful dissimulation. They use these contrived examples of tyrants to persuade those in power that they can do whatever they want. This is especially true where long-standing custom prevails, even if it contradicts reason or the law. They tell stories of which tyrant forced his own household or friends into a church without an election; who pressured the clergy to choose someone unknown and unworthy through threats and financial ruin; who openly sold the Church of God; who forced a metropolitan to consecrate someone unfit; who drove religious bishops into exile or forced them to flee when others acted against them; who burdened the Church and sacred things with sordid tributes; who tortured religious people with unworthy punishments; who despised and ruined the clergy; who brought a deadly suspension of religious services into the provinces; who wiped out laws and canons from his territories; who ordered bishops to be silent so he could commit any crime with impunity and without any rebuke; who swelled with pride against the Roman Church for a long time and in a most destructive way; who treated everything not by his own law, but by a perverse one; and who finally became accustomed to equating his own whims with what is lawful. If someone is more prolific in recounting these things and more wicked in carrying out such malice, they are considered to have a more sincere faith and more effective industry. But anyone who speaks out for the truth of the faith or the sincerity of morals based on divine law is considered either superstitious, envious, or—what is a capital offense—an enemy of the prince. If you say that the fire which lived under water for the seventy years of the Babylonian captivity was finally extinguished when Antiochus sold the priesthood to Jason; or (as blessed Gregory testifies) that plagues and famines, the shaking of nations, the collisions of kingdoms, and many other adversities come upon the earth because ecclesiastical honors are conferred for a price or human favor upon people who do not deserve them; if you mention Uzzah being struck by the Lord because he presumed to steady the tottering ark; if you say that Isaiah remained silent while Uzziah the leper king reigned, and that upon his death he saw the Lord sitting upon a high throne; if you say that the burdens of the tabernacle and the carts of the Levites were the only things that mattered, and if you mention other similar things in the law of God, it will go well for you if you are not mutilated and thrown into prison or driven into exile.✦✦ You'll be denounced on all sides, and both the ambitious and their supporters won't fear to pass a sentence of extreme condemnation upon you. Yet the Lord will provide one remedy for you: that the conscience of every wise person who fears God will agree with your words.
The Example of David and Micol
Using the biblical account of King David and Micol, the author illustrates the contrast between true devotion and the barrenness of prideful criticism.
That is why their judgment of you doesn't always hold, with the Lord as your authority. If they were believed, you would be judged a public enemy, as if guilty of treason. You'll certainly be accused of undermining public justice; while you stand up for the freedom of the Church as a champion of your profession, you'll be accused of subverting the wisdom of princes and plotting to make them look foolish and contemptible. It would be better for a prince's crown to be taken from his head than for the management of that principal and noble part of the state, which concerns religion, to be removed from his control. Whoever prepares to cross Pompey in the city of Rome isn't seeking private interests. And perhaps he goes beyond the desires of private citizens even more arrogantly, by seeking to dominate princes under the guise of freedom. For if any prince agrees to such superstition, he is foolish and degenerates from the virtue of illustrious kings. Yet David, as the history of the Kings tells us, and all Israel played before the Lord with all kinds of wooden instruments—harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals—even though such a critic was not lacking to him.✦1 The history continues: "Micol, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, 'How glorious the king of Israel was today, exposing himself before the servant girls of his attendants, and stripping himself just as a buffoon might.'" David said to Micol, 'As the Lord lives, I will dance before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father and all his house, and commanded me to be leader over the Lord's people in Israel. I will dance and become even more base than I have been, and I will be humble in my own eyes; and with the servant girls of whom you spoke, I will appear more glorious.' Therefore, no son was born to Micol, the daughter of Saul, until the day she died. David, however, sat as king in his own house, and the Lord gave him rest on every side from all his enemies. Do you see how diligently history teaches that contempt for religious life is punished, while it rewards the devotion of faith and the practice of humility with the arrogance of pride? For David attains the rest of his kingdom, while Micol dies barren by the merit of her perverse rebuke, leaving behind no fruit of a noble lineage or a happy marriage. This is fitting, since Micol is interpreted as 'all water' or 'from all'. Indeed, the counsel of an unskilled multitude, and whatever follows popular judgment, has neither the joy nor the memory of good fruit.
