De militia saeculari
The Vanity of Worldly Warfare
Bernard questions the deadly futility of secular warfare, where the killer sins mortally and the slain perishes eternally.
What good is this worldly combat — no, I won't even call it combat, but wickedness — if the one who kills sins mortally, and the one who is killed perishes eternally?
The Apostle's Call to Hopeful Labor
Bernard invokes 1 Corinthians 9:10 to contrast vain earthly toil with the hopeful labor owed to God.
Indeed, to use the Apostle's words: the one who plows ought to plow in hope, and the one who threshes ought to thresh in hope of sharing the fruit.✦ 1 Corinthians 9:10.✦
Soldiers Who March Toward Death in Pomp
Bernard mocks the absurd contradiction of soldiers adorned in silk, gold, and jewels who rush headlong toward death burdened by effeminacy and self-indulgence.
What is this astonishing delusion, then, soldiers — what is this unbearable rage — to serve at such great expense and labor, yet with no reward except either death or guilt? You dress your horses in silk and drape who-knows-what little cloths over your armor; you paint your lances, shields, and saddles; you adorn your reins and spurs with gold, silver, and jewels — and with all this pomp, in shameful fury and shameless folly, you rush headlong toward death. Are these the marks of soldiers, or are they really women's ornaments? Will an enemy blade perhaps show reverence for gold, spare the gems, and be unable to pierce through silk? After all — as you yourselves have learned again and again, and know full well — three things are especially necessary for a soldier in battle: first, that he be vigorous, hardworking, and watchful in protecting himself; second, that he be unencumbered and quick to move; and third, that he be ready and eager to strike. But you, to the contrary, for the burden of your eyes you grow your hair long like women; in long, flowing tunics you wrap and hide your own feet; and your soft, delicate hands you bury in wide, billowing sleeves.
The Unworthy Causes of Earthly War
Bernard exposes the disordered motives behind secular conflict—anger, vainglory, and greed—and warns that to kill or die for such reasons is not safe for the soul.
Beyond all this, what terrifies armed men even more is conscience — that cause, surely, which is light and trivial enough, yet by which such a dangerous military service is presumed to be undertaken. Among you, certainly, no other wars stir up conflict and strife, unless it's an irrational surge of anger, or a craving for empty glory, or greed for some earthly possession or other. To kill or to be killed for such reasons is certainly not safe. 546
Read the original Latin
Quis igitur finis fructusve saecularis hujus, non dico, militiae, sed malitiae; si et occisor letaliter peccat, et occisus aeternaliter perit? Enimvero, ut verbis utar Apostoli, Et qui arat, in spe debet arare; et qui triturat, in spe fructus percipiendi (I Cor. IX, 10). Quis ergo, o milites, hic tam stupendus error, quis furor hic tam non ferendus, tantis sumptibus ac laboribus militare, stipendiis vero nullis, nisi aut mortis, aut criminis? Operitis equos sericis, et pendulos nescio quos panniculos loricis superinduitis; depingitis hastas, clypeos et sellas; frena et calcaria auro et argento, gemmisque circumornatis: et cum tanta pompa pudendo furore et impudenti stupore ad mortem properatis. Militaria sunt haec insignia, an muliebria potius ornamenta? Numquid forte hostilis mucro reverebitur aurum, gemmis parcet, serica penetrare non poterit? Denique, quod ipsi saepius certiusque experimini, tria esse praecipue necessaria praelianti, ut scilicet strenuus industriusque miles et circumspectus sit ad se servandum, et expeditus ad discurrendum, et promptus ad feriendum: vos per contrarium in oculorum gravamen femineo ritu comam nutritis, longis ac profusis camisiis propria vobis vestigia obvolvitis, delicatas ac teneras manus amplis et circumfluentibus manicis sepelitis.
Super haec omnia est, quod armati conscientiam magis terret, causa illa nimirum satis levis ac frivola, qua videlicet talis praesumitur et tam periculosa militia. Non sane inter vos aliud bella movet, litesque suscitat, nisi aut irrationabilis iracundiae motus, aut inanis gloriae appetitus, aut terrenae qualiscunque possessionis cupiditas. Talibus certe ex causis neque occidere, neque occumbere tutum est. 546
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Cor.9.10 — Surely he speaks for our sake, doesn't he? For it was written for our sake, because the one who plows ought to plow in hope, and the one who threshes ought to thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.
- ↩1Cor.9.10 — Surely he speaks for our sake, doesn't he? For it was written for our sake, because the one who plows ought to plow in hope, and the one who threshes ought to thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.
Liber ad milites templi de laude novae militiae (In Praise of the New Knighthood) companion
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