TREATISE ON CITY GOVERNMENT
ACCORDING TO BARTOLUS OF SASSOFERRATO
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Bartolo da Sassoferrato (1314-57) was an
internationally renowned jurist of the Middle
Ages. Born in Sassoferrato, he became a doctor
at 21 in Bologna, where he taught; he later
taught in Pisa from 1339 to 1343 and in Perugia
from 1343 to his death. In 1355, he participated
in an embassy to the emperor Charles IV in
Pisa, upon which occasion Charles IV granted
him a number of insign honors and a coat
of arms. His reputation and influence lasted
for two centuries at least, and he was considered
the preeminent civil law jurist of Western
Europe. Based on the text of Diego Quaglioni,
"Per una edizione critica e un commento
moderno del Tractatus de Regimine civitatis"
di Bartolo da Sassoferrato," Pensiero
Politico 9 (1976). © Trans. Steve Lane [slane@tezcat.com]
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1. The first sort of government there
was
in the city of Rome, after the expulsion
of the kings, was "for the people,"
which Aristotle calls "political."
A democracy is the name of a government
of
those who are ruling for their own
advantage,
in opposition to the rich, or to any
people.
2. The second kind of government in
the city
of Rome was by the senators, and this
sort
of government is good if it tends toward
the common good, which Aristotle calls
a
government of the elders.
Oligarchy is called by Aristotle the
reign
of a few rich people who have no interest
in the common good.
3. The third sort of government was
government
by one man. He is called a lord if
he inclines
to a good and common end, a tyrant
if he
is inclined to pursue bad or [merely]
personal
ends.
4. There are six types of government,
three
good, three bad.
5. The seventh kind of government now
rules
in the city of Rome, and is called
a monstrous
government. (Also number 28)
6. It pertains to the jurist to investigate
which sort of government is better.
7. The three forms of good government.
8. Monarchy, that is, the governance
of one
king, is the best sort of government.
9. Three things are required of any
ruler,
namely perfect reason, right intention,
and
perfect stability.
10. Not every sort of one-man rule
is called
the rule of a king.
11. Whether it is good to be ruled
by kings.
(And no. 13)
12. What a king may demand from his
subjects.
14. A consideration of what may happen
when
that which is being discussed tends
naturally
toward this.
15. A threefold division of populaces,
because
some cities are large, some larger
still,
some the largest of all.
16. A large city, in the first degree
of
magnitude, is better off with a government
"for the people" than it
is being
ruled by a few people, or by only one.
17. The city of Siena was ruled by
rich nobles
for eighty years, and that government
was
expelled by the "populars"
in the
time of king Charles the Fourth.
18. Government "for the people"
should be called a government of God
rather
than of men.
Charles the Fourth approved of the
government
"for the people."
19. [Both] magnates and the most wretched
are excluded from a government "for
the people."
20. A larger city, according to the
scale
of magnitude, is better ruled by a
few good
rich men, rather then by the populace,
or
by one person.
The city of Venice and the city of
Florence
are among the "larger" cities,
and are ruled by a few of the wealthy.
21. A city accustomed to being ruled
in a
certain way should be governed in that
way.
22. The largest cities or peoples are
best
ruled by a single king.
23. A government which results from
election
is more divine than one which results
from
succession.
24. It is dangerous to have a king
of another
nation.
All Christians are called brothers.
25. The Roman empire, after it was
separated
from the Italians, grew ever weaker.
26. Small populaces cannot be governed
in
themselves, unless they submit or adhere
to another people.
27. A tyrant is the worst of all of
the forms
of government.
28. The rule of several bad men is
not so
evil as the rule of a single tyrant;
and
how this may be determined.
29. The rule of several bad men does
not
last long, and easily decays to the
rule
of a single tyrant.
Because this is the last part of the
Tiber,
and thus in the city of Rome, which
is the
head of the world, let us therefore
examine
some things concerning the ways of
ruling
a city. And this inquiry is twofold:
in the
first place an inquiry into ways of
ruling
as far as the laws are concerned, which
may
concern either the written or the unwritten
law,[1] and this is an inquiry I will
not
pursue, since this is treated in various
ways in various [other] places. In
the second
place an inquiry into ways of ruling
as far
as concerns the persons of the rulers,
and
this deserves some sort of examination.