The Fruit of Divine Justice
The chapter concludes by affirming that those who suppress the freedom of the Church will ultimately face divine judgment, either in themselves or their descendants.
However, when you hear these advisors to the powerful, you won't suspect for a moment that Micol died without offspring. You'll be amazed that all of Micol's children exist; even if they didn't come from her flesh, you'll think their spirit was passed down from her. And to make this easier for you to believe: those who strive to empty out divine authority so they can establish their own, either die without heirs or leave them behind as degenerate and spineless. Without a doubt, whoever suppresses the freedom of the Church is punished either in himself or in his offspring. Children, therefore, lose their own property along with the things their parents' wickedness seized through favor.
Read the original Latin
curiales et offixiiales arcentur ab honoribus ecclesiasticis; et quibus exemplis Dathanitae et Abironitae nitantur obtinere. Ait ergo imperator lustinianus: Maxima in omnibus sunt dona Dei a superna coUata clementia sacerdotium et imperium, illud quidem diuinis ministrans, hoc autem in humanis praesidens ac diligentiam exhibens; ex uno eodemque principio utraque procedentia humanam exornant uitam. Ideoque nichil sic erit studiosum imperatoribus sicut sacerdotum honestas, cum utique pro illis ipsi semper Deo supplicent. Nam, si hoc quidem inculpabile sit undique et apud Deum fiducia erit plenum, imperium autem recte et competenter exornet traditam sibi rem publicam, erit consonantia quaedam bona, omne quicquid utile est humano conferens generi. Nos igitur maximam habemus sollicitudinem circa uera Dei dogmata et circa sacerdotum honestatem, quam illis optinentibus credimus quia per ea maxima nobis dona dabuntur a Deo et ea quae sunt firma habebimus et quae nondum uenerunt adquiremus. Bene autem uniuersa geruntur et competenter, si rei principium fiat decens et amabile Deo. Hoc autem futurum esse credimus, si sacrarum regularum obseruatio custodiatur, quam iusti, laudati, adorandi inspectores et ministri Verbi Dei tradiderunt Apostoli, et sancti patres custodierunt et explanauerunt. Sancimus igitur sacras per omnia sequentes regulas, dum quispiam sequenti omni tempore ad ordinationem episcopatus perducitur, considerari prius eius uitam secundum sacrum Apostolum, si honesta, si inculpabilis et undique irreprehensibilis sit, et in bonis testimonium habeat et sacerdotem decens, et neque ex officiali aut ex curiali ueniat fortuna.
Neque ex idiota mox clericus, deinde paruum aliquid praet riens episcopus, appareat, sed aut in uirginitate degens a a principio aut uxorem siquidem habens ex uirginitate ad eum uenientem neque filios odibiles. Alioquin qui praeter haec aliquid agit et ipse cadat sacerdotio, et qui eum ordinat extra episcopatum sectabitur hanc legem offendens. Sed neque ineruditus existens sacrorum dogmatum ad episcopatum accedat; prius autem aut monasticam uitam professus aut in clero constitutus non minus mensibus sex, nxori tamen non coherens. De cetero autem nulli permittimus a positione legis uxorem habenti talem imponi ordinationem. Sicut bonam gratiam uel gloriam in eo qui ordinandus est quaerimus, ita etiam in eo calumpniam, qui frustra accusauit, punimus. Si autem aliquis dicat conscium se esse alicuius illicitorum ei, non prius mereatur episcopi ordinationem quam querelae examinatio fiat et undique innoxius appareat. Quod si post huiusmodi contrardictionem non passus is qui ordinem facit legittimam examinationem imponi causae currat ad ordinationem, sciat quod ab eo fit pro nichilo esse, sed is qui contra legem fit cadat sacerdotio, et qui sine probatione ordinationem imponit et ipse similiter sede cadat sacerdotali. Item Leo: Si quemquam ad episcopatus gradum prouehi Deo auctore contigerit, puris hominum mentibus nuda electionis scientia sincero omnium iudicio proferatur.
