"You shall hear," he said. "From all this it appears that a military
man may demand satisfaction on the spot from the person who has
injured him--not, indeed, with the intention of rendering evil for
evil, but with that of preserving his honor--_non ut malum pro malo
reddat, sed ut conservat honorem_. See you how carefully, because the
Scripture condemns it, they guard against the intention of rendering
evil for evil? This is what they will tolerate on no account. Thus
Lessius observes (_De Just._, liv. ii., c. 9, d. 12, n. 79), that, 'If
a man has received a blow on the face, he must on no account have an
intention to avenge himself; but he may lawfully have an intention to
avert infamy, and may, with that view, repel the insult immediately,
even at the point of the sword--_etiam cum gladio_.' So far are we
from permitting any one to cherish the design of taking vengeance on
his enemies, that our fathers will not allow any even to _wish their
death_--by a movement of hatred. 'If your enemy is disposed to injure
you,' says Escobar, 'you have no right to wish his death, by a
movement of hatred; though you may, with a view to save yourself from
harm.' So legitimate, indeed, is this wish, with such an intention,
that our great Hurtado de Mendoza says that 'we may _pray God_ to
visit with speedy death those who are bent on persecuting us, if there
is no other way of escaping from it.'" (In his book, _De Spe_, vol.
ii., d. 15, sec. 4, 48.)
"May it please your reverence," said I, "the Church has forgotten to
insert a petition to that effect among her prayers."
"They have not put every thing into the prayers that one may lawfully
ask of God," answered the monk. "Besides, in the present case, the
thing was impossible, for this same opinion is of more recent standing
than the Breviary. You are not a good chronologist, friend. But, not
to wander from the point, let me request your attention to the
following passage, cited by Diana from Gaspar Hurtado (_De Sub.
Pecc._, diff. 9; Diana, p. 5; tr. 14, r. 99), one of Escobar's
four-and-twenty fathers: 'An incumbent may, without any mortal sin,
desire the decease of a life-renter on his benefice, and a son that of
his father, and rejoice when it happens; provided always it is for the
sake of the profit that is to accrue from the event, and not from
personal aversion.'"
"Good," cried I. "That is certainly a very happy hit, and I can easily
see that the doctrine admits of a wide application. But yet there are
certain cases, the solution of which, though of great importance for
gentlemen, might present still greater difficulties."
"Propose such, if you please, that we may see," said the monk.
"Show me, with all your directing of the intention," returned I, "that
it is allowable to fight a duel."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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