Quod bona etiam mundialia, ut sunt divitiae, potestas, honor et fama, magis proveniunt regibus quam tyrannis, et de malis in quae incurrunt tyranni etiam in hac vita
The Tyrant's Blind Pursuit of Worldly Goods
Worldly blessings flow more richly to kings than to tyrants, because tyrants abandon justice for personal gain and heap terrible torments upon themselves.
From all this, then, it's clear that stable power, riches, honor, and fame come to kings more than to tyrants according to their desire — and yet it's precisely the pursuit of these things, wrongly sought after, that turns a ruler into a tyrant. For no one turns away from justice unless pulled by the desire for some personal advantage. What's more, the tyrant is robbed of the most exalted happiness that is owed to kings as their reward — and what is worse, he heaps the greatest torment on himself through his punishments. For if someone who robs a single person, or reduces them to slavery, or kills them, deserves the greatest punishment — death by human judgment, eternal damnation by God's — how much worse must we suppose the torments deserved are by a tyrant, who plunders everyone from every direction, labors against everyone's freedom, and kills whomever he pleases at his own will?
The Tyrant's Impossibility of Repentance
Pride and divine abandonment make repentance nearly impossible for tyrants, who can scarcely restore what they have unjustly taken.
People like this rarely repent. Puffed up with the wind of pride, justly abandoned by God because of their sins and fed on the flatteries of men, they can scarcely ever make amends as they ought. For when will they give back everything they took beyond what justice required? And yet no one doubts that they are bound to restore what they took. When will they repay those they have oppressed and harmed unjustly in whatever way?
A Sin That Outlives the Tyrant
Tyrants treat their own lawless custom as authority and transmit boldness in sinning to their successors, and their guilt is magnified by the dignity of their office.
Besides all this, their refusal to repent is made worse by the fact that they consider everything they've been able to do freely and without any resistance to be perfectly permissible. As a result, they not only fail to make amends for the wrongs they've committed, but, treating their own custom as though it carried authority, they pass on their boldness in sinning to those who come after them — and so they stand guilty before God not only for their own crimes, but also for those to whom they've given an occasion to sin before God. Their sin is made all the heavier by the dignity of the office they undertook.
The Ministers of God Under Judgment
Because rulers are God's ministers, their wickedness provokes a more severe divine judgment, as Wisdom and the prophets declare against proud kings.
For just as an earthly king punishes his ministers more severely when he finds them working against him, so God will punish all the more those whom he makes the agents and ministers of his governance if they act wickedly, turning God's judgment into something bitter. And this is also said to the wicked kings in the book of Wisdom: 'Because, though you were ministers of that kingdom, you did not judge rightly, nor did you keep the law of ours, nor did you walk according to God's will — so it will appear to you terribly and swiftly, because a most severe judgment awaits those who hold authority.' For mercy is granted to the lowly, but the mighty will be mightily tormented.✦ And of Nebuchadnezzar it is said through Isaiah: 'You will be dragged down to the depths of the pit.'✦ Those who see you will bow down toward you and gaze upon you, as though you were sunk deeper still in torments.
Show Yourselves Kings, Not Tyrants
Since kings receive both earthly and eternal blessings while tyrants lose both, rulers must strive to show themselves kings rather than tyrants to those in their care.
If, then, earthly blessings abound for kings and are theirs to enjoy, and an extraordinary degree of happiness is prepared for them by God — while tyrants are for the most part cheated even of the worldly goods they crave, besides being exposed to many dangers, and what is more, are deprived of eternal blessings and kept in reserve for the most severe punishments — then those who take on the duty of governing must make every effort to show themselves to those under their care as kings, not as tyrants. What a king is, and how it benefits the people to have a king — and further, how it benefits the people that the one in their care show himself as a king, not a tyrant — I have said enough.
Read the original Latin
Ex his ergo manifestum est quod stabilitas potestatis, divitiae, honor et fama magis regibus quam tyrannis ad votum proveniunt, propter quae tamen indebite adipiscenda declinat in tyrannidem princeps. Nullus enim a iustitia declinat nisi cupiditate alicuius commodi tractus. Privatur insuper tyrannus excellentissima beatitudine, quae regibus debetur pro praemio, et, quod est gravius, maximum tormentum sibi acquirit in poenis. Si enim qui unum hominem spoliat, vel in servitutem redigit, vel occidit, maximam poenam meretur, quantum quidem ad iudicium hominum mortem, quantum vero ad iudicium Dei damnationem aeternam; quanto magis putandum est tyrannum deteriora mereri supplicia, qui undique ab omnibus rapit, contra omnium libertatem laborat, pro libito voluntatis suae quoscumque interficit? Tales insuper raro poenitent, vento inflati superbiae, merito peccatorum a Deo deserti et adulationibus hominum delibuti, et rarius digne satisfacere possunt. Quando enim restituent omnia quae praeter iustitiae debitum abstulerunt? Ad quae tamen restituenda nullus dubitat eos teneri. Quando recompensabunt eis quos oppresserunt et iniuste qualitercumque laeserunt?
Adiicitur autem ad eorum impoenitentiam quod omnia sibi licita existimant quae impune sine resistentia facere potuerunt: unde non solum emendare non satagunt quae male fecerunt, sed sua consuetudine pro auctoritate utentes, peccandi audaciam transmittunt ad posteros, et sic non solum suorum facinorum apud Deum rei tenentur, sed etiam eorum quibus apud Deum peccandi occasionem reliquerunt. Aggravatur etiam eorum peccatum ex dignitate suscepti officii. Sicut enim terrenus rex gravius punit suos ministros, si invenit eos sibi contrarios; ita Deus magis puniet eos, quos sui regiminis executores et ministros facit, si nequiter agant, Dei iudicium in amaritudinem convertentes. Unde et in libro sapientiae ad reges iniquos dicitur: quoniam cum essetis ministri regni illius, non recte iudicastis, neque custodistis legem iustitiae (nostrae), neque secundum voluntatem Dei ambulastis, horrende et cito apparebit vobis quoniam iudicium durissimum his qui praesunt fiet. Exiguo enim conceditur misericordia, potentes autem potenter tormenta patientur. Et Nabuchodonosor per Isaiam dicitur: ad Infernum detraheris in profundum laci. Qui te viderint, ad te inclinabuntur teque prospicient, quasi profundius in poenis submersum. Si igitur regibus abundant temporalia bona et proveniunt, et excellens beatitudinis gradus praeparatur a Deo, tyranni autem a temporalibus bonis quae cupiunt plerumque frustrantur, multis insuper periculis subiacentes, et, quod est amplius, bonis aeternis privantur ad poenas gravissimas reservati, vehementer studendum est his, qui regendi officium suscipiunt, ut reges se subditis praebeant, non tyrannos.
De rege autem quid sit, et quod expediat multitudini regem habere; adhuc autem quod praesidi expediat se regem multitudini exhibere subiectae, non tyrannum, tanta a nobis dicta sint.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Jas.4.6;1Pet.5.5 — But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' 1Pet.5.5 — Likewise, younger people, submit to the elders. And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
- ↩Isa.14.15 — But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.
On Kingship, to the King of Cyprus (De regno ad regem Cypri) companion
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