Quod praemium regum et principum tenet supremum gradum in beatitudine caelesti, multis rationibus ostenditur et exemplis
The Royal Office as a Higher Virtue
Worthy kings attain a greater heavenly blessedness because ruling others demands a higher virtue than ruling oneself, as shown by comparisons to teachers, architects, and generals.
But it remains to consider further that those who carry out the royal office worthily and commendably will also attain an eminent degree of heavenly blessedness. For if the blessedness of virtue is its reward, it follows that a greater degree of blessedness is owed to a greater virtue. It is, however, a preeminent virtue by which someone can direct not only himself but also others; and by how much more it governs a greater number, by so much is it greater, because by the measure of bodily person is considered more virtuous by how many more he can conquer or how many more weights he can lift. So therefore greater virtue is required to rule a household than to rule oneself, and far greater still to govern a city and a kingdom. It is, then, a mark of excellent virtue to exercise the royal office well; therefore an excellent reward in blessedness is owed to the one who does so. Furthermore, in all arts and fields of ability, those who rule others well are more praiseworthy than those who conduct themselves well under another's direction. In speculative matters, for instance, handing on the truth to others by teaching is greater than being able to receive what is taught by others. In the crafts too, the architect who designs a building is judged greater and valued at a higher price than the craftsman who works by hand according to the architect's plan.
The King's Greater Merit
A king deserves a greater reward than a subject because the good of the multitude he governs is greater and more divine than the good of one person.
, a general's prudence earns more glory from a victory than a soldier's courage does. So it is that the ruler of a multitude relates to the things individuals ought to do by virtue as a teacher does to the disciplines, an architect to buildings, and a general to wars. A king, then, deserves a greater reward if he has governed his subjects well than any one of those subjects deserves for conducting himself well under a king. Furthermore: if it belongs to virtue that through it a person's work is made good, then it seems to belong to a greater virtue that through it someone does a greater good. But the good of a multitude is greater and more divine than the good of one person. Hence the harm to one person is sometimes borne if it yields to the good of the multitude, just as a thief is put to death so that peace may be given to the people. And God himself would not allow evils to exist in the world unless he drew from them goods for the usefulness and beauty of the universe. Moreover, it belongs to the king's office to seek the good of the multitude zealously. Therefore a greater reward is owed to a king for good governance than to a subject for a good action.
The King as God's Likeness
The ruler who brings peace, justice, and order to an entire province reflects God's own governance of the world, making good kings most pleasing to God and worthy of the highest reward.
This will become clearer if anyone considers the matter more closely on its own. After all, any private person is praised by people, and God credits it to them as merit if they come to the aid of someone in need, if they reconcile those in conflict, if they snatch the oppressed away from a more powerful oppressor, and in short if they offer any kind of help or counsel that leads to someone's good.1 How much more, then, is the ruler to be praised by people and rewarded by God, when they enable an entire province to enjoy peace, restrain acts of violence, uphold justice, and establish by their laws and decrees what their subjects are to do?2 From this, too, the greatness of kingly virtue becomes visible: it especially bears a likeness to God when the ruler does in the kingdom what God does in the world. And in Exodus—3 the judges of the people are called gods.✦4 Even among the Romans, emperors were called gods. The more something draws close to imitating God, the more pleasing it is to God. And so the Apostle urges us: 'Be imitators of God, as beloved children.'✦5 But if, as the saying of the wise person puts it, every living being loves its likeness — insofar as effects bear some likeness to their causes — then it follows that good kings are most acceptable to God and are to be rewarded by him above all.6
The Perils of Power
Governance is a storm that threatens virtue, for power exposes rulers to flattery and pride, yet those who remain faithful amid such trials are proven truly virtuous.
At the same time, in Gregory's words: what is the storm of the sea, if not the storm of the mind? On a calm sea, even an inexperienced person can steer a ship correctly; but on a storm-tossed sea, in the waves of a tempest, even a skilled sailor is confounded. And so it often happens that, in the turmoil of governance, the practice of good work that was maintained in tranquility is itself lost. For it is very difficult, as Augustine says, not to be puffed up amid the tongues of those who exalt and honor you, and the flatteries of those who greet you with excessive humility — but rather to remember that they are only human beings. And in Sirach : blessed is the man who did not go after gold, nor hoped in treasures of money. Who could transgress with impunity and did not transgress, who could do evil and did not do it. From this, he is found faithful, as if proven in the work of virtue — hence, according to the proverb of Bias: power shows the man. For many who reach the summit of power fall away from virtue — people who, while they were in the lowest condition, seemed virtuous.