Nemo gradum sacerdotii pretii uenalitate mercetur; qualiter quisque mereatur, non quantum dare sufficiat, estimetur. Profecto enim quis locus tutus et quae causa poterit esse excusata, si ueneranda Dei templa pecuniis expugnentur? Quem murum integritati aut uallum fidei prouidebimus, si auri sacra fames (in) ueneranda penetralia proserpit? Quod denique cautum esse poterit aut securum, si sanctitas incorrupta corrumpitur? Cesset altaribus imminere prophanus ardor auaritiae et a sacris aditis repellatur piaculare flagitium. Itaque castus et humilis eligatur nostris temporibus episcopus,ut locorumquocumque peruenerit omnia uitae propriae integritate purificet. Non precio sed precibus ordinetur antistes, tantum ab ambitu debet esse sepositus ut quaeratur cogendus, rogatus recedat, inuitatus efiugiat. Sola illi sufiragetur necessitas excusandi.
Profecto enim indignus est sacerdotio, nisi fuerit ordinatus inuitus, cum sane quisquis hanc sanctam et uenerabilem antistitis sedem pecuniae interuentu subisse aut si quis, ut alterum ordinaret uel eligeret, aliquid accepisse detegitur, ad instar publici criminis et lesae maiestatis accusatione proposita a gradu sacerdotii retrahatur. Nec solum deinceps honore priuari sed perpetuae quoque infamiae damnari decreuimus, ut eos, quos facinus par coinquinat et aequat, utrosque similis pena comitetur. Item lustinianus constitutione Nouella: Prae omnibus illud obseruari sancimus ut nuUus per sufiragium alicuius muneris episcopus ordinetur. Si quid autem tale comitatur, ipsi dantes et accipientes et eorum mediatores "5 a dampnationi subiciantur. Et propterea qui dat et qui accipit et mediator sacerdotii aut cleri honore remoueatur. Quod autem pro hac causa datum est, ecclesiae illi uendicetur cuius uoluit sacerdotium comparare. Si forte laicus mediator pro hac causa aliquid accipiat, in duplum id ecclesiae restituat. Idem: Sed neque quemlibet uenerabilis domus gubernatorem, aut aliara quamcumque sollicitudinem ecclesiasticam agentem, dare aliquid iUi a quo constituitur, aut ulli personae liceat pro commissa sibi gubernatione.
Qui uero dat aut accipit aut mediator fit, clero nudabitur acceptis uendicandis uenerabili loco. Si autem secularis sit qui accipit aut mediator est, quod datum est duplum eidem uenerabili loco ab ipso praebeatur. Idem: Sancimus, cum opus fuerit episcopum ordinare, clericos mox in tribus decreta facere personis propositis sacrosanctis Euangeliis dieentes in ipsis decretis quia neque propter aliquam donationem aut promissionem aut amicitiam hos elegerunt, sed et seientes eos rectae fidei et honestae uitae esse et litteras nosse et quia neque uxorem neque concubinam neque filios habent neque hos curiales aut oflSciales esse. Idem: Sed neque curialem aut officialem clericum fieri permittimus; unde ex hoc uenerabilr clero iniuria fiat, nisi forte monasticam uitam aliquis eorum non minus quinque et uiginti annis impleuerit. Tales enim ordinari praecipimus quarta propriae substantiae sibi retenta, reliquife partibus curiae et fisco uendicandis, si in clero constituti monacho condecentem uitam impleuerintv Idem: Ab episcopis Deo amabilibus secundum diuinas regulas religiosos clericos cum multa fieri inquisitione et boni testimonii uiros ordinari sancimus, litteras omnimodo scientes, eruditos, sed nuUos ma s in sacris ordinationibus diligimus quam cum castitate uiuentes aut cum uxoribus non cohabitantes. Haec quidem seculi principes. Nam licet Ecclesiae doctores haec latius prosequantur, quoniam nimis uidentur ardua, quae dicuntur ab ipsis uilescunt. Vtique qui uel istos non audit, cecior est Hipsea et Dulichio remige surdior, et qui merito praecipitandus est, prostratus ab angelo, quem contempnit, in infemum inferiorem, Nadab et Abiu igne suo succensos et extra tabernaculum elatos Domino mandante audieras; sed hi templum Domini et sancta sanctorum Moyse repugnante, id est lege Domini prohibente, nituntur irrumpere.
