Dante. An essay. To which is added a translation of De Monarchia.
Dante Alighieri · en
XIII.--And if the Roman empire did not exist by right, the sin of Adam
was not punished in Christ. This is false, therefore its contradictory
is true. The falsehood of the consequent is seen thus. Since by the
sin of Adam we were all sinners, as the Apostle says:--"Wherefore, as
by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,"--then, if Christ had
not made satisfaction for Adam's sin by his death, we should still by
our depraved nature be the children of wrath. But this is not so, for
Paul, speaking of the Father in his Epistle to the Ephesians, says:
"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ
to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise
of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
beloved, in whom we have redemption by His blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace, wherein He has abounded
towards us." And Christ Himself, suffering in Himself the punishment,
says in St. John: "It is finished;" for where a thing is finished,
naught remains to be done.
It is convenient that it should be understood that punishment is not
merely penalty inflicted on him who has done wrong, but that penalty
inflicted by one who has penal jurisdiction. And therefore a penalty
should not be called punishment, but rather injury, except where it is
inflicted by the sentence of a regular judge.[274] Therefore the
Israelites said unto Moses: "Who made thee a judge over us?"
[Footnote 274: "_Ab ordinario judice._"]
If, therefore, Christ had not suffered by the sentence of a regular
judge, the penalty would not properly have been punishment; and none
could be a regular judge who had not jurisdiction over all mankind;
for all mankind was punished in the flesh of Christ, who "hath borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows," as saith the Prophet Isaiah. And
if the Roman empire had not existed by right, Tiberius Cæsar, whose
vicar was Pontius Pilate, would not have had jurisdiction over all
mankind. It was for this reason that Herod, not knowing what he did,
like Caiaphas, when he spoke truly of the decree of heaven, sent
Christ to Pilate to be judged, as Luke relates in his gospel. For
Herod was not the vicegerent of Tiberius, under the standard of the
eagle, or the standard of the Senate; but only a king, with one
particular kingdom given him by Tiberius, and ruling the kingdom
committed to his charge under Tiberius.
Let them cease, then, to insult the Roman empire, who pretend that
they are the sons of the Church; when they see that Christ, the
bridegroom of the Church, sanctioned the Roman empire at the beginning
and at the end of His warfare on earth. And now I think that I have
made it sufficiently clear that it was by right that the Romans
acquired to themselves the empire of the world.