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Chapter 14RectC.1.14

De duce Christiano, non in sua nec in suorum fortitudine, sed in Domino confidat.

Trust in the Lord, Not in Man

Rulers must place their confidence in God rather than in themselves or in human power, for all earthly strength is fleeting and those who forsake the Lord will be put to shame.

But when good rulers strive to subdue the arrogance of a proud tyranny in their adversaries, they should place their full confidence not in themselves and not in their own strength, but in the power and grace of the Most High, because he alone is the powerful protector of all who hope in him. This is why it is said through the psalmist: "It is good to trust in the Lord rather than to trust in man; it is good to hope in the Lord rather than to hope in princes," and elsewhere: "Do not trust in princes or in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation."✦ "His spirit will go out and return to his own land" — and the rest. To this Jeremiah agrees, saying: "Lord, all who forsake you will be put to shame; those who turn away from you will be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living waters."✦ "Cursed is the man who trusts in man, who makes flesh his arm and whose heart turns away from the Lord" — and the rest.✦ Therefore no one should trust in man or presume on a power that no one could resist. The sheatfish was presuming that no one would cast a hook at it, no one would stretch out nets, and that if it had fallen in, it would have burst everything apart — and yet it did not escape the trident. So if someone excels in singular strength and for this reason does not fear individuals, the same person must necessarily beware of many.

The Weak Overcome the Strong

Even the mightiest creatures and the largest armies can be defeated by the smallest foes, showing that no one should presume on their own strength or the numbers of their forces.

For someone who can't be defeated by one person is sometimes defeated by many. The elephant is large — and gets killed; the lion is strong — and is destroyed; the tiger is strong — and gets killed. But it's also the mark of a wise ruler to be on guard against, or wary of, those below him, since those in high places are often overcome by those beneath them and by their superiors.1 How monstrous the crocodile is, unbearable in its teeth and claws! And yet that same creature is destroyed by the hydrus, a tiny creature, through its belly.2 The unicorn pierces the elephant with its horn; the fearsome elephant fears a mouse; the lion, king of beasts, is killed by the tiny sting of a scorpion. So no one should be rash in presuming on their own strength, nor should they trust in the strength or numbers of their followers. Xerxes, king of the Persians, took up the war against Greece that his father had begun and spent five years preparing for it — this same Xerxes, who reportedly had seven hundred thousand armed men from his own kingdom and three hundred thousand from his allies, twelve hundred warships, and three thousand transport ships, so that it's recorded as only fitting that rivers barely sufficed for so vast an army and fleet to drink, lands barely sufficed for landing, and seas barely sufficed for passage.3

The Fall of the Proud and the Rise of the Humble

Worldly glory leads to disgrace, but whoever boasts should boast in the Lord, who humbles the proud and lifts up the lowly, and whoever anchors hope in Him will be surrounded by mercy.

But Leonidas, king of the Spartans, advanced to war against Xerxes' thousand thousand armed men with only four thousand troops, and after wiping out the Persian forces, he stood as victor and most renowned in the war — yet with his own small band, he fell defending the freedom of his country. Xerxes, on the other hand, after conducting the war in Greece so unhappily, became a joke to his own men; trapped inside his palace, he was killed. For disgrace is the close companion of worldly glory and of pride that refuses to bend. This is why it says through the prophet: 'The Lord of hosts planned this — to strip away the pride of all glory and to bring every celebrated person down to disgrace.' So the strong person shouldn't boast of their strength, nor the wealthy person of their riches. For if a tiny grub — a worm weaker than a human — can still puff itself up with pride, why should earth and ashes, lifted up by arrogance, despise others when it comes from dust? So whoever boasts, let them boast in the Lord — the one who weakens the bow of the mighty and arms the weak with strength, whose purpose it is that the proud fall and the humble rise, and to whom all power has been given by the Father in heaven and on earth, with everything subjected under his feet. Whoever fixes the anchor of their hope firmly in this will be surrounded by mercy, just as it is written: 'Whoever hopes in the Lord will be lifted up.'