Mercy for Falling Princes
Because ruling is so difficult, erring princes are more excusable and may obtain God's pardon through humility, mercy, and prayer, as Scripture confirms that faithful rulers will share intimately in God's own glory.
So the very difficulty that threatens princes when it comes to acting well makes them worthy of a greater reward, and if at some point they sin through weakness, they are regarded as more excusable among people and more easily merit pardon from God—provided, however, as Augustine says, they don't neglect to offer to their true God the sacrifice of humility, mercy, and prayer for their sins. As an example of this: concerning Ahab king of Israel, who had sinned greatly, the Lord said to Elijah, 'Because Ahab has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster during his lifetime.' But it isn't only by reasoning that an excellent reward is shown to be owed to kings; it's also confirmed by divine authority. For it is said in Zechariah: that on that day of blessedness when the Lord will be the protector of those dwelling in Jerusalem—that is, in the vision of eternal peace—the houses of others will be like the house of David, because plainly all will be kings and will reign with Christ, like members with the head; but the house of David will be like the house of God, because just as by ruling faithfully he discharged the office of God among the people, so in reward he will be nearer to God and will cling to him. This too was in some way dreamed among the gentiles, when they thought that the rulers and preservers of states were transformed into gods.
Read the original Latin
Considerandum autem restat ulterius, quod et eminentem obtinebunt caelestis beatitudinis gradum, qui officium regium digne et laudabiliter exequuntur. Si enim beatitudo virtutis est praemium, consequens est ut maiori virtuti maior gradus beatitudinis debeatur. Est autem praecipua virtus, qua homo aliquis non solum se ipsum sed etiam alios dirigere potest; et tanto magis, quanto plurium est regitiva: quia et secundum virtutem corporalem tanto aliquis virtuosior reputatur, quanto plures vincere potest, aut pondera plura levare. Sic igitur maior virtus requiritur ad regendum domesticam familiam, quam ad regendum se ipsum, multoque maior ad regimen civitatis et regni. Est igitur excellentis virtutis bene regium officium exercere; debetur igitur ei excellens in beatitudine praemium. Adhuc: in omnibus artibus et potentiis laudabiliores sunt qui alios bene regunt, quam qui secundum alienam directionem bene se habent. In speculativis enim maius est veritatem aliis docendo tradere, quam quod ab aliis docetur capere posse. In artificiis etiam maius existimatur maiorique conducitur pretio architector, qui aedificium disponit, quam artifex, qui secundum eius dispositionem manualiter operatur.
Et in rebus bellicis maiorem gloriam de victoria consequitur prudentia ducis, quam militis fortitudo. Sic autem se habet rector multitudinis in his quae a singulis secundum virtutem sunt agenda, sicut doctor in disciplinis et architector in aedificiis et dux in bellis. Est igitur rex maiori praemio dignus, si bene subiectos gubernaverit, quam aliquis subditorum, si sub rege bene se habuerit. Amplius: si virtutis est, ut per eam opus hominis bonum reddatur, maioris virtutis esse videtur quod maius bonum per eam aliquis operetur. Maius autem et divinius est bonum multitudinis quam bonum unius: unde interdum malum unius sustinetur si in bonum multitudinis cedat, sicut occiditur latro ut pax multitudini detur. Et ipse Deus mala esse in mundo non sineret nisi ex eis bona eliceret ad utilitatem et pulchritudinem universi. Pertinet autem ad regis officium ut bonum multitudinis studiose procuret. Maius igitur praemium debetur regi pro bono regimine quam subdito pro bona actione.
