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← On Kingship, to the King of Cyprus (De regno ad regem Cypri)/Book 1 · De Regno — Liber 1
Chapter 7DeRegno.1.7

Conclusio, quod regimen unius simpliciter sit optimum. Ostendit qualiter multitudo se debet habere circa ipsum, quia auferenda est ei occasio ne tyrannizet, et quod etiam in hoc est tolerandus propter maius malum vitandum

The Best Rule and Its Greatest Danger

Since one-person rule is best but can become tyranny, the people must choose a king of good character, remove his opportunity for tyranny, temper his power, and plan how to resist him if he turns tyrant.

Since, then, the rule of one person—which is the best arrangement—is to be preferred, and since it can happen that this same rule turns into tyranny, which is the worst outcome, as is clear from what has been said, every effort must be made with careful diligence to provide the multitude with a king in such a way that they do not fall into the hands of a tyrant. First of all, the person advanced to kingship by those to whom this duty belongs must be of such character that he is not likely to slide into tyranny. This is why Samuel, commending God's providential care for the institution of the king, says in 1 Kings. "The Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be ruler over his people."✦ Next, the governance of the kingdom must be ordered in such a way that the opportunity for tyranny is removed from the king once he has been established. At the same time, his power must be tempered in such a way that he cannot easily slip into tyranny. How these things are to be accomplished will need to be considered in what follows. Finally, care must be taken—should the king turn aside into tyranny—to determine how he might be resisted.

Why Resisting a Tyrant Often Makes Things Worse

Tolerating a mild tyranny can be safer than rebelling, since failed resistance provokes harsher oppression, uprisings breed civil strife, and each new tyrant tends to be worse than the last.

And indeed, if there is no extreme abuse of power, it is more useful to put up with a mild tyranny for a while than to get tangled up in many dangers by acting against a tyrant—dangers that are worse than the tyranny itself. It can happen that those who act against a tyrant are not able to prevail, and so, provoked, the tyrant rages all the more. But if someone does manage to prevail against a tyrant, this very thing often gives rise to the most serious divisions among the people—whether while the uprising against the tyrant is underway, or after the tyrant has been overthrown, while the people are divided into factions over how the government should be organized. It also happens at times that while the people are driving out a tyrant with someone's help, that person, once he has seized power, grabs hold of tyranny himself, and fearing to suffer from another what he himself did to someone else, he oppresses his subjects with even harsher slavery. For this is what tends to happen under tyranny: each successor turns out worse than the last, since he does not abandon the burdens his predecessor imposed and, out of the malice of his own heart, he devises new ones. At Syracuse, when everyone was longing for the death of Dionysius, an old woman kept praying that she might survive safe and sound. When the tyrant learned of this, he asked her why she was doing it. Then the old woman said: 'When we had a harsh tyrant, I longed for his death; and when he was killed, a somewhat worse one succeeded him. I expected his domination to end as well, but it did not. Then we started to get a third ruler, even more troublesome than the last.' And so, if you are removed, a worse man will succeed you.

The Case Against Private Tyrannicide

Although Ehud's killing of Eglon seems to justify tyrannicide, apostolic teaching commands submission even to harsh rulers, and private individuals must not take it upon themselves to kill those in power.

And if a tyrant's excess is unbearable, some have thought it right that killing a tyrant falls to the courage of brave men, and that they should expose themselves to the dangers of death for the liberation of the people. An example of this is also found in the Old Testament. For a man named Ehud killed Eglon, king of Moab, who was oppressing the people of God under harsh slavery, stabbing him with a dagger thrust into his thigh, and he became judge of the people. But this does not agree with apostolic teaching. For Peter teaches us to be reverently subject to lords not only when they are good and gentle, but also when they are difficult. For this is grace: if someone endures sorrows, suffering unjustly, for the sake of conscience toward God. This is why, when many Roman emperors were persecuting the faith of Christ tyrannically, and a great multitude both of nobles and of common people had been converted to the faith, they are praised—not resisting, but enduring death patiently and courageously for Christ—as is clearly shown in the sacred legion of Thebes. And Ehud is to be judged to have killed an enemy rather than a ruler of the people, even though he was a tyrant. This is also why in the Old Testament those who killed Joash, king of Judah—even though he was turning away from the worship of God—are recorded to have been killed, and their sons spared according to the precept of the law.✦ But this would be dangerous for the people and for its rulers, if some individuals were to attempt the death of those in power on their own initiative, even the death of tyrants. For the wicked generally expose themselves to such dangers more than the good do. But for the wicked, ruling is a heavy burden no less than it is for tyrants, because according to the saying of Solomon in Proverbs:

Resistance by Public Authority, Not Private Presumption

Action against a tyrant should come through public authority: a people that installed its king may lawfully depose or restrain him, as the Romans did with Tarquin and Domitian.