In
the first place let us see in how many
ways
a city may be ruled. In the second
place,
which ways are better, which worse.
In the
third place let us examine some of
the doubts
which arise about these matters in
the course
of daily events.
In the first place, in how many ways
a city
may be ruled, three forms of good government
can be garnered from our laws, and
three
which are contrary to them. Aristotle
discusses
a number of these forms quite clearly
in
the third book of his Politics and
there
he supplies his own names for those
forms;[2]
we will both make mention of those
names
and also insert names more fitting
for the
present time.
1 In the city of Rome, when the kings
had
been expelled, there were three forms
of
government.[3] The first by the people:[4]
Aristotle called this sort of government
policratia or "political,"
and
we will call it a government "for
the
people," when the government is
a good
one, [that is] when the rulers chiefly
consider
the common good of all according to
[each
person's] state.
But if this multitude looks to its
own good,
and to oppose the rich, or any gens,
this
is a bad government and Aristotle describes
it with the Greek word democratia:
we call
it a perverse populace. We have these
two
forms of government [in the laws][5],
where,
when honors and rewards are divided
[in society]
according to the appropriate degrees,
we
call it a good or worthy government;
when
these are divided unequally, such that
some
are burdened, others treated lightly,
it
is called a bad government, through
which
the republic is destroyed.
2 The second form of government in
the city
of Rome was by the senators, and thus
by
a few wealthy men who were good and
prudent.[6]
And if these few incline to the common
good
their lordship [principatus] is good
and
is called by Aristotle a government
of the
elders; the more common name is the
one I
used earlier, namely a lordship or
government
of the good. And if these few men do
not
incline to the common good, but are
merely
a few rich and powerful men oppressing
others,
eager for their own gain, then the
government
is a bad one, and is called by Aristotle
oligarchy, which is the same as a lordship
of the rich or a government of the
bad: a
name which is fairly common.[7]
3 The third form of government is that
of
one person,[8] and this according to
Aristotle
is called kingship. If this person
is a universal
lord, we call this form of government
an
empire [imperium]; if the rulership
is particular,
it is sometimes called kingship, sometimes
a duchy, mark or county.[9] A duchy
is what
we commonly call the rule of a natural
lord,
if this lord works for a good and common
purpose. If he works for a bad end,
and for
his own advantage, according to Aristotle
he is called a tyrant, and is so called
by
the laws and customs.[10]
4 We have therefore six forms of government,
three good, three bad, each one called
by
its own name; in truth, every bad kingship
can be called in common parlance a
tyranny,
namely the tyranny of the people, the
tyranny
of certain people, and the tyranny
of one
person.
5 There is a seventh form of government,
the worst, which now exists in the
city of
Rome; where there are many tyrants
in different
areas, so strong that none can overcome
the
others. There is also a common government
over the whole city, so weak that it
can
do nothing against any of those tyrants,
nor against any of their adherents
except
insofar as they are willing to suffer
it.
This sort of government Aristotle does
not
treat, and rightly so, for it is a
monstrous
thing. What is one to think, seeing
a single
body with a weak head, and many other
heads
stronger than that one, contesting
among
themselves? Certainly this thing would
be
a monster. Therefore it is called a
monstrous
government. It comes about through
divine
permission, to show how far is fallen
every
glory of the world. The city of Rome,
the
head of customs, the head of polities,
has
fallen into such monstrosity in its
government
that it can truly be said that it is
no government
at all, and has not even the form of
a government.[11]
6 In the second place we must see which
is
a better form of government. This inquiry
is a necessary one for jurists, since
universal
lords, when they consider the reformation
of a city, either consult jurists or
entrust
the case to them; or, when the jurists
are
in session, an argument concerning
city government
may be brought before them. Therefore
an
inquiry as to which is the better form
of
government is necessary, a subject
treated
by Aristotle in the third book of the
7 Politics; but Aegidius Romanus, of
the
order of St. Augustine, who was a great
philosopher
and a master in theology, treats this
more
clearly in the book he wrote on the
government
of princes. I will therefore use his
opinions
and his arguments, in his own words,
but
I will not use the words of Aristotle,
for
they are unknown to the jurists to
whom I
address myself; but I will use his
arguments
and test them according to the laws,
and
afterwards I will relate my own opinion
of
the matter.
