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Chapter 10ViaRegia.1.10

De judicio

The Royal Duty of Mercy

The king is exhorted through Scripture to act as a father to the poor, the orphan, and the oppressed.

But so this doesn't happen to you, Scripture warns you for your own good: "In judging, be merciful to orphans as a father, and take a husband's place for their mother; then you'll be like an obedient son of the Most High, and He will have mercy on you more than a mother."1 Job also says: "I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame; I was a father to the poor, and I investigated the case I didn't know with the greatest care; I crushed the jaws of the wicked, and tore the prey from their teeth."✦ I used to weep for the one who was afflicted, and my soul shared the poor man's pain.✦ For King Solomon also confirms that this is a royal virtue, saying: The king who judges the poor in truth—his throne will be established forever.✦ So, if you want your throne to be made firm by the Lord, O king, never stop doing justice for the poor and the orphan; never stop helping the widow and the oppressed; never stop defending the stranger and the abandoned; help the wretched, lift up the fallen, steady the broken, and comfort and strengthen the weary; never stop supporting the beggar with your riches; never stop freeing the oppressed from the sinner's hand.✦2 Hear what the Lord cries out through David to kings and to the judges of kings, saying: Give judgment for the needy and the orphan; do justice for the lowly and the poor. Rescue the poor, and free the needy from the sinner's hand. In agreement with this, the book of Ecclesiasticus says: "Free the one who suffers wrong from the hand of the proud."

The Promise of Eternal Reward

God promises spiritual cleansing and the fruits of the eternal land to those kings who faithfully defend the poor.

Isaiah, preaching to the same end, says nonetheless: Seek justice, help the oppressed, judge for the orphan, defend the widow, and come and reason with me, says the Lord. If your sins are like scarlet, they will be made white as snow; and if they are red like crimson, they will be like white wool.3 If you are willing and listen to me, you will eat the good things of the land. See, then, and carefully take note, O king, what comes to those who defend the poor: God declares himself their debtor and their repayer; he promises sinners the brightness of snow, and pledges them the cleanness of white wool; finally he grants them to eat the good things of the land—namely of that land about which it is written, "The saints will possess a double portion in their land," and about which the Psalmist says, "I believe I will see the good things in the land of the living." You see that the goods of the eternal land are granted to those kings who stand here as defenders of the poor. To them is granted as food the fruit of the eternal land—those who here know how to defend the poor devoutly: the best fruits, namely the fruits of the angels; eternal fruits; lasting fruits; fruits most sweet and most dear, full of fullness and richness, full of gladness and joy, full of happiness and glory.4

The Blessed Life of the Just King

The king is encouraged to pursue a life of justice, which leads from earthly honor to eternal glory among the angels.

O how blessed is the life of just kings—the life that both shines here, supported by temporal goods, and rests forever, immortal, among the angels: here it is nourished by earthly delights, there it is clothed in the glory of beauty; here it is thronged by crowds of peoples, there it is escorted by angelic choirs; here it delights in the multitude of human beings, there it rejoices with the choir of angels; here the army of the realm obeys it, there it exults in the army of the Redeemer; here, clothed in a royal robe, it shines, there it blazes with the glory of immortality; here it wears a king's crowns, there it resounds with the joy of exultation; here it is called the son of an earthly king, there it is confirmed as the son of the heavenly King; here it fittingly receives a great inheritance of an earthly kingdom, there it happily receives a blessed share of the heavenly kingdom. So that this may come to you, most illustrious king, don't stop working with all your strength. No one will be happier than you if, with the Lord's help, this comes to you; no one will surpass you in glory if the Lord happily grants this to you.

