Quod utile sit bonos reges diu et longe lateque regnare
The Common Good of Righteous Rule
Augustine is cited to show that long, wide, and enduring rule by the righteous benefits subjects more than rulers, since the ruler's own virtue already suffices for true happiness.
That it is an advantage to those who rule and to those over whom they rule, if they are good, to reign for a long time, far and wide — blessed Augustine demonstrates this, citing the same work, and says (Book IV, chapter IV, c. 2): "If the true God is worshipped and served with holy ways, truthful lives, and good conduct, it is good that the righteous reign far, wide, and long; and this is an advantage not so much to them as to those over whom they rule. For as far as they themselves are concerned, their own devotion and integrity — which are great gifts from God — are enough to bring them true happiness, the kind by which one lives well in this life and afterward attains eternal life.
The Harm of Wicked Rule and the Test of Suffering
Wicked rulers harm themselves through greater license to sin, while the hardships they unjustly inflict on the righteous serve as a testing of virtue rather than punishment.
So in this world, the reign of the good is granted not so much for their own sake as for the sake of human affairs; but the reign of the wicked harms those who rule, who lay waste to their own souls with greater license for sin. Yet for those who are subjected in serving them, nothing harms them except their own wrongdoing. For whatever hardships are unjustly inflicted on the righteous by wicked rulers, they are not a punishment for guilt but a testing of virtue.
Freedom in Service, Slavery in Power
A good person serving is truly free, whereas a wicked ruler is enslaved to many vices, as Scripture teaches that whoever is overcome by something is enslaved to it.
So then, even if a good person serves, they are free; but even if a wicked person reigns, they are a slave — and not to one person but, what is worse, to as many masters as they have vices. When divine Scripture speaks about these vices: "For whoever has been overcome by something," it says, "to that person they are enslaved as a bondservant" (2 Pet.✦ II, 19).
Kingdoms Without Justice
Augustine concludes that without justice, kingdoms are nothing but great bands of robbers.
So with justice set aside, what are kingdoms but great bands of robbers? »
Read the original Latin
Quod utile sit his qui regnant, et quibus regnant, si boni sint, diu longe lateque regnare, idem id eodem libro beatus Augustinus demonstrat, dicens (lib. IV, c. 2): « Si verus Deus colatur, eisque sacris, veracibus, et bonis moribus serviatur, utile est ut boni longe lateque diu regnent; neque hoc tam ipsis quam illis utile est quibus regnant. Nam quantum ad ipsos pertinet, pietas et probitas eorum, quae magna Dei dona sunt, sufficit eis ad veram felicitatem, qua et in ista vita bene agatur, et postea percipiatur aeterna. In hac ergo terra regnum bonorum non tam illis praestatur, quam rebus humanis: malorum vero regnum magis regnantibus nocet, qui suos animos vastant scelerum majore licentia; his autem, qui eis serviendo subduntur, non nocet nisi iniquitas propria. Nam justis quidquid malorum ab iniquis dominis irrogatur, non est poena criminis, sed virtutis examen. Proinde bonus etiam si serviat, liber est: malus autem etiamsi regnet, servus est; nec unius hominis, sed, quod est gravius, tot dominorum quot vitiorum. De quibus vitiis cum ageret Scriptura divina: A quo enim quis, inquit, devictus est, huic servus addictus est (II Petr.
II, 19). Remota itaque justitia, quid sunt regna, nisi magna latrocinia? »
Scripture echoes
- ↩2Pet.2.19 — They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a person is overcome, by that he is enslaved.
On the Person and Ministry of the King (De regis persona et regio ministerio) companion
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