So: this Aegidius says that there are
three
good forms of government, as was mentioned
above. The first is a form for ruling
[by]
the multitude, or "for the people,"
and it is good if it tends toward this
end.
The second form of government is better,
namely the rule of a few.
8 The third form of government is best,
namely
monarchy, or the government of one
king;[12]
this fact, namely that the rule of
one person
is the best lordship, he demonstrates
by
four reasons,[13] from which he concludes
these two things, the first being:
the peace
and union of the citizens should be
the final
intention of the ruler.[14] But this
peace
and unity can be better brought about
and
observed if it is overseen by one,
than if
it is overseen by several: therefore
it is
better to be ruled by one person. This
is
proved in this way: in a government
of several
people there can be no peace except
insofar
as these several are of one will, which
is
clear since if they disagree, their
action
is impeded by their competition.[15]
But
the government of several is good as
regards
its unity; therefore the good government
of this unity is much better when it
is brought
about through one person. Secondly
this is
proved in this way, since through this
the
city and republic is made stronger,
which
is proved thusly: the more strength
is united,
the stronger it is in comparison to
its being
dispersed among many.[16] If therefore
the
whole strength of the city were gathered
into one person it would be more effective,
and will better be able to be governed
by
that prince, on account of his greater
strength.[17]
In the third place an art or artifice
is
better insofar as it imitates nature;[18]
but the whole city is a single person
and
a single artificial and imagined man.[19]
But in a natural man we see one head
and
many members; therefore if a city is
ruled
thus it is ruled better, because it
imitates
nature more closely. On this see [X.
1.31.14]
and this is determined in Gratian [ii,
c.
7, q. 1.41], where bees, and many other
creatures
lacking reason, set up a king for themselves.
In the fourth place Aegidius says that
this
is established through experience,
since
he says he sees that provinces which
are
not governed by one king are in poverty,
and do not enjoy peace, but rather
are beset
by strife and wars. Those which are
under
a king do not know wars, rejoice in
peace,
flourish in abundance.[20] From these
things
Aegidius concludes that the government
of
the people or multitude, which tends
to a
single end, is good, but that the government
of a few is better, since it has a
measure
of unity. Monarchy though, of the rule
of
single king, is best, because a perfect
unity
is found therein.[21]
But against the aforementioned arguments
the same Aegidius proposes other arguments,
which he draws from the sayings of
Aristotle,
and
9 attempts to respond to them.[22]
I will
pass on these arguments, testing them
by
the laws. I will preface my examination
of
these arguments with the statement
that three
things are required in anyone who rules
well.
The first is a perfect discerning reason,
so that he may know how to separate
the just
from the unjust, the licit from the
illicit.[23]
Second, he must have right intention.
Third,
he must have a perfect stability. These
things
are proven by the definition of justice,
since it is said that justice is a
constant
and perpetual will which renders to
each
one his due.[24] from these three things
there are three arguments against the
aforementioned
arguments. The first is this: the more
people
there are, the more things they see,
and
in them there is a more perceptive
and discerning
reason than in one person:[25] therefore,
in this respect, it is better to be
ruled
by many. The second is this: the ruler
has
right intention when he looks more
to the
public good than to his own.[26] But
if the
multitude is in command, assuming that
they
look to their own good, they nonetheless
withdraw from the common good no further,
in so doing, than if one person were
ruling
and were acting for his personal good:
therefore
it is better to be ruled by many. [27]
Thirdly,
the ruler must have a perfect stability
so
that he may on no account be corrupted:
because,
as the law says, the will must be constant,
and perpetual. But the multitude is
born
and is corrupted with more difficulty
than
is a single person.[28]. Therefore
it is
better to be ruled by many people.[29]
Responding to these arguments he says
that
a single king or prince should have
with
him many counselors and powerful men,
and
therefore he will see things as if
he were
many, nor will he easily be able to
be corrupted,
unless his entire council is corrupted.
