Quod reges regum Domino serviant, etiam leges dando pro ipso
Quod reges regum Domino serviant, etiam leges dando pro ipso
That kings serve the King of kings, the Lord, not only in the matters we have mentioned before, but also by giving laws on his behalf, Augustine shows in his letter to Boniface, saying (Epistle 50): "Let the kings of the earth serve Christ," he says, "even by bearing laws for Christ." How, then, do kings serve the Lord in fear, unless by forbidding and punishing with religious severity the things that are done against the Lord's commands? In one way, namely, he serves because he is a human being; in another way, because he is also a king. Because he is a human being, he serves the one to whom he belongs by living faithfully; but because he is also a king, he serves by commanding just things and forbidding their opposites, ratifying these with fitting authority. As Hezekiah served by destroying the groves and the temples of idols, and those high places that had been built against God's commands (4 Kings 18). 18). As Josiah served by doing such things himself as well (4 Kings). 25) The king of the Ninevites served the Lord in the same way, by urging the whole city to appease the Lord (Jon. 3). Darius served him by handing over the idol to be broken down and placed under Daniel's authority, and by throwing his enemies to the lions (Dan. 14). Nebuchadnezzar served by forbidding, through a fearsome law, everyone in his kingdom from blaspheming God (Dan. 3). So then, kings serve the Lord as kings precisely when they do for his sake what no one but a king can do.1 »
Read the original Latin
Quod non solum in his, quae praemisimus, reges Regi regum serviant Domino, sed et leges dando pro ipso, Augustinus in epistola ad Bonifacium demonstrat dicens (epist. 50): « Serviant, inquit, reges terrae Christo, etiam leges ferendo pro Christo. Quomodo ergo reges Domino serviunt in timore, nisi ea quae contra Domini jussa fiunt, religiosa severitate prohibendo atque plectendo? Aliter enim servit quia homo est, aliter quia etiam rex est. Quia homo est, ei servit vivendo fideliter: quia vero etiam rex est, servit leges justa praecipientes et contraria prohibentes convenienti vigore sanciendo. Sicut servivit Ezechias, lucos et templa idolorum, et illa excelsa, quae contra Dei praecepta fuerunt constructa, destruendo (IV Reg. XVIII). Sicut servivit Josias, talia et ipse faciendo (IV Reg.
XXV). Sicut servivit rex Ninivitarum, universam civitatem ad placandum Dominum compellendo (Jon. III). Sicut servivit Darius, idolum frangendum in potestatem Danieli dando, et inimicos ejus leonibus ingerendo (Dan. XIV). Sicut servivit Nabuchodonosor, omnes in regno suo positos a blasphemando Deum lege terribili prohibendo (Dan. III). In hoc itaque serviunt Domino reges, inquantum sunt reges, cum ea faciunt ad serviendum illi, quae non possunt facere nisi reges.
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Notes
- 1 ↩itaque rendered 'so then' to capture the inferential force; cum is temporal ('when'), not causal, in this context.
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