Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
God commands idolaters to be killed, and doubtful legal cases to be referred to the priests, and their decrees to be obeyed under pain of death. Secondly, verse 14, He commands a king to be chosen from their own nation, and that he not multiply, first horses, secondly wives, thirdly wealth; fourthly, that he copy and read Deuteronomy constantly; fifthly, that he not proudly exalt himself above the people.
Vulgate Text: Deuteronomy 17:1-20
1. You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a sheep or an ox in which there is a blemish or any defect: for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. 2. When there are found among you, within any of your gates which the Lord your God will give you, a man or woman who do evil in the sight of the Lord your God and transgress His covenant, 3. so as to go and serve other gods and worship them, the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which I did not command; 4. and this is reported to you, and hearing it you inquire diligently and find it to be true, and the abomination has been done in Israel: 5. you shall bring out the man or woman who perpetrated this most wicked deed to the gates of your city, and they shall be stoned. 6. By the testimony of two or three witnesses shall the one who is to die perish. No one shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness against him. 7. The hand of the witnesses shall be the first to strike him, and the hand of the rest of the people shall be cast last: so that you may remove evil from your midst. 8. If you perceive that there is a difficult and ambiguous case before you, between blood and blood, cause and cause, leprosy and leprosy, and you see the opinions of the judges within your gates varying: rise and go up to the place which the Lord your God shall choose. 9. And you shall come to the priests of the Levitical line, and to the judge who shall be at that time: and you shall inquire of them, and they will declare to you the truth of the judgment. 10. And you shall do whatever those who preside over the place which the Lord has chosen shall say, and shall teach you, 11. according to His law; and you shall follow their decision, and turn neither to the right nor to the left. 12. But the one who acts arrogantly, refusing to obey the authority of the priest who at that time ministers to the Lord your God, and the decree of the judge, that man shall die, and you shall remove evil from Israel; 13. and all the people hearing shall fear, so that no one henceforth shall swell with pride. 14. When you have entered the land which the Lord your God will give you, and you possess it and dwell in it, and you say: I will set a king over me, as all the surrounding nations have; 15. you shall set over you the one whom the Lord your God shall choose from among your brothers. You may not make a man of another nation king, who is not your brother. 16. And when he has been established, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor lead the people back to Egypt, being lifted up by the number of his cavalry, especially since the Lord has commanded you never again to return by the same way. 17. He shall not have very many wives, who may allure his heart, nor immense amounts of silver and gold. 18. But after he has sat upon the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of the Deuteronomy of this law in a book, receiving the original from the priests of the tribe of Levi, 19. and he shall keep it with him, and read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and to keep the words and ceremonies prescribed in the law. 20. Nor shall his heart be lifted up in pride above his brothers, nor shall he turn to the right or the left, that he may reign a long time, he and his sons, over Israel.
Verse 2: Within Any of Your Gates
2. WITHIN ANY OF YOUR GATES -- that is, cities. A similar synecdoche was used in the preceding chapter, verse 18.
Verse 3: The Host of Heaven
3. WORSHIP ALL THE HOST OF HEAVEN -- that is, worship any stars, which are like soldiers serving God and fighting for Him when needed; see what was said on Numbers IV, 3. The cause of the worship of the stars was, first, their light and beauty; second, that they influence these lower things, and give them life and vigor; third, that they thought them to be animate; fourth, that some natural philosophers teach that man is the work of the stars: for man, when he is conceived and generated, receives from the Sun his spirit, from the Moon his body, from Mars his blood, from Mercury his intellect, from Jupiter his desire, from Venus his passion, from Saturn his moisture.
Verse 6: Two or Three Witnesses
6. BY THE TESTIMONY OF TWO -- that is, as the Chaldean reads, by the testimony of two or three witnesses let the convicted criminal be put to death.
Verse 7: The Hand of the Witnesses First
7. THE HAND OF THE WITNESSES SHALL FIRST STRIKE HIM. -- In Hebrew, the hand of the witnesses shall first be against him, to kill him, that is, they shall be the first to cast a stone at him.
Morally, note here how great a crime apostasy is, and how greatly God punishes it and wills that it be punished by us. Well known is the punishment of Lucifer, Adam, Solomon, Julian. Hear some new examples.