But
if this king were
10 to follow his own head he would
not be
a king, but a tyrant. It would not
be good
for such a person to rule, so says
Aegidius.[30]
I do not put forward these arguments
to be
understood simply, and for that reason,
speaking
in the manner of jurists on behalf
of the
aforementioned arguments I say at the
beginning
that not every government of that one
person
is the government of a king. For sometimes
there is one who rules, and that one
is only
a judge, such as the praesides provinciarum
and the proconsuls.[31] There are also
podestà
and civic rectors.[32] It falls to
these
people to judge according to the law,
and
they hold a regal position, namely
that which
pretains to ministers, but regalian
powers
do not pertain to them, but rather
to the
cities which they rule, or to some
other
superior, or to the fisc.[33] through
judges
like these God ruled the Jewish people
for
a long time,[34] as we can see throughout
the Jewish book. Whenever one person
rules
a city or a province, and makes laws
as he
wishes, all things pertain to him,
and this
is called the rule of a king.[35]
11 But let us see what is the rightness
[ius]
of this kingship, so that we may thus
see
whether it is good to be ruled by kings.
Of this the Lord says, through the
prophet
Samuel, I Kings 8:[36] "This shall
be
the law of the king who will rule over
you:
he shall take your sons and appoint
them
to his chariots, and to be his horsemen
and
to run before his chariots, and he
shall
appoint for himself tribunes and centurions
and tillers of his fields. He will
take your
daughters to be perfumers and cooks
and bakers,
and he shall take your finest fields
and
vineyards and olive-groves and give
them
to his servants. He will take the tenth
of
your crops and vines, to give to his
eunuchs
and his servants. He will take the
best of
your servants and maids and your asses
and
the best of your youth and put them
to work
for him. He shall take the tenth of
your
flocks and you shall be servants to
him"
etc.
Here are the words of God, according
to which
it seems worst of all to be ruled by
kings,
because they bring so much ill upon
their
subjects and (what is worse) reduces
them
to slavery, which is like death.[37]
But these words are explained by the
holy
doctors in the following way, namely
that
all of these things should not be understood
to be permitted to the king, but only
those
things which are set out above, since
the
king does these things when he begins
to
become a tyrant, which happens easily.[38]
And because this was going to happen
to them,
therefore Samuel made the following
prediction,
"This shall be the law of the
king who
will rule over you," as if to
say: let
this not be permitted to every king,
but
rather to the one who is going to rule
over
you, since he will usurp this right
for himself.
It was displeasing to God that a king
should
have been made at all, as the chapter
[of
Scripture] says. That this is true
appears
in what one reads in Deuteronomy 17
[16-20],
where it is taught what a good and
right
king ought to do.
And the Lord said these things concerning
the future king: "When he has
been established
he shall not multiply horses for himself,
nor shall he lead his people into Egypt
to
swell the ranks of his horsemen, since
the
Lord has said to you that you shall
not return
that way again, he shall not have many
wives
to beguile his soul, nor great masses
of
gold and silver. After he sits upon
his throne
he shall copy out for himself the Deuteronomy
of this law in a book, taking his example
from the priests of the Levite tribe,
and
he shall keep it with him and read
from it
all the days of his life, that he may
learn
to fear the Lord his God, to keep His
words
and ceremonies which are laid down
in the
laws, that his heart not be lifted
up in
pride against his brothers, that he
turn
aside neither to the right nor to the
left.
And he shall rule for a long time,
as will
his son, in Israel." These are
the words
of God which we should examine somehow.
For
he says "when he has been established."
From this it is conceded that one must
be
made king by another, rather than assuming
the kingship on one's own authority:
in this
case one would not be a king, but a
tyrant,
as we have said above. Then he says
"he
shall not multiply horses for himself:"
"to multiply" is to have
more than
is sufficient for one's needs. "Nor
shall he lead his people into Egypt"
etc.: these words can be taken literally
as they stand, namely that the king
of the
Jews ought never to go forth to occupy
the
land of Egypt. They can also be understood
allegorically, as though He were saying:
let the king not lead his people into
slavery,
which slavery is represented by Egypt,
where
that people was being held in captivity.
With these words, therefore, He prohibits
burdening the people with personal
burdens,
which are a sort of slavery. "He
shall
not have many wives:" above he
forbade
empty glory, here he forbids luxury
to the
king. for luxury separates the king's
soul
from true judgement, not only toward
men,
but toward God, as befell in the case
of
Solomon, who became an idolator as
is read
in 3 Kings 11.[39] "Nor great
masses
of gold and silver:" here He prohibits
avarice. Inasmuch as through excessive
ceremony
a great deal of money is expended,
and through
this the people are burdened, so also
through
avarice a great deal is extorted from
the
people. After He has above prohibited
certain
things from being done, he then orders
that
certain things be done: "he shall
write
out for himself the Deuteronomy"
of
this law, this is interpreted by Isidore
as a second law, and it is the image
[figura]
of the evangelic law.[40] The king
must therefore
be faithful and catholic.[41] "Taking
his example from the priests of the
Levite
tribe:" in those priests holy
mother
Church is figured, from which every
king
must take the exemplar of the Christian
law.