A wise king scatters the wicked. Therefore, from such presumption, the danger threatening the people from the loss of their king would be greater than any remedy brought about by removing a tyrant. But action against the cruelty of tyrants should be taken, it seems, not through the private presumption of certain individuals, but by public authority. First of all, then, if it falls within the right of a people to provide for itself regarding its king, a king lawfully established by that same people can be deposed or his power restrained, if he abuses his royal power like a tyrant. Nor should such a people be thought to act faithlessly in deposing a tyrant, even if it had previously submitted to him in perpetuity: because he himself deserved this, by conducting himself faithlessly in governing the people, as the office of a king demands, so that the covenant owed to him by his subjects might not be kept.1 Thus the Romans drove proud Tarquin out of the kingdom on account of the tyranny of him and his sons, after they had received him as king—replacing it with a lesser power, namely the consular power. So too Domitian, who had succeeded the most moderate emperors Vespasian his father and Titus his brother, was killed by the Roman Senate while he was exercising tyranny, and everything he had wickedly done against the Romans was justly and salutarily annulled by senatorial decree. As a result of this, blessed John the Evangelist, the beloved disciple of God, who had been banished to the island of Patmos by Domitian himself, was sent back to Ephesus by senatorial decree.

When Only God Can Restrain the Tyrant

If a higher human authority exists, remedy should be sought from it; but when no human help is available, recourse must be had to God, who can turn a tyrant's heart to mercy, as with Ahasuerus and Nebuchadnezzar.

If, however, it falls to the right of some higher authority to provide the multitude with a king, the remedy against the tyrant's wickedness must be awaited from that authority. So it was with Archelaus, who had already begun to reign in Judea in place of his father Herod, imitating his father's malice: when the Jews brought a complaint against him before Caesar Augustus, at first his power was diminished by stripping him of the royal title and dividing half his kingdom between his two brothers; then, since he was not even restrained from tyranny by this, he was banished by Tiberius Caesar into exile at Lugdunum, a city of Gaul. But if human help against a tyrant simply cannot be had, then recourse must be had to God, the king of all, who is helper in times of opportunity in tribulation. For it belongs to His power to turn the cruel heart of the tyrant into mildness, according to the saying of Solomon in Proverbs. The heart of the king is in the hand of God; wherever He wills, He will incline it.✦ For it is He who turned the cruelty of King Ahasuerus—who was preparing death for the Jews—into mildness. It is He who converted Nebuchadnezzar, the cruel king, so completely that he became a proclaimer of divine power. Now therefore, says Nebuchadnezzar, I praise and magnify and glorify the king of heaven, because His works are true and His ways are judgments, and those who walk in pride He is able to humble.✦

God's Power to Cast Down the Proud

God removes tyrants He will not convert—overthrowing Pharaoh, degrading Nebuchadnezzar, and promising through the prophets to free His people from false shepherds—yet He permits wicked rulers as punishment for the people's sin.

Indeed, those tyrants whom God considers unworthy of conversion he can remove from the midst of power, or bring down to the lowest state, according to the word of the wise one: 'He overthrew the thrones of proud princes, and made the gentle sit in their place.'2 It was he who, seeing the affliction of his people in Egypt and hearing their cry, threw down Pharaoh the tyrant with his army into the sea. It was he who changed the aforementioned Nebuchadnezzar—previously arrogant—not only cast down from his royal throne but even removed from human society into the likeness of a beast. Nor is his hand shortened, so that he cannot free his people from tyrants.3 For through Isaiah he promises his people that he will give them rest from their toil and confusion, and from the harsh servitude they had endured before. And through Ezekiel he says: 'I will free my flock from their mouths—that is, from the shepherds who feed only themselves.' But in order for the people to deserve to obtain this favor from God, they must stop sinning, because it is as punishment for sin that, by divine permission, the wicked receive power to rule—as the Lord says through Hosea: 'I will give you a king in my wrath'; and in Job it is said that God 'makes a man reign as a hypocrite because of the sins of the people.'4

Remove the Guilt, Remove the Tyrant

The people must cease sinning so that the plague of tyranny may end.