Hoc autem manifestius fiet, si quis magis in speciali consideret. Laudatur enim ab hominibus quaevis privata persona, et ei a Deo computatur in praemium, si egenti subveniat, si discordes pacificet, si oppressum a potentiore eripiat, denique si alicui qualitercumque opem vel consilium conferat ad salutem. Quanto igitur magis laudandus est ab hominibus et praemiandus a Deo, qui totam provinciam facit pace gaudere, violentias cohibet, iustitiam servat, et disponit quid sit agendum ab hominibus suis legibus et praeceptis? Hinc etiam magnitudo regiae virtutis apparet, quod praecipue Dei similitudinem gerit, dum agit in regno quod Deus in mundo: unde et in Exod. iudices multitudinis dii vocantur. Imperatores etiam apud Romanos dii vocabantur. Tanto autem est aliquid Deo acceptius, quanto magis ad eius imitationem accedit: unde et apostolus monet: estote imitatores Dei, sicut filii charissimi. Sed si, secundum sapientis sententiam, omne animal diligit simile sibi, secundum quod causae aliqualiter similitudinem habent causati, consequens igitur est bonos reges Deo esse acceptissimos, et ab eo maxime praemiandos.
Simul etiam, ut Gregorii verbis utar: quid est tempestas maris, nisi tempestas mentis? Quieto autem mari recte navem etiam imperitus dirigit, turbato autem mari tempestatis fluctibus etiam peritus nauta confunditur: unde et plerumque in occupatione regiminis, ipse quoque boni operis usus perditur, qui in tranquillitate tenebatur. Valde enim difficile est si, ut Augustinus dicit, inter linguas sublimantium et honorantium, et obsequia nimis humiliter salutantium non extollantur, sed se homines esse meminerint. Et in Eccli. : beatus vir qui post aurum non abiit, nec speravit in pecuniae thesauris. Qui potuit impune transgredi et non est transgressus, facere mala et non fecit. Ex quo quasi in virtutis opere probatus invenitur fidelis, unde secundum Biantis proverbium: principatus virum ostendit. Multi enim ad principatus culmen pervenientes, a virtute deficiunt, qui, dum in statu essent infimo, virtuosi videbantur.
Ipsa igitur difficultas quae principibus imminet ad bene agendum, eos facit maiori praemio dignos, et si aliquando per infirmitatem peccaverint, apud homines excusabiliores redduntur et facilius a Deo veniam promerentur, si tamen, ut Augustinus ait pro suis peccatis humilitatis et miserationis et orationis sacrificium Deo suo vero immolare non negligunt. In cuius rei exemplum de Achab, rege Israel, qui multum peccaverat, dominus ad Heliam dixit: quia humiliatus est Achab, non inducam hoc malum in diebus suis. Non autem solum ratione ostenditur quod regibus excellens praemium debeatur, sed etiam auctoritate divina firmatur. Dicitur enim in Zachar. quod in illa beatitudinis die qua erit dominus protector habitantibus in Hierusalem, id est in visione pacis aeternae, aliorum domus erunt sicut domus David, quia scilicet omnes reges erunt et regnabunt cum Christo, sicut membra cum capite; sed domus David erit sicut domus Dei, quia sicut regendo fideliter Dei officium gessit in populo, ita in praemio Deo propinquius erit et inhaerebit. Hoc etiam fuit apud gentiles aliqualiter somniatum, dum civitatum rectores atque servatores in deos transformari putabant.
Scripture echoes
Notes
- 1 ↩computatur in praemium: the language is meritorial — God 'credits' the deed as rewardable. Rendered 'credited to them by God as merit' to preserve the theological force rather than reducing it to mere divine approval.
- 2 ↩praemiandus: 'to be rewarded' — the term carries the weight of divine recompense, not merely human recognition.
- 3 ↩The text breaks off mid-sentence with 'unde et in Exod.' — the scriptural citation is incomplete in the source. The sentence is rendered as a trailing fragment to reflect the source state.
- 4 ↩Likely echoing Psalm 82:6 ('I said, you are gods'); the source leaves this as a brief decontextualized citation.
- 5 ↩Quoted words match Ephesians 5:1. Preserved as a direct quotation with familiar cadence.
- 6 ↩secundum quod causae aliqualiter similitudinem habent causati: the causal-likeness principle is philosophical (Aristotelian-Thomist) — effects resemble their causes. Rendered to keep the logic clear without over-explaining.
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