Mercy Surrounds Those Who Hope in the Lord

The one who hopes in the Lord is blessed and will never be put to shame, for the Lord is merciful and never abandons those who call upon Him.

The expectation of the righteous is joy, as the psalmist testifies when he says: "But whoever hopes in the Lord, mercy will surround them."✦ And again: "Blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord."✦ For who has hoped in the Lord and been put to shame? Who has remained in his commandments and been abandoned? Who has called upon the Lord and been despised? For the Lord is devout and merciful.4

Armor Is Vain; Hope in God Alone

Whoever trusts in weapons and his own strength will be found as fragile as a trembling leaf, for even the greatest warriors and the strongest armor fail; all hope must be placed in the Lord, who grants victory to leaders who trust in His mighty hand.

Whoever is mighty in war and trusts in savage weapons, whoever, foolishly placing his hope in himself or in his own men, is faithful to nothing — that man, trembling and shaking, will be compared to an unstable leaf, to hail that a bastard wind stirs and shakes loose. Whose breastplate, with its stiff metal weave, sways like the fragile web of a little spider — the leaden sword, sharp as a dagger, goes limp, and neither the faithful lord nor the shield protects him. The helmet's protection presses down on him like a woolen mesh; the spear, mighty in wounding, is as strong as a reed. Did horrendous Goliath boast of such things in his old age? A stone from his enemy's sling struck him down; his shield didn't help him, nor his terrifying weapons, nor did his threats avail the Philistine. If lion and tiger are destroyed, if the crocodile, if the fierce elephant fears the mighty mouse — then no warrior should trust in his own strength, even if he wears limbs of bronze. Rather, let all your hope be placed in the living Lord — God, who rules the kingdoms from his high throne by divine power, and who, the Almighty, grants that leaders may hope to conquer proud valor with a strong hand.

Read the original Latin

Sed cum boni rectores fastum superbae tyrannidis in adversariis debellare studeant, non in se nec in suorum fortitudine, sed in Altissimi virtute et gratia totam confidentiam stabilire debent, quia ipse est solus et potens protector omnium in ipso fiducialiter sperantium. Unde per psalmistam dicitur: "bonum est confidere in Domino, quam confidere in homine; bonum est sperare in Domino, quam sperare in principibus," et alibi: "nolite confidere in principibus neque in filiis hominum, in quibus non est salus. Exiet spiritus eius et revertetur in terram suam" et reliqua. Cui et Ieremias concinit dicens: "Domine, omnes qui te derelinquunt, confundentur; recedentes a te, in terra scribentur; quoniam dereliquerunt venam aquarum viventium Dominum. Maledictus homo qui confidit in homine, et ponit carnem brachium suum, et a Domino recedit cor eius" et reliqua. Nullus ergo debet confidere in homine aut praesumere de potentia quod nemo ei possit resistere. Praesumebat et silurus piscis, quod hamum nemo sibi iaceret, nemo tenderet retia et, si incidisset, universa disrumperet, et tamen fuscinam non evasit. Quod si quis singulari fortitudine excellens ob hoc singulos non timeat, idem multos necesse est ut caveat.

Nam qui ab uno vinci non potest, interdum a multis vincitur. Elefans grandis est et occiditur; leo fortis est et perimitur; tigris fortis est et occiditur. Prudentis autem rectoris est etiam metuere vel praecavere inferiores, cum saepe ab inferioribus superiores atque fortiores superentur. Quam immanis est corcodrillus et dentibus atque unguibus intolerabilis! Qui tamen ab enidro bestiola ventre perimitur. Monoceron elefantem cornu perforat; formidabilis elefantus murem timet; leo rex ferarum exiguo scorpionis aculeo occiditur. Nemo itaque in suis viribus temere praesumat, sed neque in suorum fortitudine ac numerositate confidat. Xerses rex Persarum bellum adversus Graeciam a patre susceptum per quinquennium instruxit; qui videlicet Xerses DCC milia armatorum de regno et CCC de auxiliis, rostratas etiam naves mille ducentas, onerarias autem tria milia numero habuisse narratur, ut merito inopinato exercitui inmensaeque classi vix ad potum flumina, vix terras ad ingressum, vix maria ad cursum suffecisse memoratum sit.