"Nor let his heart be lifted up
in pride:"
here He goes back in order to prohibit
something
again, namely that pride of the heart
which
is the root of all evils. "Against
his
brothers:" it is plain, therefore,
that
those who are subjects are not the
king's
slaves, but his brothers, and thus
what the
preceding authority said concerned
not the
true king, but the tyrant. "That
he
turn aside neither to the right nor
to the
left," it is as if He said: let
his
judgement be right, neither out of
love nor
out of hatred, as if He had said: let
him
be just. The good king must therefore
be
faithful, Christian, just, neither
overweening
nor one who burdens his people, no
lover
of luxury, neither greedy nor proud.
The king must also do other things
which
are laid down by Gratian.[42]
12 But the things put forward there
are adapted
to the foregoing statements: although
it
is there established what the king
should
do and how he should be in himself,
it is
not there established what he may exact
from
his subjects. This is my answer: he
may exact
expenses which are appropriate for
the royal
majesty. But we have this written expressly
[in the feudal laws], where it is said
that
all tributes, public rents [vectigalia]
and
public taxes [census], which are named
there
explicitly, pertain to the king; and
that
it also pertains to the king to impose
taxes
[collectas] out of necessity, as is
written
there, and it is also shown by the
law of
the Digests that kings have every power.[43]
13 Having seen what the rights of a
king
are, let us return to the question
whether
it is useful for a city or a people
to be
ruled by a king; insofar as that king
is
a good one according to the above conditions,
the best rule is the rule of a king,
for
the reasons discussed above. And this
is
how I understand the opinion of Aristotle
and of Aegidius.
14 If we then consider the things which
may
come about, since a king sometimes
turns
into a tyrant, either he or his descendants,
then I say we must consider what can
happen
when the situation being examined has
a natural
and likely tendency toward this end.[44]
15 Having said this I will make a three-fold
division of cities or of populaces;
for one
may have a large city or a people [gens],
in the first degree of magnitude, a
city
or people which is larger and hence
in the
second degree of magnitude, or a city
or
people of the largest sort, and hence
in
the third degree of magnitude.
16 If we talk about a large city or
populace,
in the first degree, then I will say
that
it not suitable to that populace to
be ruled
by a king. This is shown in the first
place
by a text, because, when the city of
Rome
was in the first degree of magnitude
it expelled
the kings, who had fallen into tyranny.[45]
And it is also proved by reason, since
it
is in the nature of kings to be magnificent
in making great expenditures:[46] but
the
royal revenues of a populace large
only in
the first degree are not going to be
enough
for royal expenses, and so the king
will
have to extort them from his subjects,
and
thus he will become a tyrant. The situation
of such a king tends very likely toward
tyranny,
and hence this is not a good form of
government,
if you consider how the situation is
likely
to turn out. This is the reason, because
it displeases God when a people seeks
a king,
as in I Kings.[47] Nor is it useful
to such
a populace to be ruled by a few people,
as,
for example, by the city's rich men.
For
if it happens that in these cities
the rich
are few in number, one of two things
will
happen: the populace may well be offended
by the rule of these few now matter
how well
the populace is ruled, as occurred
in the
city of Siena. There was for about
eighty
years a certain group of rich men who
governed
the city wisely and well, but nevertheless,
since the multitude of the populace
was angry
with them, they had to hold on by armed
force.
This group was thrown out upon the
arrival
of Charles IV, most illustrious emperor
of
the Romans, who was ruling at that
time.
The deed of this prince shows that
this sort
of government is not good in cities
of this
type.