Read the original Latin

Sed ne hoc tibi eveniat, salutariter te admonet scriptura, dicens: In judicando esto pupillis misericors ut pater, et pro viro matri illorum: et eris tu velut filius Altissimi obediens, et miserebitur tui magis quam mater. Job quoque ait: Oculus fui caeco, et pes claudo: pater eram pauperum, et causam quam nesciebam, diligentissime investigabam, conterebam molas iniqui, et de dentibus illius auferebam praedam. Flebam quondam super eo qui afflictus erat, et compatiebatur anima mea pauperi. Nam et hanc regiam esse virtutem rex Salomon approbat, dicens: Rex qui judicat in veritate pauperes, thronus ejus in aeternum firmabitur. Si vis ergo, o rex, ut thronus tuus a Domino firmetur, non cesses justificare pauperem et pupillum, non cesses subvenire viduae et oppresso, non cesses defendere advenam et desolatum, subveni misero, eleva jacentem, solida confractum, conforta et robora lassum, divitiis non cesses fulcire mendicum, de manu peccatoris non cesses liberare oppressum. Audi quod regibus regumque judicibus Dominus per David clamitat dicens: Judicate egeno et pupillo: humilem et pauperem justificate. Eripite pauperem, et egenum de manu peccatoris liberate. Huic sententiae concordans liber Ecclesiasticus ait: Libera eum qui injuriam patitur de manu superbi.

Isaias nihilominus praedicans ait: Quaerite judicium, subvenite oppresso, judicate pupillo, defendite viduam, et venite et arguite me, dicit Dominus. Si fuerint peccata vestra ut coccinum, quasi nix dealbabuntur; et si fuerint rubra quasi vermiculus, velut lana alba erunt. Si volueritis et audieritis me, bona terrae comedetis. Vide ergo et diligenter attende, o rex, quid defensoribus eveniat pauperum; se illis esse debitorem, seque redditorem pronuntiat Deus, nivis candorem peccatoribus promittit, et albae lanae munditiem pollicetur: postremo bona terrae comedere tribuit, terrae scilicet illius de qua scriptum est: Sancti in terra sua duplicia possidebunt, et de qua Psalmista ait: Credo videre bona in terra viventium. Vides quia bona terrae aeternae illis regibus conceduntur, qui hic pauperum defensores existunt. Illis in escam fructus aeternae conceditur terrae, qui hic pauperes sciunt defendere pie, fructus optimos scilicet augelorum, fructus aeternos, fructus perpetuos, fructus dulcissimos et amantissimos, plenos saturitate et pinguedine, plenos laetitia et gaudio, plenos felicitate et gloria.

O quam beata est vita regum justorum, quae et hic temporalibus rebus fulta nitescit, et in aeternum cum angelis immortaliter requiescit: hic terrenis nutritur deliciis, illic gloria vestitur decoris; hic populorum constipatur catervis, illic choris comitatur angelicis; hic hominum multitudine delectatur, illic cum angelorum choro laetatur, hic illi militia imperii obtemperat, illic in militia Redemptoris exsultat; hic stola vestitus regali nitescit, illic gloria immortalitatis refulget; hic regis diademata portat, illic gaudio exsultationis resultat; hic terreni regis filius vocitatur, illic coelestis Regis filius confirmatur; hic terreni regni decenter magnam capit haereditatem, illic coelestis regni felicem feliciter accipit portionem. Haec ut tibi eveniat, clarissime rex, totis viribus laborare non cesses; nullus te felicior erit, si tibi haec, auxiliante Domino, evenerit; nullus te transcendet in gloria, si haec tibi a Domino feliciter fuerit collata.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Job.29.15-Job.29.17 — I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. Job.29.16 — I was a father to the poor, and the cause I did not know I investigated. Job.29.17 — I shattered the jaws of the wicked, and from his teeth I tore the prey.
  2. ↩Job.30.25 — Surely I did not weep for the one whose day was hard, nor did my soul grieve for the poor.
  3. ↩Prov.29.14 — A king who judges the poor with truth, his throne will be established forever.
  4. ↩Isa.1.17;Ps.82.3-Ps.82.4 — Learn to do good; seek justice, set oppression right, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Ps.82.3 — Vindicate the weak and the orphan; do justice to the afflicted and the poor. Ps.82.4 — Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩pro viro matri illorum: rendered as taking a husband's place for their mother (guardian/protector of the widow), following the natural force of pro + ablative in this counsel.
  2. 2 ↩justificare here is forensic/vindicatory (give justice to / clear the cause of), not the later technical sense of theological justification.
  3. 3 ↩vermiculus is the scarlet dye-worm; rendered as 'crimson' to keep the color image plain without archaic 'worm-scarlet'.
  4. 4 ↩Source reads 'augelorum'; translated as the expected 'angelorum' (of the angels).

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