Successit eis soboles numerosa, replet atrium domus Domini, alienum ignem accendunt. Adolere thura nituntur prohibiti et Datanitarum et Abironitarum societate contracta irruunt in Moysen, scindentes Ecclesiam, sacerdotium perturbantes, seditionem facientes in populo nisi ad sacerdotium permittantur accedere. Cum enim sibi conciliauerint gratiam potestatum, de iure patere sibi asserunt uniuersa, eo quod a princeps (ut dicunt) legibus non subicitur et quod principi placet legis habet uigorem. Cum ergo populus ei et in eum omnem auctoritatem suam contulerint, ei obuiare crimen maiestatis est et manifesta subuersio principatus. Siquidem sacrilegii instar est dubitare an is dignus sit quem princeps elegerit; nec temeritatis effugit notam, et bene cum eo agitur si uel penam, quisquis ex quacumque causa uoluntatem principis euacuare parat. Nullas leges credunt ciuilibus praef erendas. Has Anacarais Cithica telis araneae comparauit, quae muscas et culices detinent, sed uolatilia transmittunt grandiora; sic et iura ciuilia humiliorum reprimunt uoluntates, sed profecto potentioribus cedunt. Nam ex transgressione uel contemptu legittimam eis non irrogant penam, sed nec interpellatos quidem cauta dissimulatione praetereunt.
Ad haec conquisita tyrannorum exempla proponunt, quibus persuadeant potestatibus uniuersa licere. Maxime tamen sicubi locorum fuerint ubi inueterata consuetudo optineat, etiam si rationi aduersetur aut legi. Narrant quis tirannus domesticum suum aut familiarem in quam ecclesiam sine electione intruserit, quis clerum ut ignotum et indignum eligeret terroribus et damnis impulerit, quis Ex clesiam Dei uendiderit palam, quis metropolitanum compulerit reprobabilem consecrare, quis episcopos religiosos in exilium egerit aut actos ab aliis coegerit exulare, quis Ecclesiam et res sacras onerauerit muneribus sordidis, quis indignis suppliciis torserit religiosos, quis uilipenderit et pessumdederit clerum, quis in prouincias induxerit ferale iustitium, quis leges et canones exterminauerit a finibus suis, quis indixerit silentium episcopis ut quaeuis flagitia impune et sine uUa reprehensione committeret, quis aduersus Ecelesiam Romanam diutius et perniciosius intumuerit, quis omnia non tam sua quam peruersa lege tractauerit, quis tandem consueuerit libito licitum coaequare. Si quis autem in his commemorandis copiosior est et in explenda malitia nequior, sincerioris est fidei et efficacioris industriae. Qui uero pro ueritate fidei aut sinceritate morum de iure diuino aliquid loquitur, aut superstitiosus est aut inuidus aut (quod capitale est) principis inimicus. Si dicas quia ignis, qui per septuaginta annos Babilonicae captiuitatis sub aqua uixerat, demum extinctus est Antiocho uendente lasoni sacerdotium; aut (quod beatus Gregorius testatur) quia pestilentiae et fames, concussiones gentium, coUisiones regnorum et quampliirima aduersa terris proueniunt ex eo quod honores ecclesiastici ad pretium uel humanam gratiam conferuntur personis non meritis; si dicas Ozam percussum a Domino eo quod archam nutantem praesumebat erigere; si regnante Ozia rege leproso siluisse dixeris Esaiam et eo mortuo uidisse Dominum sedentem super solium excelsum; si dixeris onera a tabernaculi humeris et plaustris Leuitarum dumtaxat imminere, et si qua sunt in lege Dei simiHa, bene agetur tecum si non mutilatus retrudaris in carcerem aut in exilium propellaris. Vndique conclamaberis et tam ambitiosi quam fautores eorum extremae damnationis in te non uerebuntur ferre sententiam. Vnum tamen remedium tibi Dominus procurabit, quod cuiusque sapientis et timentis Deum conscientia consonat uerbis tuis.