Another inappropriate thing can follow
from
this, because those few people, as
it naturally
happens, could be divided among themselves,
from which fact rumors, plots, fires
and
civil wars run round the cities, as
we often
see in the city of Pisa. It is therefore
fitting for that populace which is
in the
first degree of magnitude to be ruled
by
the multitude, which is called a government
"for the people."[48] That
this
is a good form of government is clear,
because
in that time the city of Rome grew
greatly.[49]
It also is clear from the aforementioned
authority of the book of Kings: it
seems
more a government of God rather than
of
17 men. And we have seen this in the
city
of Perugia, which in this way is ruled
in
peace and grows in unity and flourishes,
and those who rule the city according
to
their offices are on guard against
no one,
but they themselves are guarded by
the people,
and it is often seen that something
will
be decided by the common counsel of
the city's
men that the wiser and more prudent
may think
to be a bad decision; but, as things
turn
out, the decision is seen to have been
an
excellent one.
18 This is so because it is a government
more of God than of men: the aforementioned
and most illustrious emperor commended
this
form of government, when I was in his
presence.[50]
This sort of government is so called
when
jurisdiction lies with the populace
or with
the multitude, not that the whole multitude
should rule at once, but that the government
should be committed to different people
over
time, according to the offices, and
according
to a cycle.[51] The
19 things I say concerning the multitude,
I understand to mean "excluding
the
lowest people."[52] One can also
exclude
from this government any magnates so
powerful
as to oppress others,[53] and we see
that
this is done. But in the above-mentioned
cities, if honors and rewards are distributed
according to the appropriate ranks,
the government
is good and looks toward a superior
reform.[54]
20 In the second place we need to inquire
about a larger populace or a people
in the
second degree of magnitude. It does
not suit
them to be ruled by one king, for the
previous
reasons, nor does it suit them to be
ruled
by the multitude: it would in fact
be extremely
difficult and dangerous to get such
a multitude
together. But it does suit these people
to
be ruled by a few, that is, by the
good and
rich men of the city; this is shown
expressly
[in the laws][55], where, when the
city of
Rome had grown, senators were created
and
all power was given to them. the city
of
Venice is ruled this way, as is the
city
of Florence. These cities I rank among
the
"larger" cities. In these
cities
the previous worries do not apply.
For although
they are said to be ruled by "a
few,"
I say that they are a few with respect
to
the multitude of [their own] citizens,
but
many with respect to other cities:
hence
they are many, since the multitude
does not
scorn to be ruled by them. Further,
since
they are many, they may not easily
be divided
among themselves, since many will remain
in the middle and sustain the city.
And the
Gloss speaks of this way of ruling
a city,
when the city has grown into the
21 second degree of magnitude.[56]
These
things are true, unless something else
appears
concerning the old way of ruling the
city.
It is possible for a populace or a
people
to become so accustomed to a certain
form
of government that it becomes a sort
of nature
to them, and they do not know how to
live
otherwise: then the old form of government
is to be preserved.[57]
22 In the third place we have to consider
the largest populace or people, which
is
in the third degree of magnitude. This
could
come about in a city which is "one
in
itself": but if it were a city
which
ruled over many other cities and provinces,
it would be better for that people
to be
ruled by one person. This is shown
[in the
laws],[58] where, when the Roman empire
had
grown greatly and taken over many provinces,
rulership devolved upon one person,
the princeps.
All of the above arguments of the aforementioned
brother Aegidius show this; this is
the point
at which counter arguments fail. In
such
a great multitude there will be of
necessity
many good men with whom it will befit
the
king to take counsel, people whom it
will
befit him to entrust with the duties
of justice.
We commonly see this in actual fact,
because
a people or populace is better ruled,
the
greater or more powerful the king who
rules
it. For this we have the authority
of holy
Scripture, as in Deuteronomy 17, where
the
Lord speaks thus: "When you have
entered
the land which the Lord God shall give
you
and possessed it, and have inherited
within
it, you shall say: 'I will set up for
myself
a king like those of the nations all
around.'
You will set up him whom the Lord your
God
chooses, out of the number of your
brothers,
nor shall you make a king from another
people,
who is not your brother." These
are
the words of the Lord. Concerning his
words:
"when you have entered and possessed
and inherited" etc., one can see
that
a small people is not going to have
a king:
but a large people, in an important
position
and ruling over many, [will have a
king],
as was said above. Concerning the words
"your
God shall elect," it is clear
that all
kings are chosen by God, either directly
or indirectly, or by electors with
the inspiration
of God. For the heart of the electors
is
in the hand of God, and he turns it
whither
he wishes.[59]
23 And from this you should note that
a government
[which is created] by election is more
divine
than [one which comes about] by succession.
