Quod sicut ad ultimum finem consequendum requiritur ut rex subditos suos ad vivendum secundum virtutem disponat, ita ad fines medios. Et ponuntur hic quae sunt illa quae ordinant ad bene vivendum et quae impediunt, et quod remedium rex apponere debet circa dicta impedimenta
The King Under the Priest, Ordered to Heaven
Earthly goods and human offices are ordered toward the common good and ultimately toward heavenly happiness, so the king must oversee all offices while submitting to the priestly office that teaches divine law.
Now just as the life we live here, when we live it well, is ordered toward the blessed life we hope for in heaven as its end, so whatever particular goods a person seeks for himself — whether wealth, profit, health, eloquence, or learning — are ordered toward the good of the community. If, therefore, as was said, the one charged with care for the ultimate end must also oversee those who are charged with matters directed to that end and guide them by his authority, it's clear from what has been said that just as the king must submit to the lordship and governance administered through the priest's office, so he must oversee all human offices and direct them by the authority of his rule. Whenever someone is charged with producing something directed toward some further end, he must see to it that his work is fitting to that end. As a smith makes a sword so that it's suitable for fighting, so a builder must arrange a house so that it's fit for living in. Since, then, the end of the life we live well in the present is heavenly happiness, it belongs to the king's office to secure the good life of the community in a way directed toward attaining heavenly happiness — namely, by commanding whatever leads to heavenly happiness and, as far as possible, forbidding whatever is contrary to it. But what the way to true happiness is, and what its obstacles are, is known from divine law, whose teaching belongs to the priest's office, according to that word of Malachi.✦ "The lips of the priest will guard knowledge, and they will seek the law from his mouth."✦ And so in Deuteronomy.
The King's Charge: Establish a Good Life
Taught by divine law, the king must direct the multitude to live well, which requires establishing peace, directing the community to right action, and securing the bodily necessities needed for virtuous activity.
The Lord commands that once the king has taken his seat on the throne of his kingdom, he is to write out for himself a copy of this law of Deuteronomy in a scroll, receiving the text from a priest of the Levitical tribe, and he shall keep it with him and read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and to keep his words and ceremonies that are commanded in the law.✦ Therefore, having been taught through divine law, he must direct his chief effort to this: how the multitude subjected to him may live well. This effort is divided into three parts: first, that he establish a good life in the multitude under his care; second, that he preserve what has been established; and third, that he advance what has been preserved to better things. Two things are required for the good life of one person. The principal one is activity according to virtue, since virtue is that by which one lives well. The secondary one, as it were instrumental, is a sufficiency of bodily goods, whose use is necessary for the act of virtue. The unity of a single person is brought about by nature itself. But the unity of a multitude, which is called peace, must be secured through the active care of the ruler. So then, three things are needed to establish a good life in the multitude. First, that the multitude be established in the unity of peace. Second, that the multitude, united by the bond of peace, be directed toward right action. For just as a person can do nothing well unless the unity of its parts is presupposed, so a multitude of people, lacking the unity of peace, is hindered from acting well while it attacks itself.
Preserving the Common Good Against Threefold Threats
The ruler must preserve the good life once established, but three obstacles threaten its endurance: human mortality and frailty from nature, perverse wills and injustice from within, and enemy assault from without.
Third, it's required that through the ruler's effort a sufficient supply of the necessities for living well be present. So once a good way of life has been established among the people through the ruler's office, it follows that the ruler must aim at preserving it. Now there are three things that prevent the common good from enduring, and one of these arises from nature. For the good of the people shouldn't be established for just one moment in time, but in a way that lasts. But since human beings are mortal, they can't last forever. Nor do they stay at the same strength throughout their lives, because human life is subject to many changes, and so people aren't equally suited to carrying out the same duties for their entire lifetime. A second threat to preserving the common good comes from within, rooted in the perversity of wills: either people are lazy about doing what the community requires, or on top of that they're a threat to the people's peace, disturbing others' peace by committing injustice. A third threat to preserving the common good comes from without, when peace is broken by an enemy's assault and sometimes a kingdom or city is completely destroyed.