Inde est quod sententia eorum de te Domino auctore non semper optinet. Si enim ipsis creditum fuerit, tu quasi lesae maiestatis reus hostis publicus iudicaberis. Diceris utique publica euacuare iudicia et, dum professionis propriae zelator ecclesiasticam erigis libertatem, sapientiam subuertis principum et eos quasi stultos et contemptibiles reddere machinaris. Satius erit ut diadema detraheretur principis capiti quam principalis et egregiae partis rei publicae dispositio, quae in religione uersatur, illius subtrahatur arbitrio. Non priuata cupit Romana quisquis in urbe Pompeium transire parat. Et forte arrogantius priuatorum uota transgreditur qui sub imagine libertatis principibus appetit dominari. Nam, si quis principum superstitioni huiusmodi adquiescat, insipiens est et ab illustrium regum uirtute degenerat. Dauid tamen, sicut Regum narrat historia, et omnis Israel ludebant coram Domino in omnibus lignis fabrefactis et cytharis et liris et timpanis et sistris et cimbaKs, licet ei non defuerit eiusmodi increpator.
Historia namque memorata prosec quitur: Et egressa Micol filia Saul in occursum Dauid ait: Quam gloriosus fuit hodie rex Israel discooperiens se ante ancillas seruorum suorum; et nudatus est quasi nudetur unus de scurris. Dixitque Dauid ad Micol: Yiuit Dominus quia ludam ante Dominum qui elegit me potius quam patrem tuum et quam omnem domum eius et praecepit michi ut essem dux super populum Domini in Israel; et ludam et uilior fiam plus quam factus sum, et ero humilis in oculis meis, et cum ancillis, de quibus locuta es, gloriosior apparebo. Igitur Micol filiae Saul non est natus filius usque ad diem mortis suae. Dauid uero sedit rex in domo sua et dedit ei Dominus requiem undique ab uniuersis inimicis suis. Videsne quam diligenter puniri docet historia hinc contemptum religionis, cum arrogantia tumoris inde deuotionem fidei et humilitatis cultum remunerat? Nam et Dauid quietem regni assequitur et Micol prauae increpationis merito sterilis obit et nuUum incliti generis et felicis matrimonii relinquit fructum. Recte quidem, cum et Micol ' omnis aqua ' uel ' ex omnibus ' interpretetur. Siquidem multitudinis imperitae consilium et quae populare iudicium sequitur, fructus boni nec iocunditatem nec memoriam habet.
Verumtamen, cum istos consiliarios magnatorum audieris, nequaquam suspicaberis Micol sine sobole decessisse. Omnes enim filios Micol esse miraberis a et, si non carnem, spiritum ex traduce illius putabis processisse. Et quod istud facilius tibi persuadeas, hi qui diuinam euacuare nituntur ut suam statuant auctoritatem, sine liberis moriuntur aut eos relinquunt degeneres et ignauos. Proculdubio quisquis ecclesiasticam deprimit libertatem aut punitur in se aut punitur in sobole. Amittunt ergo filii etiam propria cum his quae fauore eorum patema impietas occupauit.
Scripture echoes
- ↩2Sam.6.6-2Sam.6.7 — When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen had stumbled. 2Sam.6.7 — But the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence, and he died there beside the ark of God.
- ↩Isa.6.1 — In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
- ↩2Sam.6.5 — And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of cypress wood instruments, and with lyres, and with harps, and with tambourines, and with sistrums, and with cymbals.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin text contains a typo 'cimbaKs' which is corrected to 'cymbalis' for translation.
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