For this reason succession is absolutely
abhorred where ecclesiastical goods
are concerned,[60]
and therefore the election of a prince
who
is a universal lord comes about through
election
by the princes and prelates, and it
does
not occur through succession.[61]
Now this is an empire [imperium] which
God
has constituted from the beginning,
and the
law warns us concerning these things.[62]
Particular kings, though, more often
are
set up by men.[63] In this case it
is permitted
that the government should be passed
on through
succession: this is the sense in which
Aegidius'
statements in his book on princely
government
should be taken.[64] He determined
that is
was better for this government to descend
by succession, for it should be transmitted,
like all other goods and rights; but
it is
otherwise in the case of universal
[governance],
for [such transmission] would be against
the canons and divine authority. Now,
from
His words "out of the number of
your
brothers" note that it is dangerous
to have a king of another nation. But,
you
will say, in that case, how was the
empire
of the Romans handed over [translatum]
to
the Germans, that is, the Teutons,
by the
Church?[65] My answer: all Christians
are
called our brothers, and so there was
no
contravention of the aforementioned
authority.
But it may not be transferred to a
man of
the Saracens, to a pagan or an infidel,
and
thereupon it follows that "you
shall
not make a king from another people,"
and on this account one needs to look
closely
at the person who is going to be crowned
emperor. Or you could explain the words
the
way Augustine does,[66] as the Gloss
says
in the same place "you may not:
that
is, you should not"[67] about
the king,
since the rulership of another
25 people is not preserved so faithfully.
And therefore the Roman empire, once
it was
separated from the Italians, grew ever
weaker
in our eyes: this could nevertheless
not
have about without the hidden judgement
of
God.
26 I will not speak of small populaces.
These
are either subject to another city,[68]
or
are tied to another city or a king
by some
treaty so that that revere some other
majesty.[69]
We see this in castles and cities which
are
under the protection of this city of
Perugia.
Much as a small and weak human body
cannot
govern itself without the air of a
caretaker
and guardian, thus these small peoples
can
in no way be ruled in themselves, unless
they are subjected or bound to another.
So much for the three forms of good
government.
27 I ask then, of the three bad forms
of
government, which is worse. In this
matter
all the philosophers says that a tyranny
is the worst principate, and occupies
the
final degree of malice. And the same
Aegidius
in his book said, as has been said,
that
a government is called good insofar
as it
tends toward the common good. But under
a
tyranny the common good is looked to
least:
whence a tyranny is the worst principate.
Whence if several are ruling, who are
held
to be wealthy and good, or the multitude
rules, even if these rulers incline
to their
own good, which is indeed not of God,
and
thus it is a rule "of the bad"
or "of a perverse populace,"
nevertheless
it would not diverge much from the
intention
of the common good; because, since
they are
many, they know something about the
nature
of the common good. But if the tyrant
is
a single person then he does recede
from
the common good. Furthermore, since
virtue
united for a good thing is better,
virtue
united for a bad thing is worse.[70]
That
a tyrant is the worst is so obvious
as to
require no demonstration. and what
was said
above, that the rule of several bad
men is
not so bad as the rule of a single
tyrant,
should be understood to be true when
the
many tend to one purpose, and can do
nothing
except together: it is a different
matter
if each exercises his own tyranny,
so that
one cares not about the other, as I
said
above concerning the monstrous regime
which
now exists in Rome. Similarly when
in one
body there is a single corrupt humor
which
predominates and is bad; but if all
the humors
are corrupted they oppose each other
etc.,
as has already
29 been said. Woe then to that city
which
has many tyrants with no common ground.
This
warning should be made, that the rule
of
several bad men or of a perverse people
does
not last long, but easily turns into
a one-man
tyranny; we often see this actually
happen.
This is God's own will, as it is written:
"He who makes a hypocrite to rule,
for
the sins of the people," Job 34,
[71]
and because Italy today is full up
with tyrants.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES
[1]I. 1.2.3 (=D. 1.1.6.1)
[2]Aristotle, Politics, III. 7.1279a-1279b.
[3]Cf. Aquinas, De reg. princ. ad regem
Cyp.
1.4.
[4]D. 1.2.2.3-9.
[5]D. 4.3.15.
[6]D. 1.2.2.9.
[7]D. 1.18.6.2.
[8]D. 1.2.2.11.
