Opuscula Kingship
Chapter 9
What degree of heavenly beatitude the king may obtain
Now it remains further to consider that they who discharge the kingly office worthily and laudably will obtain an elevated and outstanding degree of heavenly happiness. For if happiness is the reward of virtue, it follows that a higher degree of happiness is due to greater virtue. Now, that virtue is eminent by which a man can guide not only himself but others, and the more persons he rules, the greater his virtue. Similarly, in regard to bodily strength, a man is reputed to be more powerful the more adversaries he can beat or the more weights he can lift. Thus, greater virtue is required to rule a household than to rule one’s self, and much greater to rule a city and a kingdom. To discharge well the office of a king is therefore a work of extraordinary virtue. To it, therefore, is due an extraordinary reward of happiness.
Again, those who rule others well are more worthy of praise than those who act well under others’ direction. This applies to the field of all arts and sciences. In the speculative sciences, for instance, it is nobler to impart truth to others by teaching than to be able to grasp what is taught by others. So, too, in matters of the crafts, an architect who plans a building is more highly esteemed and paid a higher wage than is the builder who does the manual labor under his direction; and in warfare the strategy of the general wins greater glory from victory than the bravery of the soldier. Now, the ruler of a multitude stands in the same relation to the virtuous deeds performed by each individual as the teacher to the matters taught, the architect to the buildings, and the general to the wars. Consequently, the king is worthy of a greater reward if he governs his subjects well than any of his subjects who act well under him.
Further, if it is the part of virtue to render a man’s work good, it seems that one does greater good from greater virtue. But the good of the multitude is greater and more divine than the good of one man. Hence the evil of one man is sometimes endured if it redounds to the good of the multitude, as when a robber is killed to bring peace to the multitude. God himself would not allow evils to be in the world unless he brings good out of them for the advantage and beauty of the universe. Now, it belongs to the office of the king to have zealous concern for the good of the multitude. Therefore, a greater reward is due to the king for good ruling than to the subject for acting according to rule.
This will become clearer if considered in greater detail. For a private person is praised by men, and his deed reckoned for reward by God, if he helps the needy, brings peace to those in discord, rescues one oppressed by a mightier—in a word, if in any way he gives to another assistance or advice for his welfare. How much the more, then, is he to be praised by men and rewarded by God who makes a whole province rejoice in peace, who restrains violence, preserves justice, and arranges by his laws and precepts what is to be done by men?
The greatness of kingly virtue also appears in this, that he bears a special likeness to God, since he does in his kingdom what God does in the world; wherefore in Exodus the judges of the people are called gods, and also among the Romans the emperors were called ‘divine.’ Now the more a thing approaches to the likeness of God, the more acceptable it is to him. Hence, also, the Apostle urges: Be imitators of God, as beloved children (Eph 5:1). But if, according to the saying of the wise man, every creature loves its like (Sir 13:15) inasmuch as causes bear some likeness to the caused, it follows that good kings are most pleasing to God and are to be most highly rewarded by him.
Likewise, if I may use the words of Gregory: What else is it for a king to be at the pinnacle of power if not to find himself in a mental storm? When the sea is calm even an inexperienced man can steer a ship straight; when the sea is troubled by stormy waves, even an experienced sailor is bewildered. Hence it frequently happens that in the business of government the practice of good works is lost which in tranquil times was maintained. For, as Augustine says, it is very difficult for rulers not to be puffed up amid flattering and honoring tongues and the obsequiousness of those who bow too humbly, but to remember that they are men. It is said also in Sirach: Blessed is the rich man who has not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money, nor in treasures, who could have transgressed with impunity and did not transgress, who could do evil and did not do it (Sir 31:8, 10). Hence, having been tried in the work of virtue, he is found faithful, and so according to the proverb of Bias: Authority shows the man. For many who seemed virtuous while they were in lowly state fall from virtue when they reach the pinnacle of power. The very difficulty, then, of acting well, which besets kings, makes them worthy of greater reward; and if through weakness they sometimes do amiss, they are rendered more excusable before men and more easily obtain forgiveness from God: provided, as Augustine says, they do not neglect to offer up to their true God the sacrifice of humility, mercy, and prayer for their sins. As an example of this, the Lord said to Elias concerning Achab, king of Israel, who had sinned a great deal: Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days (1 Kgs 21:29).
That a very high reward is due to kings is not only demonstrated by reason but is also confirmed by divine authority. It is said in Zachariah 12:8 that, in that day of blessedness wherein God will be the protector of the inhabitants of Jerusalem (that is, in the vision of eternal peace), the houses of others will be as the house of David, because all will then be kings and reign with Christ as the members with their head. But the house of David will be as the house of God, because just as he carried out the work of God among the people by ruling faithfully, so in his reward he will adhere more closely to God. Likewise, among the Gentiles this was dimly realized, as in a dream, for they thought to transform into gods the rulers and preservers of their cities.