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Chapter 21ViaRegia.1.21

De consilio

The Necessity of Counsel

Scripture establishes counsel as a foundational virtue, superior to worldly riches, for those who seek wisdom.

And so that you'll do all these things with counsel, divine Scripture warns you through Solomon, saying: "The shrewd man does everything with counsel"; and Jesus son of Sirach says: "Son, do nothing without counsel." And so that you'll always live wisely, with discipline, and with counsel, the same Solomon warns you: "Listen to counsel, and accept discipline, so that you'll be wise in your last days."✦ Those who do everything with counsel are governed by wisdom. Plans fall apart where there is no counsel; but where there are many counselors, they are made firm.✦ He says again: "The heart delights in ointment and various fragrances, and the soul is sweetened by a friend's good counsel."✦ War is begun with careful planning, and there will be safety where there is much counsel.✦1 For counsel is a great thing, and very necessary for kings, and not to be lightly dismissed, but to be set above gold and silver. And divine Scripture itself approves this very point, saying: "Gold and silver are a firm footing for the feet, and above both of them well-pleasing counsel endures."2

The Heritage of the Wise

A survey of biblical figures, from Noah to the martyrs, demonstrates how the virtue of counsel sustains the faithful through every trial.

So you see, king, how royal a virtue counsel is—how Scripture declares it to be above gold and silver, how it cries out that counsel is like a spring flowing in abundance. So all who have run the royal roads have loved this virtue of counsel. Strengthened by the virtue of counsel, Noah steadily built the ark for a hundred years and steered it through the flood. Made firm by the virtue of counsel, Abraham left his own kin without fear and lived wisely among foreign peoples. Isaac, firmly believing through the virtue of counsel, received from the Lord the blessing of all nations for himself.✦ Hearing his mother's counsel, Jacob inherited his father's blessing, received his brother's birthright, and grew abundantly into twelve tribes of sons. Finally, by this virtue of counsel, Moses guided six hundred thousand people through the wilderness.3 By this same virtue of counsel, his brother Aaron faithfully carried out his ministry and the sacred office of the priesthood as he governed. Through this virtue of counsel Phinehas, son of the priest Eleazar, filled with zeal for the Lord, ran Zimri through with a sword along with the Midianite prostitute, and held back the Lord's raging wrath already hanging over the people. And so, he also left his descendants the blessing of a perpetual priesthood.✦ Joshua, receiving this virtue of counsel from Moses who had raised him, killed thirty kings of the nations and destroyed their kingdoms, overthrew the walls of Jericho, brought God's people into the promised land, and by the measure of counsel, divided it among them with a measuring line.4 Through this virtue of counsel, Samuel governed God's people and judged them justly. Through this virtue of counsel David killed Goliath, toyed with lions, and governed the kingdom he had received with prudence and strength.5 Through this virtue of counsel, Solomon ruled the nations in peace and built a lofty temple for the Lord in Jerusalem. Through this virtue of counsel, Elijah consumed two companies of fifty with fire from heaven, held back the rain at the right time, and at the right time again, with the Lord's help, brought it back. Through this virtue of counsel, the martyrs handed themselves over to temporal death so that they might receive eternal life from the Lord. Through this virtue of counsel, virgins and confessors persevered in the Lord's service to the very end.

A Prayer for Guidance

The chapter concludes with an exhortation to seek divine direction and wisdom through prayer before every action.

So you too, king: do everything you do with counsel, because it is written: And in all these things, pray to the Most High that he may direct your path in truth. Before every work, let a true word go before you, and before every act, firm counsel. For if the great Lord is willing, he will fill you with the spirit of understanding, and he himself will send you words of wisdom like showers of rain, and he will open your mouth in prayer for what is good, and your memory will never be wiped away.

Read the original Latin

Et ut haec omnia cum consilio agas, Scriptura te divina per Salomonem admonet, dicens: Astutus omnia agit cum consilio; et Jesus filius Sirach ait: Fili, sine consilio nihil facias. Et ut sapienter et cum disciplina et cum consilio semper vivas, idem te Salomon admonet, dicens: Audi consilium, et suscipe disciplinam, ut sis sapiens in novissimis tuis. Qui agunt cuncta cum consilio, reguntur sapientia. Dissipantur cogitationes ubi non est consilium: ubi vero plures sunt consiliarii, confirmantur. Ipse iterum ait: Unguento et variis odoribus delectatur cor: et bonis amici consiliis anima dulcoratur. Cum dispositione initur bellum, et erit salus ubi multa consilia sunt. Magna etenim res est consilium, et regibus valde necessarium, et non parvipendendum, sed super aurum et argentum constituendum. Et hoc idipsum divina approbat Scriptura, dicens: Aurum et argentum est constitutio pedum, et super utrumque consilium beneplacitum permanet.