[9]Consuetudines Feudorum II. 55
[10]C. 1.2.16, C. 1.2.6. (Cf. De Tyranno
3.) D. 42.4.7.4.
[11]D. 1.5.14, and Decretals of Gregory
IX
1.31.14.
[12]Aegidius Romanus, De reg. princ.
3.2.3.
[13]Aegidius Romanus, De reg. princ.
3.2.3.
[14]D. 1.18.13 and Auth. 3.4.2 (Novella
17).
[15]D. 27.10.7 and D. 8.3.28. References
also to Aristotle, Posterior Analytics
1.2.72a,
and Bartolus' comments on C. 1.2, as
well
as D. 12.2.24.
[16]Auth. 6.13.1 = Novellae 85.
[17]Aegidius Romanus, De reg. princ.
3.2.3.
[18]D. 1.7.15-16, and Bartolus' commentary
on these passages.
[19]D. 5.1.76, D. 46.1.22 and Bartolus'
commentary
on the latter.
[20]Aegidius Romanus, De reg. princ.
3.2.3.
[21]Aegidius Romanus, De reg. princ.
3.2.3.
[22]Aristotle, Politics 3.10.1287b,
3.11.1281a-1281b,
3.15.1286a, 5.1.1302a, 5.9.1309a.
[23]D. 1.1.1.1.
[24]D. 1.1.10.
[25]C. 6.22.8.
[26]C. 6.51.1.14a.ß
[27]Aegidius Romanus, De reg. princ.
3.2.4.
[28]C. 4.20.9.
[29]Aegidius Romanus, De reg. princ.
3.2.4.
[30]Aegidius Romanus, De reg. princ.
3.2.4.
[31]Offices of the Roman state. D.
1.16,
D. 1.1.8, C. 1.35.
[32]C. 7.44.3, C1.55, Auth. 3.2 = Novella
15.
[33]C. 1.54.5, C. 3.26, D. 49.14.1.
[34][Ptolemy of Lucca], De reg. princ.
ad
regem Cyp. 4.1.
[35][Ptolemy of Lucca], De reg. princ.
ad
regem Cyp. 4.1.
[36]1 Samuel 8:11-17
[37]D. 50.17.209
[38]Aquinas, Summa theologiae Ia, IIae,
q.
105, art. 1.
[39]I Kings 11:1-5.
[40]Isidore, Etymologies 6.2.7.
[41]C. 1.4.19.6 and Bartolus' comment.
[42]Decretum II c. 23 q. 5 c. 23 and
c. 40.
[43]Cons. Feud. 2.56 and D. 1.2.2.1.
[44]D. 19.2.9.1, D. 39.2.13.2 and Bartolus'
commentary, D. 45.1.83.5. and Bartolus'
commentary.
[45]D. 1.2.2.16, D. 1.2.2.14.
[46]Auth. 6.3. = Novella 92, and Aristotle,
Nichomachean Ethics 4.2.1122b-1123a;
8.11.1161a.
[47]I Sam. 8:18.
[48]D. 1.2.2.3-9.
[49]D. 1.2.2.10-11.
[50]Bartolus was part of a Perugian
delegation
to the imperial tribunal of Charles
IV in
Pisa, May 1355.
[51]D. 1.2.2.16 and Auth. 3.2.1 = Novella
15.
[52]C. 12.1.6.
[53]D. 1.18.6.2.
[54]D. 50.4.3.15.
[55]D. 1.2.2.9.
[56]Accursius, gloss on Auth. coll.
III.
2.1.
[57]D. 50.4.1.1 and D. 50.4.3.15
[58]D. 1.2.2.11.
[59]C. 1.1.8.3.
[60]X. 1.17.7.
[61]X. 1.6.34, Sextus 2.14.
[62]Auth. 1.1. = Novella 6.
[63]D. 1.1.5.
[64]Aegidius Romanus, De reg. princ.
3.2.5.
[65]X. 1.6.34.
[66]Quaestiones in Heptateuchum, in
Deut.
17:14-15 q. 26.
[67]Glossa interlinearis in Deut 17:14.
[68]D. 50.1.30.
[69]D. 49.15.7 and Bartolus' commentary.
[70]Aquinas, De reg. princ. ad regem
Cyp.
1.3.
[71]Job 34:30.
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Paul Halsall May 1997
halsall@murray.fordham.edu
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