The King's Threefold Remedy and Advance to Better Things
The king must provide successors for failing officials, restrain iniquity through law and punishment while rewarding virtue, defend against enemies, and continually advance the community by correcting, supplying, and improving all that pertains to the good life.
So three responsibilities fall to the king regarding the three obstacles just mentioned. First, concerning the succession of men and the replacement of those who are in charge of various duties: just as through divine governance in corruptible things, because the same things cannot always endure, provision has been made so that through generation other things succeed into the place of others, so that even thus the integrity of the universe is preserved, so through the king's effort the good of the subjected multitude is preserved, while he carefully sees to it how others succeed into the place of those who are failing. Second, he must restrain his subjects from iniquity by his own laws and precepts, punishments and rewards, and lead them to virtuous works, taking his example from God, who gave the law to men, repaying a reward to those who keep it and punishments to those who transgress it. Third, it falls to the king to ensure that the people under his rule are kept safe against enemies. For it would do no good to avoid internal dangers if it could not be defended from external ones. Thus, therefore, a third duty pertaining to the king's office remains for the establishment of the good multitude: that he be anxious about its advancement, which happens while in each of the aforementioned areas he strives to correct whatever is disordered, to supply whatever is lacking, and to accomplish whatever can be done better. Hence the apostle also admonishes the faithful to always strive for the better gifts.✦ These, then, are the things that pertain to the king's office, which it is proper to treat more diligently one by one.
Read the original Latin
Sicut autem ad vitam, quam in caelo speramus beatam, ordinatur sicut ad finem vita qua hic homines bene vivunt; ita ad bonum multitudinis ordinantur sicut ad finem quaecumque particularia bona per hominem procurantur, sive divitiae, sive lucra, sive sanitas, sive facundia vel eruditio. Si igitur, ut dictum est, qui de ultimo fine curam habet praeesse debet his qui curam habent de ordinatis ad finem et eos dirigere suo imperio, manifestum ex dictis fit quod rex, sicut dominio et regimini quod administratur per sacerdotis officium subdi debet, ita praeesse debet omnibus humanis officiis et ea imperio sui regiminis ordinare. Cuicumque autem incumbit aliquid perficere quod ordinatur in aliud sicut in finem, hoc debet attendere ut suum opus sit congruum fini. Sicut faber sic facit gladium ut pugnae conveniat, et aedificator sic debet domum disponere ut ad habitandum sit apta. Quia igitur vitae, qua in praesenti bene vivimus, finis est beatitudo caelestis, ad regis officium pertinet ea ratione vitam multitudinis bonam procurare secundum quod congruit ad caelestem beatitudinem consequendam, ut scilicet ea praecipiat quae ad caelestem beatitudinem ducunt, et eorum contraria, secundum quod fuerit possibile, interdicat. Quae autem sit ad veram beatitudinem via, et quae sint impedimenta eius, ex lege divina cognoscitur, cuius doctrina pertinet ad sacerdotum officium, secundum illud Mal. : labia sacerdotis custodient scientiam, et legem requirent de ore eius. Et ideo in Deut.
dominus praecipit: postquam sederit rex in solio regni sui, describet sibi Deuteronomium legis huius in volumine, accipiens exempla a sacerdote leviticae tribus, et habebit secum, legetque illud omnibus diebus vitae suae, ut discat timere dominum Deum suum et custodire verba et caeremonias eius, quae in lege praecepta sunt. Per legem igitur divinam edoctus, ad hoc praecipuum studium debet intendere, qualiter multitudo sibi subdita bene vivat: quod quidem studium in tria dividitur, ut primo quidem in subiecta multitudine bonam vitam instituat; secundo, ut institutam conservet; tertio, ut conservatam ad meliora promoveat. Ad bonam autem unius hominis vitam duo requiruntur: unum principale, quod est operatio secundum virtutem (virtus enim est qua bene vivitur); aliud vero secundarium et quasi instrumentale, scilicet corporalium bonorum sufficientia, quorum usus est necessarius ad actum virtutis. Ipsa tamen hominis unitas per naturam causatur; multitudinis autem unitas, quae pax dicitur, per regentis industriam est procuranda. Sic igitur ad bonam vitam multitudinis instituendam tria requiruntur. Primo quidem, ut multitudo in unitate pacis constituatur. Secundo, ut multitudo vinculo pacis unita dirigatur ad bene agendum. Sicut enim homo nihil bene agere potest nisi praesupposita suarum partium unitate, ita hominum multitudo pacis unitate carens, dum impugnat se ipsam, impeditur a bene agendo.
Tertio vero requiritur ut per regentis industriam necessariorum ad bene vivendum adsit sufficiens copia. Sic igitur bona vita per regis officium in multitudine constituta, consequens est ut ad eius conservationem intendat. Sunt autem tria, quibus bonum publicum permanere non sinitur, quorum quidem unum est a natura proveniens. Non enim bonum multitudinis ad unum tantum tempus institui debet, sed ut sit quodammodo perpetuum. Homines autem cum sint mortales, in perpetuum durare non possunt. Nec, dum vivunt, semper sunt in eodem vigore, quia multis variationibus humana vita subiicitur, et sic non sunt homines ad eadem officia peragenda aequaliter per totam vitam idonei. Aliud autem impedimentum boni publici conservandi ab interiori proveniens in perversitate voluntatum consistit, dum vel sunt desides ad ea peragenda quae requirit respublica, vel insuper sunt paci multitudinis noxii, dum transgrediendo iustitiam aliorum pacem perturbant. Tertium autem impedimentum reipublicae conservandae ab exteriori causatur, dum per incursum hostium pax dissolvitur et interdum regnum aut civitas funditus dissipatur.
Igitur circa tria praedicta triplex cura imminet regi. Primo quidem de successione hominum et substitutione illorum qui diversis officiis praesunt, ut sicut per divinum regimen in rebus corruptibilibus, quia semper eadem durare non possunt, provisum est ut per generationem alia in locum aliorum succedant, ut vel sic conservetur integritas universi, ita per regis studium conservetur subiectae multitudinis bonum, dum sollicite curat qualiter alii in deficientium locum succedant. Secundo autem ut suis legibus et praeceptis, poenis et praemiis homines sibi subiectos ab iniquitate coerceat et ad opera virtuosa inducat, exemplum a Deo accipiens qui hominibus legem dedit, observantibus quidem mercedem, transgredientibus poenas retribuens. Tertio imminet regi cura ut multitudo sibi subiecta contra hostes tuta reddatur. Nihil enim prodesset interiora vitare pericula, si ab exterioribus defendi non posset. Sic igitur bonae multitudinis institutioni tertium restat ad regis officium pertinens, ut sit de promotione sollicitus, quod fit dum in singulis quae praemissa sunt, si quid inordinatum est corrigere, si quid deest supplere, si quid melius fieri potest, studet perficere. Unde et apostolus fideles monet ut semper aemulentur charismata meliora. Haec igitur sunt quae ad regis officium pertinent, de quibus per singula diligentius tractare oportet.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Mal.2.7 — For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and instruction is to be sought from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
- ↩Mal.2.7 — For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and instruction is to be sought from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
- ↩Deut.17.18-Deut.17.20 — And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, from the one kept before the Levitical priests. Deut.17.19 — And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes by doing them. Deut.17.20 — so that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and so that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, in order that he may prolong his days over his kingdom, he and his sons, in the midst of Israel.
- ↩1Cor.12.31 — But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you a still more excellent way.
On Kingship, to the King of Cyprus (De regno ad regem Cypri) companion
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