Vides ergo, rex, quam regia virtus est consilium, quam super aurum et argentum esse praedicat Scriptura, quam sicut fontem clamitat affluenter manantem. Hanc igitur virtutem consilii omnes dilexerunt regia currentes itinera. Virtute consilii roboratus constanter Noe per centum annos fabricavit arcam, et in diluvio gubernavit eam. Virtute consilii Abraham confirmatus, de cognationis suae genere intrepidus est egressus, et inter gentes exteras prudenter est commoratus. Virtute consilii firmiter credens Isaac, benedictionem a Domino in se omnium gentium accepit. Consilium matris audiens Jacob benedictionem paternam haereditavit, primogenita fratris accepit, et in duodecim tribubus filiorum largiter excrevit. Per hanc virtutem consilii novissimus Moyses sexcenta millia per eremum gubernavit. Per hanc virtutem consilii frater ejus Aaron fideliter ministerium sacrumque sacerdotis officium regendo peregit.

Per hanc virtutem consilii Phinees sacerdotis Eleazari filius zelo Domini plenus Zamrim, cum scorto Madianitico gladio perforavit, et saevientem Domini iram jam super populum pendentem retinuit. Unde et benedictionem perpetui sacerdotii posteris suis reliquit. Hanc virtutem consilii Josue a Moyse nutritore accipiens, triginta gentium reges occidit, illorumque regna destruxit, Hiericuntinos muros subvertit, in terram repromissionis populum Dei introduxit, et eam illis per consilii rationem distento fune partivit. Per hanc virtutem consilii Samuel populum Dei juste judicans gubernavit. Per hanc virtutem consilii David Goliam interfecit, cum leonibus lusit, et regnum acceptum prudenter et fortiter gubernavit. Per hanc virtutem consilii Salomon cum pace gentibus imperavit, et sublime Domino in Hierusalem templum aedificavit. Per hanc virtutem consilii Elias bis quinquagenos coeli igne consumpsit, congruo tempore coeli pluviam distulit, et iterum congruo, Domino opitulante, reduxit. Per hanc virtutem consilii martyres, ut aeternam a Domino acciperent vitam, morti temporali se tradiderunt.

Per hanc virtutem consilii virgines et confessores in servitio Domini usque in finem perseveraverunt.

Et tu ergo, rex, omnia quae agis, cum consilio age, quia scriptum est: Et in his omnibus deprecare Altissimum ut dirigat in veritate viam tuam. Ante omnia opera verbum verax praecedat te: et ante omnem actum consilium stabile. Si enim Dominus magnus voluerit, spiritu intelligentiae replebit te, et ipse quasi imbres mittet tibi eloquia sapientiae, et aperiet in oratione os tuum in bono, et usque in saeculum non delebitur memoria tua.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Prov.19.20 — Listen to counsel and receive discipline, so that you may be wise in your latter days.
  2. ↩Prov.15.22 — Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
  3. ↩Prov.27.9 — Oil and incense gladden the heart, and the sweetness of a friend is better than one's own counsel.
  4. ↩Prov.24.6 — For by wise guidance you wage your war, and victory comes through many counselors.
  5. ↩Gen.22.18 — and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice
  6. ↩Num.25.12-Num.25.13 — Therefore say, 'Behold, I am giving to him my covenant of peace.' Num.25.13 — and it shall be for him and for his descendants after him a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩dispositione rendered as careful planning; the Latin also carries ordered arrangement/disposition of forces.
  2. 2 ↩constitutio pedum rendered as a firm footing for the feet; sense is that gold and silver give standing/support, while counsel ranks above both.
  3. 3 ↩novissimus may mean 'last of all' in the series of examples, or 'finally'; rendered as 'last of all' after the patriarchs.
  4. 4 ↩nutritore can mean foster-father, mentor, or the one who raised and trained him; rendered here as 'who had raised him'.
  5. 5 ↩cum leonibus lusit literally 'played with lions'; rendered as ease and mastery over them (David's fights with lion and bear), not light amusement.

Via Regia (The Royal Road) companion

Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat

Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.

Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.

  • A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
  • One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
  • Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →