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Chapter 6ViaRegia.1.6

De prudentia

The Royal Virtue of Prudence

Prudence is defined as the essential royal foresight required for just and wise governance.

So, after the illumination of wisdom and the treasures of knowledge, anyone who wants to successfully follow the royal road must, as the Lord grants it, be filled with prudence. Prudence is a royal virtue, and it was greatly loved by the kings of old; as it is written of King David: He went out wherever Saul sent him, and he conducted himself wisely.✦ Prudence is defined as a kind of foresight.1 What's more, a king also has to look far ahead at what he ought to do, so that after the deed he won't regret having done it. Everything he does, whether toward God or toward people, he ought to do prudently and with foresight. He must do everything justly, everything rightly, everything wisely and with prudence, so that the king's works or counsels will not, like those of other people, meet with a tongue of reproach.2 For the one who, as the Lord grants it, governs many things must arrange everything prudently and with deep counsel. As the most prudent Solomon says in Proverbs: Whoever is wise governs many things with prudence.

The Ornament of Speech and Action

Prudence serves as the guardian of the tongue and the scale by which all royal words and deeds are weighed.

He also says: By wisdom a house will be built, and by prudence it will be strengthened.✦ For prudence is a great virtue, especially in a king's heart—the virtue that wisely rules and governs every kingdom. For prudence is the ornament of all the virtues, the glory of speech and the beauty of conversation, as it is written: A prudent person's teaching is a golden ornament, and like a bracelet on the right arm. Prudence is the guardian of the mouth, the guide for action, the temperance of the heart, the moderation of the tongue, and the scale for every word and the weighing of affairs. For so it is written: The words of the prudent will be weighed in the balance. Again it is written: Melt down your gold and your silver, and with your words make little doors, and put straight reins on your mouth.3 Again, it is written: Open your mouth for the mute and for the causes of all the children who pass by; open your mouth, decide what is just, and judge for the needy and the poor.✦4 For everyone will be filled with good things from the fruit of their mouth, and they will be repaid according to the work of their hands.✦

The Covenant of Truth and Grace

Scriptural examples of the prudent life demonstrate the importance of reverent fear, truth, and grace-filled speech.

Malachi also speaks for the Lord: Regarding Levi, he says, 'My covenant of life and peace was with him, and I gave him reverent fear; he feared me and trembled before my name.'✦5 The law of truth was in his mouth, and no iniquity was found on his lips; he walked with me in peace and in equity, and he turned many away from iniquity.✦ Paul says to the Colossians: Let your speech always be seasoned with salt and full of grace, so that you'll know when you ought to answer each person.✦67

The Fruits of a Prudent Reign

A final exhortation to embrace prudence, which promises to order the king's realm, strengthen his house, and secure his legacy.

So love this most splendid and royal virtue, king—the one that will order the government of your realm for you and grant you discretion in action; that will direct the steps of your work and set the movements of your thought in order; that will build you a royal house fertile with offspring and strengthen it once built; that will supply you with the ornaments of the virtues and an abundance of goods; that will exalt the horn of your kingdom and give strength to your arm; that will put the law of truth in your mouth and multiply understanding of wisdom in your heart; that will subject the necks of many nations to you and make you beloved by all; that will set a golden ornament on your speech and bestow a silver gift on your lips; that will keep continual guard over your works and grant them fitting glory.✦✦89

Read the original Latin

Post illuminationem ergo sapientiae thesaurosque scientiae, oportet illum qui cupit regiam feliciter currere viam, Domino donante, impleri prudentia. Regia etenim virtus est prudentia, et a prioribus regibus nimium dilecta; sic enim de David rege scriptum est: Egrediebatur quoque ad omnia quaecunque misisset eum Saul, et prudenter se agebat. Prudentia enim quasi porrovidentia dicitur. Porro autem et a longe providere oportet regem quid agere debeat, ne post actum egisse se poeniteat. Omnia namque quae agit et erga Deum et erga homines, prudenter agere debet et provide. Omnia juste, omnia recte, omnia sapienter et cum prudentia necesse est ut faciat, ne regis opera vel consilia, ut caeterorum hominum, reprehensionis recipiant linguam. Qui enim multa Domino donante gubernat, necesse est ut alto consilio prudenter cuncta disponat. Sic enim prudentissimus Salomon in Proverbiis ait: Qui sapiens est, multa gubernat prudentia.

Item ipse ait: Sapientia aedificabitur domus, et prudentia roborabitur. Grandis enim virtus est, maxime in pectore regis, prudentia, quae cuncta prudenter regna regit atque gubernat. Prudentia namque ornamentum est omnium virtutum, gloria verbi decusque sermonis, sicut scriptum est: Ornamentum aureum prudentis doctrina, et quasi brachiale in brachio dextro. Prudentia custos est oris, gubernatio actionis, temperantia cordis, moderatio linguae, omniumque statera verborum et ponderatio rerum. Sic enim scriptum est: Verba prudentium in statera ponderabuntur. Iterum scriptum est: Aurum tuum et argentum tuum confla, et verbis tuis fac ostiola, et frenos ori tuo rectos. Rursum scriptum est: Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt, aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et pauperem. Quia de fructu oris sui unusquisque replebitur bonis, et juxta opera manuum suarum retribuetur ei.

Malachias quoque ex persona Domini: Delevi, inquit, pactum meum, quod fuit cum eo, vitae et pacis, et dedi ei timorem, et timuit me, et a facie nominis mei pavebat. Lex veritatis fuit in ore ejus, et iniquitas non est inventa in labiis ejus, in pace et in aequitate, ambulavit mecum, et multos avertit ab iniquitate. Paulus ad Colossenses ait: Sermo vester semper in gratia sale sit conditus, ut sciatis quando oporteat vos unicuique respondere.

Dilige ergo, rex, hanc clarissimam regiamque virtutem, quae tibi regni gubernationem disponat, et discretionem actionis conferat; quae tibi gressus operis dirigat, et cogitationis actus disponat; quae tibi regiam prolibusque fecundam aedificet, et aedifificatam roboret; quae tibi ornamenta virtutum copiamque ministret et rerum; quae tibi regni cornu sublimet, et brachio fortitudinem donet; quae ori tuo legem veritatis ministret, et cordi tuo intellectum sapientiae multiplicet; quae tibi multarum gentium colla subjiciat, et te cunctis amabilem reddat; quae sermonibus tuis aureum ornamentum imponat, et argenteum munus labiis conferat; quae operibus tuis jugem custodiam, congruam ministret et gloriam.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩1Sam.18.5 — David went out wherever Saul sent him, and he acted wisely. So Saul set him over the men of war, and it was good in the eyes of all the people, and also in the eyes of Saul's servants.
  2. ↩Prov.24.3 — By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established.
  3. ↩Prov.31.8-Prov.31.9 — Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are perishing. Prov.31.9 — Open your mouth; judge righteously, and defend the poor and the needy.
  4. ↩Prov.12.14 — From the fruit of a man's mouth he is satisfied with good, and the work of a man's hands will be repaid to him.
  5. ↩Mal.2.5 — My covenant was with him—life and peace—and I gave them to him, that he might fear me; and he feared me and stood in awe before my name.
  6. ↩Mal.2.6 — True instruction was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.
  7. ↩Col.4.6 — Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
  8. ↩Mal.2.6 — True instruction was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.
  9. ↩Prov.25.11;Prov.10.20 — A word spoken at just the right time is like golden apples in silver settings. Prov.10.20 — The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is worth little.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩porrovidentia is an etymological play (porro + videntia, 'seeing far ahead'), aligning prudence with providentia/foresight.
  2. 2 ↩reprehensionis ... linguam rendered as 'a tongue of reproach' to keep the concrete Latin image of critical speech, not generic blame.
  3. 3 ↩ostiola is kept as 'little doors'—the image of speech carefully opened and shut; frenos rectos as 'straight reins' for disciplined speech.
  4. 4 ↩filiorum qui pertranseunt rendered close to the Latin ('children who pass by'); later stages may resolve the familiar Proverbs sense of the desolate or those without a defender.
  5. 5 ↩Supplied reading Delevi (I wiped out / canceled) makes poor sense with the following positive covenant language of life and peace, fear, and awe. Rendered as De Levi (concerning Levi), a highly plausible word-division corruption that matches Malachi 2:4–5 and the continued quotation in the next sentence.
  6. 6 ↩in gratia here names the gracious quality of speech (Col 4:6), not primarily the theological gift of grace; kept as grace/gracious force without flattening the lexeme.
  7. 7 ↩Supplied text has quando (when); standard Vulgate Col 4:6 has quomodo (how). Translation follows the supplied reading.
  8. 8 ↩Source reads aedifificatam; translated as the intended aedificatam (‘once built’ / ‘what has been built’).
  9. 9 ↩regiam prolibusque fecundam is elliptical (feminine object of aedificet); rendered as ‘a royal house fertile with offspring,’ the natural mirror-for-princes sense.

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