Sed Leonida rex Spartanorum cum quatuor milibus hominum contra mille milia armatorum eiusdem Xersis in bellum processit ac deletis Persarum copiis victor et bello clarissimus cum suis paucis pro amore deliberandae patriae occubuit. Xerses vero bello in Graecia infeliciter gesto contemptibilis suis factus, in regia circumventus occiditur. Nam saecularis gloriae et incurvabilis superbiae pedissequa est ignominia. Hinc per prophetam dicitur: "Dominus exercituum cogitavit hoc, ut detraheret superbiam omnis gloriae et ad ignominiam deduceret omnes inclitos terrae". Non ergo fortis glorietur in fortitudine sua nec dives in divitiis suis. Nam si eruca parvusque vermiculus fortior homine est, ut quid se iactat terra et cinis et elata per superbiam, cum ex humo sit, humana contemnit? Itaque qui gloriatur, in Domino glorietur, qui arcum potentium infirmat et infirmos robore accingit, cuius adinventiones sunt, ut superbi cadant et humiles surgant, cui omnis potestas a patre data est in caelo et in terra et omnia subiecta sunt sub pedibus eius. In quo si quis fiducialiter ancoram spei fixerit, misericordia circumdabitur, sicut scriptum est: "qui sperat in Domino, sublevabitur".

Expectatio iustorum laetitia, psalmista attestante qui ait: "sperantem autem in Domino misericordia circumdabit". Et iterum: "beatus vir, cuius est nomen Domini spes eius". Quis enim speravit in Domino, et confusus est? Quis permansit in mandatis eius, et derelictus est? Quis invocavit Dominum et despectus est? Quoniam pius et misericors est Dominus.

Quisquis bellipotens saevis confidit in armis, In se sive suis spem male fidus habens, Instabili tremulans folio simulabitur ille, Grando quod excuscit, quod nothus atque movet. Cuius loricae textura rigente metallo Ut fragilis telae nutat araneolae, Plumbeus ut pugio gladius lentescit acutus Nec fidus dominum protegit et clipeus. Quem galeae tutela premit ceu lanea cassis, Lancea vulnipotens sicut harundo valet. Talibus horrendus iactabat sene Golias? Quem funda missus stravit ab hoste lapis; Illum non iuvit clipeus, non arma tremenda Nonque minax sermo profuit allophylo. Si leo, si tigris perimuntur, si corcodrillus, Ingens si murem trux elefasque timet, Ergo nec in propriis fidendum viribus ulli Belligero, quamvis aerea membra gerat. In Domino potius vivo spes tota locetur Qui regit altithronus numine regna deus, Qui dat et Omnipotens ducibus sperare superbam Virtutem valida vincere posse manu.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.145.3;Ps.146.3 — Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. Ps.146.3 — Do not put your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
  2. ↩Jer.2.13 — For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold the water.
  3. ↩Jer.17.5 — Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in man, who makes flesh his arm, and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
  4. ↩Ps.32.10 — Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but whoever trusts in the LORD, steadfast love surrounds him.
  5. ↩Ps.40.5 — Blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, and has not turned to the arrogant or those who follow falsehood.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The Latin plays on inferiores (those below) and superiores (those above/higher), creating a deliberate tension: a ruler must fear those beneath him even as those above him fear being overthrown by those below. The translation preserves this reversal.
  2. 2 ↩The lemma for 'hydrus' (enidrus) is uncertain in the source; the creature referred to is likely the ichneumon, a small animal said in ancient and medieval sources to attack crocodiles from below. The translation preserves the sense of a small, lowly creature overcoming a fearsome one.
  3. 3 ↩The numbers follow the Latin source (DCC milia = 700,000; CCC = 300,000; mille ducentas naves = 1,200 ships; tria milia onerariae = 3,000 transports). These figures are greatly exaggerated compared to modern scholarship on Xerxes' invasion force.
  4. 4 ↩The adjective pius is rendered 'devout' to capture the sense of God's faithful piety toward his people, though 'merciful' or 'loving' are also defensible readings.

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