Assumit ex hac similitudine modum regiminis, ut sicut Deus unamquamque rem distinguit quodam ordine et propria operatione et loco, ita rex subditos suos in regno; et eodem modo de anima
The King as Mirror of God's Work
The king's office is understood by contemplating God's two works in the world—establishing and governing—with governance being the more proper and universal duty of kingship.
So we need to consider what God does in the world, because then it'll be clear what a king should do. Now there are two works of God in the world that should be considered as a whole. One is the work by which he established the world, the other the work by which he governs the world he established. The soul, too, has these two works in the body. For in the first place the body is shaped by the soul's power, and then through the soul the body is governed and moved. Of these two, the second is more properly the king's responsibility. That's why governance belongs to all kings, and the title of king is drawn from the rule of governing. But the first work doesn't belong to all kings.
Founding and Preserving the Realm
Though most kings govern already-established realms, founding and preserving are both contained within the royal office, and the rationale for establishing a kingdom must be drawn from the ordered structure of creation.
In fact, not all of them establish a kingdom or city-state in which to reign, but they devote the care of governance to a kingdom and city-state already established. Still, it must be considered that unless someone who would establish a city-state or kingdom had gone before, governance of the kingdom would have no place. For under the king's office is included also the establishment of the city-state and of the kingdom. For not a few have established city-states in which they might reign, as Ninus established Nineveh, and Romulus established Rome. In the same way, the office of governance also includes preserving what has been governed and putting it to the use for which it was established. Therefore the office of governance cannot be fully understood if the rationale of establishment is ignored. Now the rationale for establishing a kingdom must be drawn from the example of the world's establishment: in which first the very production of things is considered, then the ordered arrangement of the world's parts. Furthermore, different kinds of things seem to be distributed to each part of the world, as stars to the sky, birds to the air, fish to the water, animals to the earth: then to each are abundantly provided by divine care the things they need.
Moses as Teacher of Divine Order
Moses' account of creation reveals the pattern of divine institution—production, ordered distinction, and provision—which the founder of a kingdom must imitate in choosing a site and organizing a commonwealth.
Now Moses laid out this plan of institution subtly and carefully. For first he sets forth the production of things, saying: In the beginning God created heaven and earth; then he declares that all things were divinely distinguished in a suitable order, namely day from night, lower things from higher, sea from dry land.✦1 From this he shows heaven adorned with luminaries, the air with birds, the sea with fish, the earth with animals: finally, dominion over the earth and its animals is assigned to human beings.✦ He declares that the use of plants — for both themselves and the rest of the animals — comes from divine providence.✦ But the founder of a state or kingdom can't produce people, places to live in, and the other resources of life from scratch; instead, he has to make use of what already exists in nature. Just as all other crafts receive the material for their work from nature — so a smith takes iron, a builder takes wood and stones for the practice of the craft.2 So the founder of a state or kingdom must first choose a suitable place — one that keeps its inhabitants healthy by its wholesomeness, provides enough for living by its fertility, delights by its beauty, and keeps them safe from enemies by its defensibility. But if any of those advantages should be lacking, the more of the above — or the more essential — a place has had, the more suitable it will be. Next, the founder of a state or kingdom must organize the chosen place according to the demands that the full development of a state or kingdom requires.
Ordering Cities and Gathering Citizens
The king's work of establishing a kingdom or city requires designating places for cities, villages, learning, commerce, worship, justice, and crafts, gathering suitable people, and providing necessities for every station.
Think about it: if a kingdom were to be established, it's necessary to provide a suitable place for founding cities, another for villages, another for camps — where centers of learning should be set up, where soldiers' training grounds, where a gathering place for merchants — and so on for the other things that the full demands of a kingdom require. But if the work of establishing a city is entrusted to someone, it's necessary to provide a place for sacred rites, another for administering justice, and another set aside for individual craftsmen. Furthermore, it's necessary to gather people suited to the right places and assign them to their respective roles. Finally, provision must be made so that necessities are supplied to each person according to their own constitution and station — otherwise, neither a kingdom nor a city could possibly hold together. These, then — to sum it up — are the things that belong to the king's office in establishing a city or a kingdom, drawn from the likeness of how the world itself was ordered.
Read the original Latin
Oportet igitur considerare quid Deus in mundo faciat: sic enim manifestum erit quid immineat regi faciendum. Sunt autem universaliter consideranda duo opera Dei in mundo. Unum quo mundum instituit, alterum quo mundum institutum gubernat. Haec etiam duo opera anima habet in corpore. Nam primo quidem virtute animae informatur corpus, deinde vero per animam corpus regitur et movetur. Horum autem secundum quidem magis proprie pertinet ad regis officium. Unde ad omnes reges pertinet gubernatio, et a gubernationis regimine regis nomen accipitur. Primum autem opus non omnibus regibus convenit.
Non enim omnes regnum aut civitatem instituunt, in quo regnant, sed regno ac civitati iam institutis regiminis curam impendunt. Est tamen considerandum quod nisi praecessisset qui institueret civitatem aut regnum, locum non haberet gubernatio regni. Sub regis enim officio comprehenditur etiam institutio civitatis et regni. Nonnulli enim civitates instituerunt, in quibus regnarent, ut Ninus Ninivem, et Romulus Romam. Similiter etiam ad gubernationis officium pertinet ut gubernata conservet, ac eis utatur ad quod sunt constituta. Non igitur gubernationis officium plene cognosci poterit si institutionis ratio ignoretur. Ratio autem institutionis regni ab exemplo institutionis mundi sumenda est: in quo primo consideratur ipsarum rerum productio, deinde partium mundi ordinata distinctio. Ulterius autem singulis mundi partibus diversae rerum species distributae videntur, ut stellae caelo, volucres aeri, pisces aquae, animalia terrae: deinde singulis ea, quibus indigent, abundanter divinitus provisa videntur.
Hanc autem institutionis rationem Moyses subtiliter et diligenter expressit. Primo enim rerum productionem proponit, dicens: in principio creavit Deus caelum et terram; deinde secundum ordinem convenientem omnia divinitus distincta esse denuntiat, videlicet diem a nocte, a superioribus inferiora, mare ab arida. Hinc caelum luminaribus, avibus aerem, mare piscibus, animalibus terram ornatam refert: ultimo assignatum hominibus terrae animaliumque dominium. Usum vero plantarum tam ipsis quam animalibus caeteris ex providentia divina denuntiat. Institutor autem civitatis et regni de novo producere homines et loca ad inhabitandum et caetera vitae subsidia non potest, sed necesse habet his uti quae in natura praeexistunt: sicut etiam caeterae artes operationis suae materiam a natura accipiunt, ut faber ferrum, aedificator ligna et lapides in artis usum assumunt. Necesse est igitur institutori civitatis et regni primum quidem congruum locum eligere, qui salubritate habitatores conservet, ubertate ad victum sufficiat, amoenitate delectet, munitione ab hostibus tutos reddat. Quod si aliquid de dicta opportunitate deficiat, tanto locus erit convenientior quanto plura vel magis necessaria de praedictis habuerit. Deinde necesse est ut locum electum institutor civitatis aut regni distinguat secundum exigentiam eorum quae perfectio civitatis aut regni requirit.
Puta, si regnum instituendum sit, oportet providere quis locus aptus sit urbibus constituendis, quis villis, quis castris, ubi constituenda sint studia litterarum, ubi exercitia militum, ubi negotiatorum conventus, et sic de aliis quae perfectio regni requirit. Si autem institutioni civitatis opera detur, providere oportet quis locus sit sacris, quis iuri reddendo, quis artificibus singulis deputandus. Ulterius autem oportet homines congregare, qui sunt congruis locis secundum sua officia deputandi. Demum vero providendum est ut singulis necessaria suppetant secundum uniuscuiusque constitutionem et statum: aliter enim nequaquam posset regnum vel civitas commanere. Haec igitur sunt, ut summarie dicatur, quae ad regis officium pertinent in institutione civitatis aut regni, ex similitudine institutionis mundi assumpta.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.1.1 — In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- ↩Gen.1.26-Gen.1.28 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Gen.1.28 — And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.'
- ↩Gen.1.29-Gen.1.30 — And God said, "See, I have given you every seed-bearing plant that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food." Gen.1.30 — And to every living creature of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is a living soul—every green plant for food. And it was so.
Notes
- 1 ↩The quoted span 'In the beginning God created heaven and earth' echoes Genesis 1:1; final source resolution belongs to a later stage.
- 2 ↩'de novo producere' and 'praeexistunt' carry a philosophical claim about the limits of human founding relative to nature's pre-existing material; 'institutor' here is the founder of a polity, not God as Creator.
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