Example: The Bulgarian King and Apostasy
Around the year of the Lord 868, the fierce and warlike nation of the Bulgarians, abandoning their idols and renouncing the superstitions of the pagans, for the most part believed in Christ; and, washed by the saving water of baptism, passed into the Christian religion. They report of the king of this nation that after receiving the grace of baptism he began to live with such perfection that by day, clothed in royal garments, he would go before the people; but by night, secretly entering the church in sacred vestments, he would lie prostrate in prayer on the floor of the basilica itself, with only a hairshirt spread beneath him. Not long afterward, moved by divine inspiration, he abandoned his earthly kingdom to reign eternally in heaven with Christ. And he appointed his elder son as king in his place, cut off the hair of his head, and putting on the garb of holy life, became a monk, devoted to almsgiving, vigils, and prayers day and night. Meanwhile his son, whom he had made king, departing far from his father's intention and practice, began to carry out plundering, to devote himself to drunkenness, feasting, and debauchery, and to try with all his might to recall the newly baptized people to pagan rites. When the father heard this, inflamed with excessive zeal, he laid aside his sacred habit, took up again the belt of military service, and clothed in royal garb, with God-fearing companions, pursued his son, whom he soon captured without difficulty, and gouged out his eyes, and sent him to prison; then having convened the entire kingdom, he appointed his younger son as king, threatening before all that he would suffer similar things if he deviated in any way from right Christianity. Having accomplished these things, he laid aside the belt and resumed the habit of holy religion, entered a monastery, and spent the rest of his present life in holy conduct. So Regino, book VI, and Martin of Poland, book IV of his Chronicle.
Example: Carloman's Apostasy
In the year of the Lord 870, Carloman, while still a boy, was tonsured and made a cleric by his father's command: then as time went on, although unwilling and compelled, he was ordained to the office of deacon in the presence of his father, and read the Gospel publicly, and served the Pontiff celebrating Mass according to custom. After this, falling into apostasy and departing from ecclesiastical religion, casting aside and carelessly despising the grace which had been given him through the laying on of hands, he became another Julian. Having gathered no small band of robbers, he began to devastate the churches of God, to attack the things of peace, to plunder everything, and to perpetrate unheard-of evils. When he had been frequently rebuked by his father for these things, and yet the wickedness he had embraced did not cease in the least, finally by his father's command his eyes were torn out, by the just judgment of God losing the exterior light, he who had driven from his heart the interior light, which is Christ: sent into exterior darkness, he who had voluntarily given himself over to interior darkness. And being blinded, he went to his uncle Louis, mournfully lamenting the miseries and calamities of his afflictions before him. Louis, moved by pity, granted him the monastery of Absternacum of St. Willibrord for the support of his present life, where not long afterwards he died and was buried. So Regino, book II of the Chronicle, year 870.
Example: Catherine of Sweden
Hear also of saints who wavered in a small matter and were punished. Catherine of Sweden, while she was in Rome with her mother, was once ordered to stay home on account of the wickedness of the impious, while her mother went to the stations and Indulgences. Meanwhile Satan was at hand, and began to inject bitter thoughts into her mind, as if while others were seeking the gain of their souls, she was being shut out from all spiritual goods like a brute animal. He added that her relatives, brothers and sisters, were serving God in their homeland with the greatest tranquillity, while she was leading a miserable life: it would have been better, then, never to have been born than to lead such an idle life. This was a violent temptation in the soul of the holy virgin, and it had so filled her with grief and disturbance that when her mother returned and seriously commanded her to reveal the cause of such great sorrow, she simply answered that she could not speak. And indeed her face had already turned completely pale as if dead, and her eyes were crossed: so greatly was the demon tormenting her by thrusting in these most importunate thoughts. Moreover, the following night in her sleep she seemed to see the whole world as if on fire, and herself placed in the middle of the fire on a small plain, and utterly despairing of being rescued from those flames: but then the most blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her, and she implored Her with these words: Help me, my dearest Lady; and She replied: And how can I help you, who are held by such great longing for your homeland, forgetful of your vow, and obedient neither to God, nor to me, nor to your mother, nor to your spiritual father? But she offered to do everything the Mother of God commanded; and then at last the Mother of God said: Then obey your mother and your spiritual father. Thereupon Catherine, awakened, quickly went to her mother with all humility, begged pardon for her inconstancy, and promised that henceforth she would willingly remain with her in exile until death. So relates the Life of St. Catherine, chapter VI, which is found in Surius, March 22.