Therefore, the guilt must be removed so that the plague from tyrants may cease.5

Read the original Latin

Quia ergo unius regimen praeeligendum est, quod est optimum, et contingit ipsum in tyrannidem converti quod est pessimum, ut ex dictis patet, laborandum est diligenti studio ut sic multitudini provideatur de rege, ut non incidant in tyrannum. Primum autem est necessarium ut talis conditionis homo ab illis, ad quos hoc spectat officium, promoveatur in regem, quod non sit probabile in tyrannidem declinare. Unde Samuel, Dei providentiam erga institutionem regis commendans, ait I Reg. : quaesivit sibi dominus virum secundum cor suum et praecepit ei dominus ut esset dux super populum suum. Deinde sic disponenda est regni gubernatio, ut regi iam instituto tyrannidis subtrahatur occasio. Simul etiam sic eius temperetur potestas, ut in tyrannidem de facili declinare non possit. Quae quidem ut fiant, in sequentibus considerandum erit. Demum vero curandum est, si rex in tyrannidem diverteret, qualiter posset occurri.

Et quidem si non fuerit excessus tyrannidis, utilius est remissam tyrannidem tolerare ad tempus, quam contra tyrannum agendo multis implicari periculis, quae sunt graviora ipsa tyrannide. Potest enim contingere ut qui contra tyrannum agunt praevalere non possint, et sic provocatus tyrannus magis desaeviat. Quod si praevalere quis possit adversus tyrannum, ex hoc ipso proveniunt multoties gravissimae dissensiones in populo; sive dum in tyrannum insurgitur, sive post deiectionem tyranni dum erga ordinationem regiminis multitudo separatur in partes. Contingit etiam ut interdum, dum alicuius auxilio multitudo expellit tyrannum, ille, potestate accepta, tyrannidem arripiat, et timens pati ab alio quod ipse in alium fecit, graviori servitute subditos opprimat. Sic enim in tyrannide solet contingere, ut posterior gravior fiat quam praecedens, dum praecedentia gravamina non deserit et ipse ex sui cordis malitia nova excogitat. Unde Syracusis quondam Dionysii mortem omnibus desiderantibus, anus quaedam, ut incolumis et sibi superstes esset, continue orabat; quod ut tyrannus cognovit, cur hoc faceret interrogavit. Tum illa: puella, inquit, existens, cum gravem tyrannum haberemus, mortem eius cupiebam, quo interfecto, aliquantum durior successit; eius quoque dominationem finiri magnum existimabam: tertium te importuniorem habere coepimus rectorem. Itaque si tu fueris absumptus, deterior in locum tuum succedet.

Et si sit intolerabilis excessus tyrannidis, quibusdam visum fuit ut ad fortium virorum virtutem pertineat tyrannum interimere, seque pro liberatione multitudinis exponere periculis mortis: cuius rei exemplum etiam in veteri testamento habetur. Nam Aioth quidam Eglon regem Moab, qui gravi servitute populum Dei premebat, sica infixa in eius femore interemit, et factus est populi iudex. Sed hoc apostolicae doctrinae non congruit. Docet enim nos Petrus non bonis tantum et modestis, verum etiam dyscolis dominis reverenter subditos esse. Haec est enim gratia si propter conscientiam Dei sustineat quis tristitias patiens iniuste; unde cum multi Romani imperatores fidem Christi persequerentur tyrannice, magnaque multitudo tam nobilium quam populi esset ad fidem conversa, non resistendo sed mortem patienter et animati sustinentes pro Christo laudantur, ut in sacra Thebaeorum legione manifeste apparet; magisque Aioth iudicandus est hostem interemisse, quam populi rectorem, licet tyrannum: unde et in veteri testamento leguntur occisi fuisse hi qui occiderunt Ioas, regem Iuda, quamvis a cultu Dei recedentem, eorumque filii reservati secundum legis praeceptum. Esset autem hoc multitudini periculosum et eius rectoribus, si privata praesumptione aliqui attentarent praesidentium necem, etiam tyrannorum. Plerumque enim huiusmodi periculis magis exponunt se mali quam boni. Malis autem solet esse grave dominium non minus regum quam tyrannorum, quia secundum sententiam Salomonis, Prov.

: dissipat impios rex sapiens. Magis igitur ex huiusmodi praesumptione immineret periculum multitudini de amissione regis, quam remedium de subtractione tyranni. Videtur autem magis contra tyrannorum saevitiam non privata praesumptione aliquorum, sed auctoritate publica procedendum. Primo quidem, si ad ius multitudinis alicuius pertineat sibi providere de rege, non iniuste ab eadem rex institutus potest destitui vel refrenari eius potestas, si potestate regia tyrannice abutatur. Nec putanda est talis multitudo infideliter agere tyrannum destituens, etiam si eidem in perpetuo se ante subiecerat: quia hoc ipse meruit, in multitudinis regimine se non fideliter gerens ut exigit regis officium, quod ei pactum a subditis non reservetur. Sic Romani Tarquinium superbum, quem in regem susceperant, propter eius et filiorum tyrannidem a regno eiecerunt, substituta minori, scilicet consulari, potestate. Sic etiam Domitianus, qui modestissimis imperatoribus Vespasiano patri et Tito fratri eius successerat, dum tyrannidem exercet, a senatu Romano interemptus est, omnibus quae perverse Romanis fecerat per senatusconsultum iuste et salubriter in irritum revocatis. Quo factum est ut beatus Ioannes Evangelista, dilectus Dei discipulus, qui per ipsum Domitianum in Patmos insulam fuerat exilio relegatus, ad Ephesum per senatusconsultum remitteretur.

Si vero ad ius alicuius superioris pertineat multitudini providere de rege, expectandum est ab eo remedium contra tyranni nequitiam. Sic Archelai, qui in Iudaea pro Herode patre suo regnare iam coeperat, paternam malitiam imitantis, Iudaeis contra eum querimoniam ad Caesarem Augustum deferentibus, primo quidem potestas diminuitur ablato sibi regio nomine et medietate regni sui inter duos fratres suos divisa; deinde, cum nec sic a tyrannide compesceretur, a Tiberio Caesare relegatus est in exilium apud Lugdunum, Galliae civitatem. Quod si omnino contra tyrannum auxilium humanum haberi non potest, recurrendum est ad regem omnium Deum, qui est adiutor in opportunitatibus in tribulatione. Eius enim potentiae subest ut cor tyranni crudele convertat in mansuetudinem, secundum Salomonis sententiam, Prov. : cor regis in manu Dei, quocumque voluerit, inclinabit illud. Ipse enim regis Assueri crudelitatem, qui Iudaeis mortem parabat, in mansuetudinem vertit. Ipse est qui ita Nabuchodonosor crudelem regem convertit, quod factus est divinae potentiae praedicator. Nunc igitur, inquit, ego Nabuchodonosor laudo, et magnifico, et glorifico regem caeli, quia opera eius vera et viae eius iudicia, et gradientes in superbia potest humiliare.

Tyrannos vero, quos reputat conversione indignos, potest auferre de medio vel ad infimum statum reducere, secundum illud sapientis: sedes ducum superborum destruxit Deus, et sedere fecit mites pro eis. Ipse est qui videns afflictionem populi sui in Aegypto et audiens eorum clamorem, Pharaonem tyrannum deiecit cum exercitu suo in mare. Ipse est qui memoratum Nabuchodonosor prius superbientem, non solum eiectum de regni solio sed etiam de hominum consortio, in similitudinem bestiae commutavit. Nec etiam abbreviata manus eius est, ut populum suum a tyrannis liberare non possit. Promittit enim populo suo per Isaiam requiem se daturum a labore et confusione, ac servitute dura, qua antea servierat. Et per Ezech. dicit: liberabo meum gregem de ore eorum, scilicet pastorum qui pascunt se ipsos. Sed ut hoc beneficium populus a Deo consequi mereatur, debet a peccatis cessare, quia in ultionem peccati divina permissione impii accipiunt principatum, dicente domino per Oseam: dabo tibi regem in furore meo; et in Iob dicitur quod regnare facit hominem hypocritam propter peccata populi.

Tollenda est igitur culpa, ut cesset a tyrannorum plaga.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩1Sam.13.14 — But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has appointed him ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.
  2. ↩Deut.24.16 — Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, and sons shall not be put to death for their fathers; each person shall be put to death for his own sin.
  3. ↩Prov.21.1 — The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he wills.
  4. ↩Dan.4.34;Dan.4.31 — At that time I, Nebuchadnezzar, praised and exalted and honored the King of heaven, because all his works are truth and his ways are justice, and those who walk in pride he is able to humble. Dan.4.31 — And at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me. And I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored the One whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and whose kingdom endures from generation to generation.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩pactum here carries the sense of a binding agreement or covenant between ruler and subjects; rendering it as 'covenant' preserves the theological-political weight of the pact.
  2. 2 ↩The quoted saying echoes a wisdom tradition (cf. Job 12:19; Sirach 10:14; Luke 1:52); the source anchor 'illud sapientis' is preserved as a candidate allusion pending Moses resolution.
  3. 3 ↩The idiom 'shortened hand' echoes Isaiah 50:2 and 59:1, where God's power to save is questioned.
  4. 4 ↩The Hosea quotation matches Hosea 13:11 ('I gave you a king in my anger'). The Job reference echoes Job 34:30 or a related passage concerning God allowing hypocrites to rule.
  5. 5 ↩The gerundive 'tollenda est' conveys necessity (must be removed). 'Cesset' is read as subjunctive of 'cesso' (to cease) in a purpose clause, rather than 'cedo' (to yield).

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