Verse 8: Difficult and Ambiguous Cases
8. IF YOU PERCEIVE THAT THERE IS A DIFFICULT AND AMBIGUOUS CASE BEFORE YOU, BETWEEN BLOOD AND BLOOD. -- "Blood" here is called homicide by metonymy, that is, if a homicide is ambiguous, that is, the quality of the homicide, with some asserting it was voluntary or deliberate, and therefore to be punished by death; but others excusing it because it was committed by chance or in ignorance, and therefore the killer has the right of asylum in the cities of refuge. So Lyranus, Abulensis, and others. Similarly, between cause and cause, that is, if a case and lawsuit is ambiguous, with some saying it is just, others that it is unjust; so between leprosy and leprosy (for so it should be read with the Roman, Hebrew, Chaldean, and Greek texts, not between leprosy and non-leprosy, as the Plantin editions read), namely with some asserting it is clean or very clean leprosy, which does not exclude a man from sacred rites; but others saying it is unclean leprosy that excludes from sacred rites.
Types of Legal Cases
Note: Legal cases and questions were of two kinds: first, there were sacred and ceremonial ones, such as questions about faith, religion, and ceremonies: such was the controversy about leprosy: these belonged to the priests, as is obvious in itself; secondly, there were judicial ones, such as about bloodshed and homicide: these belonged to the secular magistrate, and in each city judges were appointed to decide them, as was said in the preceding chapter, verse 18; but if they could not resolve the dispute, they were obliged to refer it to Jerusalem, to the priests and the high priest, who decided it. For all these had to be resolved from either judicial or ceremonial law; and the interpreter of the law was the high priest, about whom more shortly: hence it follows that the high priest was also the supreme judge of controversies, even legal ones.
Go Up to the Place the Lord Shall Choose
GO UP TO THE PLACE WHICH THE LORD SHALL CHOOSE. -- Go up to Jerusalem, where the temple is, in which the Lord dwells. So Abulensis. God wished the supreme authority of judgment to be in the place of the tabernacle or temple, because this place was God's, that is, of divine presidency. God therefore, presiding in the temple, enlightened and directed the priests and judges dwelling there, lest they err in judgment, but pronounce a just, equitable, and true sentence. Again, justice is a holy and inviolable thing: hence God wished the judges to reside in a sacred place. Archytas used to say that a judge is an altar; for those who suffer injustice flee to both, signifying that judges ought to be such that they are a protection for the oppressed and like a sacred asylum: Aristotle is the witness, book III of the Rhetoric.
Verse 9: The Priests and the Judge
9. AND YOU SHALL COME TO THE PRIESTS OF THE LEVITICAL LINE, AND TO THE JUDGE. -- Some, such as Lyranus and Sigonius, book VI of the Republic of the Hebrews, chapter VII, take these disjunctively, meaning: If the doubt is about sacred matters, consult the priests; if about civil matters, consult the secular judge, so that "and" is taken for "or." But this cannot be said, because God here does not separately but simply and absolutely will that recourse be had to the priests in all doubtful cases that must be decided from divine law. For the interpretation of the law belonged to the priests, and especially to the high priest, who was the hierarch and chief of the priests; for this is what He adds: "And you shall do whatever those who preside over the place which the Lord has chosen shall say, and shall teach you according to His law."
Priests as Judges in Civil Cases
Secondly, because that the priests were judges not only in sacred cases but also in civil ones, and even in cases of homicide, Ezekiel expressly teaches, chapter XLIV, verse 24. The same is evident here, chapter XXI, 8, where Moses, speaking of secret homicide, says: "Let them approach the priests, etc., and at their word let every matter and whatever is clean or unclean be judged." Josephus teaches the same, book II Against Apion, when he says: "The priests were appointed by Moses as overseers of all things, judges of controversies, and punishers of the condemned." And Philo, book III of the Life of Moses, teaches that Moses, on the advice of the priests who customarily sat with him, condemned to death the man collecting wood on the Sabbath; about which see Numbers XV, 35. Indeed, Abulensis teaches that the high priest is called "judge" here because he alone in the council, having heard the judgment of the others, was accustomed to pronounce the sentence of death. Thus Caiaphas in the council pronounced the death sentence against Christ, John XI, 50. Thus Ananias the high priest in the council commanded Paul to be struck, Acts XXIII, 2. Thus Ananus the high priest brought James the brother of the Lord to trial for death in the council, as Josephus attests, book XX, chapter VIII. Thus another high priest condemned St. Matthias as a blasphemer to death in the council, saying: "It is written: Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely die," if we believe the acts of St. Matthias.
Thirdly, because verse 12 expressly says: "He who acts arrogantly, refusing to obey the authority of the priest, etc., shall die;" this authority therefore was the judicial and definitive sentence of the high priest.
Priestly Authority among the Gentiles
In like manner among the Gentiles, by common and natural consent, all things were governed by the judgment of the priests, even those pertaining to political authority, as Strabo testifies of the Ethiopians, book XVII; Aelian of the Egyptians, book XIV of Various Histories, chapter XXXIV; Eusebius in the Chronicle, Agathias, book II, and others of the Persians and their Magi; Josephus of the Athenians and the Areopagites, book XIV of the Antiquities, chapter XIX; Caesar of the Gauls and the Druids, book VI of the Gallic War; Cicero of the Romans and their augurs, book II of the Laws, and others. If therefore (as Socrates says in Xenophon, book IV of the Memorable Sayings of Socrates) what has been observed by all nations must be said to have been sanctioned by none other than God, then certainly even if no law about these matters appeared in the divine Scriptures, the judicial power of the priests, granted by divine instinct and right, would already be sufficiently proven from what has been said. Hence also at the beginning of the Church, bishops were judges of cases, even civil ones, which were litigated among Christians, as St. Paul teaches, I Corinthians VI, 5.
I say therefore: God here ordains that the lesser judges of towns in both sacred and political cases, namely in doubts not so much of fact as of divine right and law, should have recourse to the priests and the high priest, who, explaining the meaning and intention of the law, should decide the case accordingly. For not only the ceremonial laws, but also the judicial laws, which concerned the just governance of the state and polity, were prescribed by God and recorded in these sacred books, the explanation of which therefore belonged to the priests.
It was otherwise in cases and doubts of fact, or purely civil matters, namely those which had to be resolved not from the law of God, but from natural law or positive human and rational law; for in these it was not necessary to consult the priests (although they could, and often in fact did consult them), but rather wise men, or secular judges and rulers, such as Othniel, Gideon, Jephthah, etc.
Hence it follows that by "judge" here is understood either the high priest, as Vatablus holds, or his vicar, as Abulensis holds; or rather (as is gathered from verse 12) the secular judge, say Cajetan, Lyranus, Sigonius, and Oleaster, who was obliged to follow the judgment of the priests and the high priest, and was only its approver and executor: hence it is said here jointly: "You shall come to the priests and to the judge," as if the judgment of the priests and the judge were one and the same; and because otherwise the judge could have disagreed with the sentence of the priests, and thus the litigants could have followed the judge's sentence, leaving aside the sentence of the priests and the high priest, which is however forbidden here. Again, if the high priest and the judge disagreed between themselves, which was easy and likely, the case could not have been settled and decided. King Jehoshaphat joined such lay judges, namely heads of families, to the priests in judging, as is evident from II Chronicles XIX, 8.
I except Samuel, and any others who were simultaneously judges and prophets. For they governed and judged the people by the gift of prophecy, and therefore did not need the counsel of the priests.
The Sanhedrin
Hence the Hebrews refer this verse to the council of the Sanhedrin, which was the supreme council, like a parliament, and judged concerning the king, the law, and the prophet, and to it was the final appeal. Moreover, the Sanhedrin consisted of seventy men, who were chosen both from the priests and from the chief men of each tribe, as if by "the judge" here is understood judges, as the Chaldean translates, meaning: You shall come to the priests and to the judges, that is, to the council of the Sanhedrin, in which are priests and secular judges, over all of whom the high priest presides. See Sigonius, book VI of the Republic of the Hebrews, chapter VII.
Verse 10: Act According to Their Word
10. AND YOU SHALL DO WHATEVER THOSE WHO PRESIDE OVER THE PLACE WHICH THE LORD HAS CHOSEN SHALL SAY. -- In Hebrew: and you shall act according to the word which they shall announce to you from that place which the Lord shall choose. Cajetan takes this not as if the law here commands consulting the oracle of God, residing in the propitiatory, in ambiguous cases. But the following words indicate that these things pertain not to the oracle, but to the knowledge and interpretation of the priests; for it follows: "And they shall teach you according to His law." I acknowledge, however, that if the high priests could not resolve these doubts from the law and from their own knowledge, they had recourse to and consulted the oracle of God, as is evident from Numbers XXVII, 21.
Verses 10-11: Obedience to Priestly Judgment
10 and 11. AND THEY SHALL TEACH YOU ACCORDING TO HIS LAW. -- Not as if one should acquiesce in the judgment of the priests on the condition that it seems to the litigant or anyone else to be according to the law of God: for in that case their judgment would be useless and void, and God would command in vain that recourse be had to them. For the condemned party could always have objected that they did not judge according to the law, and could have appealed from them to the law itself, and consequently a further judge and censor would have to be appointed to judge whether the priests had judged correctly according to the law or not. Again, it could be doubted whether this censor had given a true judgment, and consequently that judgment would need to be examined again by another, and this again by another, and this yet again by still another and another; and so there would be here an appeal and a progression to infinity, and cases would remain undecided, and lawsuits would be eternal and unending.
Therefore these words must be taken assertively, meaning: Subjects must acquiesce, and presuppose that the judgment of the priests and the high priest was given according to the law of God; for, as Malachi says, chapter II, verse 7: "The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law from his mouth, because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts;" understand, unless the contrary is manifestly evident, namely that the high priest expressly judges against the law and perverts the law; for then one was to obey not him, but the law of God. This meaning is evident from the Hebrew, the Chaldean, and the Septuagint, which read: You shall do what they teach you according to the law (that is, according to the law, from the law) which they teach you, and according to the judgment which they declare to you, you shall do.
Verse 12: Penalty for Disobedience
12. REFUSING TO OBEY THE AUTHORITY OF THE PRIEST (HIGH PRIEST), WHO AT THAT TIME MINISTERS TO THE LORD -- who, namely, at that time exercises the pontificate.
BY THE DECREE OF THE JUDGE HE SHALL DIE. -- For "by" (ex), correct to "and" (et), as the Roman editions correct it; the Hebrew, Chaldean, and Greek, however, have "or" (aut) for "and," meaning: He who refuses to obey the authority of the high priest, or the decree of the judge, shall die. I say therefore that the "or" which is in the Hebrew should be taken for "and," both here and elsewhere, as in Proverbs XXX, 31; Leviticus IV, 23 and 28; Numbers XXV, 6. For these words correspond and must be referred to verse 9: for those whom He there commands to be approached, here He commands to be heard and obeyed; verse 9 reads: "You shall come to the priests and to the judge," where all Hebrew, Greek, and Latin manuscripts have "and," not "or": therefore the "or" which is here in the Hebrew should likewise be taken for "and," meaning: He who refuses to obey the decree of the high priest or the judge shall die; for the judgment of the high priest and the judge was the same, either because the high priest and the judge were the same person at that time, as Vatablus and Abulensis hold; or because the secular judge was obliged to conform his sentence to the sentence and decree of the priests and the high priest, and was bound to follow and execute it, as I said at verse 9.
Verse 15: From Among Your Brothers
15. FROM AMONG YOUR BROTHERS -- namely from your own nation, from the Hebrews.
Verse 16: He Shall Not Multiply Horses
16. HE SHALL NOT MULTIPLY HORSES FOR HIMSELF -- both lest in war he trust in the multitude and strength of horses, because "the horse is a deceitful thing for safety, and in the abundance of its strength it shall not be saved," Psalm XXXII; and lest he be lifted up in pride and proceed with great pomp and display, and so wish to lord it over the people, and impose heavy burdens and taxes on them to sustain his pomp, as Solomon did and sinned, who had 40,000 horses in his stables, and 12,000 chariots and horsemen. Hence Basil. Therefore the pious kings and princes of the Jews in wars used mostly infantry and hardly any cavalry, as is evident in the Maccabees: but the impious kings used large cavalry, as is evident concerning Joram, II Chronicles chapter XXI, verse 9.
Not Lead the People Back to Egypt
NOR SHALL HE LEAD THE PEOPLE BACK TO EGYPT, BEING LIFTED UP BY THE NUMBER OF HIS CAVALRY -- namely, to wage war against the Egyptians and wish to occupy Egypt. The Hebrew reads: he shall not cause the people to return to Egypt in order to multiply horses, that is, to buy many horses for himself in Egypt, says Vatablus, Cajetan, and others. But for this it was not necessary to lead the people back to Egypt; it would have sufficed to send two or three merchants there to buy horses; therefore our Translator skillfully took "in order to multiply horses" as meaning: So that, multiplying horses and being lifted up and made proud by the number of his cavalry, he would dare to invade Egypt, and thus lead the people back there.
Hence some think the use of horses was forbidden to the Jews; hence Oriolanus in his notes on the Book of Maccabees thinks the Jews never used horses, but only donkeys. But it is truer that not horses themselves, but only an abundance of horses, was forbidden to the Jews, both here and in Psalm LXXV, 7, and Isaiah II, 8, as St. Jerome and Procopius expressly teach there.
Plato and Equestrian Pride
We read of Plato, in his apophthegms, that when he had once mounted a horse, he immediately dismounted, saying he feared lest he be seized by hippotyphy, that is, equestrian pride. For the horse is a proud animal, and riding has something lofty and magnificent about it. For this reason of pride, therefore, God did not want the king of His people to multiply horses; but rather to say with David, Psalm XIX, 8: "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God."
The Lord Commanded Not to Return
ESPECIALLY SINCE THE LORD COMMANDED YOU NEVER TO RETURN BY THE SAME WAY. -- When and where the Lord commanded this, is nowhere written. But He commanded that they not return by the same way, namely that which leads to Egypt, partly because the Hebrews were prone to the vices and customs of the Egyptians; partly lest, seeing Egypt fertile from the flooding of the Nile, they should make light of the liberation of God, who had brought them out of that most wretched slavery.
Verse 17: Not Many Wives
17. HE SHALL NOT HAVE VERY MANY WIVES, WHO MAY ALLURE HIS HEART. -- In Hebrew: so that his heart may not turn away, namely from the law of God. Hence we understand, says St. Augustine, Question XXVI, and Rabanus, that at that time it was permitted to kings to have more wives than one, as David had; but not many, as Solomon had, and this lest by multiplying them they should eventually come to foreign women, who would lead them to idols, as happened to Solomon. Secondly, lest the people, imitating their kings, should pour themselves into luxury and lusts; for the whole world is shaped by the king's example, and as Pindar says: The king is the character and morals of all. And another: The king is the heart of the people.
Thus when the pious Convallus reigned among the Scots, religion and probity wonderfully flourished among them: so much so that St. Columban crossed from Ireland to Scotland to see this, and on returning, when asked what miracles he had seen there, replied: "I saw one worth all the rest, namely King Convallus, who in the midst of pleasures and enticements to sin contends with monks and bishops in holiness; for which reason he is so revered by his people that they dare neither injure others nor speak any ill of the king himself. Hence it has come about that the king's virtue restrains the fierce people from their usual crimes and seditions more than his authority does." So reports Hector Boece, History of Scotland, book IX.
Alphonsus, King of Aragon, when his courtiers were debating about the duties of kings and about the happiness of kings and kingdoms, said: St. Augustine expressed it best in these words: "Kings and kingdoms shall be happy if, first, they rule justly; secondly, if amid the tongues of those who honor them loftily and the services of those who salute them too humbly, they are not lifted up, but remember that they are men; thirdly, if they make their power the servant of God's majesty for the greatest extension of His worship; fourthly, if they fear, love, and worship God; fifthly, if they love that kingdom more where they do not fear to have companions; sixthly, if they are slow to punish and easy to forgive; seventhly, if they exercise punishment out of the necessity of governing and protecting the state, not to satisfy the hatreds of enmities; eighthly, if they grant pardon not to ensure impunity for iniquity, but in hope of correction; ninthly, if they compensate what they are often compelled to decree harshly with the gentleness of mercy and the generosity of benefits; tenthly, if their chastity is all the more restrained the freer it could be; eleventhly, if they prefer to rule their passions rather than any nations; twelfthly, if they do all these things not out of the zeal for vain glory but out of love for eternal happiness; thirteenthly, if they do not neglect to offer to their true God the sacrifice of humility, compassion, and prayer for their sins. Such Christian kings and emperors we shall say are happy, and their kingdoms likewise." So Panormitanus in the Life of Alphonsus.
Nor Immense Amounts of Gold
NOR IMMENSE AMOUNTS OF SILVER AND GOLD. -- Lest the king out of greed for gold and wealth plunder his subjects, and lest from wealth he pour himself into pride and luxury: in which Solomon also sinned, pressing the people with excessive taxes for his own luxury, III Kings XII, 4. Let kings hear him confessing his vanity: "I heaped up silver and gold for myself, and the wealth of kings and provinces," etc. "and when I turned to all things that my hands had made, and to the labors in which I had vainly toiled, I saw in all things vanity and affliction of spirit, and nothing lasting under the sun." Ecclesiastes II, 8 and 11.
The Emperor Trajan called his treasury a spleen, because its excessive growth is the detriment of the subjects and the people from whom the money of the treasury is exacted: for when the spleen grows and swells, the other limbs and members waste away.
Verse 18: Copy of the Deuteronomy
18. HE SHALL WRITE (have written) FOR HIMSELF THE DEUTERONOMY, etc. AND HE SHALL READ IT ALL THE DAYS OF HIS LIFE. -- Not that he is obliged to read it continuously or daily; but let him read it often enough that he remains mindful of what is written in Deuteronomy.
Verse 19: That He May Learn to Fear the Lord
19. THAT HE MAY LEARN TO FEAR THE LORD. -- For Deuteronomy inculcates this fear of God more than Exodus or Leviticus; for Deuteronomy is the ardent and continuous discourse of Moses, urging the Hebrews to the worship of God. So Abulensis.
Let princes note this as well. The kings of Judah sinned in this matter, and therefore lost their kingdom: hence Hilkiah, finding the discarded Deuteronomy in a corner, brought it to Josiah, who received it with great devotion, read and fulfilled it, and thus restored the Hebrew commonwealth together with religion, as is evident from IV Kings XXII and following.
On the contrary, Jeroboam, Baasha, Jehu, and other kings of Israel soon lost the empire they had received from God because of neglect of true religion, and did not extend their dynasty beyond the third or fourth heir. So the Emperor Constantine used to say: "The dignity and greatness of the Roman Empire has its source and root in true piety."
Thus David describes the image of a pious and good prince, Psalm LXXI and CI. Likewise Sacred Scripture in David, II Kings VII, in Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah in the Books of Kings. Truly remarkable was the saying of the Emperor Constantine, who used to say to the bishops of his age: "You have been appointed bishops within the Church; I have been appointed by God as bishop outside the Church," as Eusebius reports, book IV of his Life, chapter XXIV. And his father, the Emperor Constantius, appointed as his bodyguards and guardians of the kingdom those Christians who had always freely professed their faith, ejecting all apostates and profane persons, saying that such men should be counted among his chief and trusted friends, and esteemed more highly than great treasures. So Eusebius, book I of the Life of Constantine, chapter XI.
Finally, the Emperor Justin, creating Tiberius as Caesar and investing him with the purple, said to him: "Honor God and His Church, once your mistress and ruler, but now your mother; know who you were before and who you have become today: love the poor above all, and let almsgiving never be lacking in your court." So Nicephorus, book XVII, chapter XL.
Verse 20: Nor Be Lifted Up in Pride
20. NOR SHALL HIS HEART BE LIFTED UP IN PRIDE ABOVE HIS BROTHERS -- namely above his nation, above the Hebrews, meaning: The Hebrews by nation and race are brothers of the king: therefore let the king not arrogantly exalt himself above them, so as to think that they are bound by the laws of Deuteronomy but he is above them; hence it follows: "Nor shall he turn to the right or the left," namely from the commandment, as the Hebrew reads; but let him walk in the straight way of the law: and so he will obtain from God the reward, "that he may reign a long time, he and his sons." Such a king and exemplar of kings was Jehoshaphat, of whom Damascene in the Life of Barlaam and Josaphat writes thus: "He held this as established, that of all royal duties the first and most excellent is to instruct men in the fear of God and the practice of justice; which he himself also did, preparing himself to control by his authority the passions of the soul, admonishing his subjects, and like the best helmsman diligently holding the tiller of justice. For this is finally the law and rule of a true kingdom, namely to rule over pleasures and master them, as he himself also did. For he did not in any way exalt himself on account of the nobility of his ancestors or the royal glory in which he lived (since we all have a common ancestor of clay, and are of the same earth, poor and rich alike), but continually casting his mind into the abyss of humility, and embracing in thought and meditation the future blessedness, he considered himself here a tenant: but he judged those things to be his own which he would enjoy after the pilgrimage of this life."
Pagan Wisdom on Kingship
Hear also the pagans. Cato said, "The worst ruler is one who cannot rule himself." And Agesilaus boasted that no one surpassed him in toil, and that he gave commands to himself more than to his subjects. Whenever he wanted something done quickly by his soldiers, he was the first to do it himself in the sight of all. The same Agesilaus, learning that the people of Thasos had decreed temples and divine honors for him on account of benefits he had rendered them, asked their ambassadors whether their city had the power to turn men into gods; when they affirmed it: "Come now, he said, first make yourselves gods; when that is done, I will believe you that I too can be changed into a god by you." Dying, he ordered that no image or monument be made of him: "For if anything, he said, has been done well by me, that will be my monument; but if not, not even all the statues, which are the works of ignoble men, will win me a name." So Plutarch in the Laconian Sayings.
Seneca beautifully says, Tragedy 2: Wealth does not make a king, nor the color of Tyrian robes: a king is he who has laid aside fears and the evils of a fierce heart. Whom no uncontrolled ambition and never-stable favor of the headlong mob can move: who, placed in a safe position, sees all things below him. And Horace, Ode 2, book II: More widely will you reign by taming a greedy spirit, than if you joined Libya to distant Cadiz, and both Carthaginians served one master.
"A good and holy prince is the image of God, the living likeness of God on earth," says Menander. Nerva was so good a prince that he said he had done nothing that would prevent him from living safely as a private citizen after laying down his power, says Dio. Hence Solon used to say: "Command, when first you have learned to obey. For when you have learned to be ruled, you will know how to rule." Agesilaus, king of the Lacedaemonians, used to say that he held the leadership not for himself, but for the state and its allies and friends. Agathon said: A prince should remember, first, that he rules over men; second, that he rules according to laws; third, that he will not always rule.
Cyrus believed that no one was fit to rule except one who was better than his subjects, says Xenophon, book VIII of the Cyropaedia. The same said that a good prince and magistrate is a seeing law: since he can see and punish the one who neglects the law. Let princes note that saying of Seneca, Tragedy 3: "He who wishes to be loved, let him reign with a gentle hand." And again that of Ammianus Marcellinus, book XXX: "For one who governs an empire, all excesses, like steep precipices, are to be avoided."
"Vespasian, says Tacitus, book II, was accustomed energetically to march at the head of the army, choose the site for camps, resist the enemy day and night by counsel and, if the situation demanded, by force, eating whatever came to hand, in clothing and appearance hardly differing from a common soldier: in short, had avarice been absent, he was equal to the generals of old."
"It is the precept of the Indian sages that the more a prince is exalted by nature, the more kindly he should show himself to those below him, and so he will be most beloved by the people," says Nicephorus Gregoras, book VI of his History.