Johannes Althusius: Politica - Hubertlerch.com - HubertLerch.com

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greatest inequality,” as Petrus Gregorius rightly asserts.
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Hence, when this harmony of rulers and subjects ceases, and there are
no longer servants and leaders, such a situation is considered to be among the signs of divine wrath.
[§ 38] I add to this that it is inborn to the more powerful and prudent to dominate and rule weaker men, just as it is also
considered inborn for inferiors to submit. So in man the soul dominates the body, and the mind the appetites. So the male,
because the more outstanding, rules the female, who as the weaker obeys. [§ 39] Thus, the pride and high spirits of man
should be restrained by sure reins of reason, law, and imperium less he throw himself precipitously into ruin.
Endnotes
[1] [ symbiotici: those who live together.]
[2] [ symbiosis: living together.]
[3] [This sentence and the previous one are taken without acknowledgment from Juan de Mariana, The King and His Education,
I, 1.]
[4]
“On Monarchy, Democracy, and Oligarchy,” pars. 2 and 3. [Plutarch refers therein to polity as citizenship, as statecraft, and
as forms of government.]
[5] [There is no precise English counterpart for the Latin word jus (pl. jura) as employed by Althusius. Often it means “right”
(e.g., jus coercendi —right to coerce), sometimes “law” (e.g., jus natural —natural law), and upon occasion even “authority,”
“responsibility,” “power,” “legal order,” “structure,” or “justice.” It also functions in many instances as a Janus-headed word
eluding the capacity of any single English term to express (e.g., jura regni —rights and laws of the realm). Notations in text and
footnotes have therefore been made from time to time to assist the reader in observing its complex usage. The general rule
employed throughout is to translate jus as “right” wherever possible, to indicate by notation all places where jus has been
translated by some other term, and to insert occasional footnotes that provide variant translations in critical places where the full
meaning of jus cannot be expressed by a single English word. In keeping with this rule, “right” will henceforth be the most
frequent translation (usually without notation) of jus. (Unless noted, “law” will always be a translation of lex. ) The reader should
be on guard, however, not to attribute too readily to Althusius’ understanding of “right” the connotation of a self-evident system
of “public right” or the notion of “unalienable human rights.” ]
[6] Philippians 3:20.
b b a b
[7] Politics, 1276 17–1277 4; 1293 35–1294 41.
[8] [ communicatio: a sharing, a making common. Althusius sometimes uses communion ( communio) and community
( › ) interchangeably with communication.]
[9] The Republic, I, 25.
[10]
[the fundamental law of living together; the demand that social life makes upon human persons both by its nature and by
their agreement. This demand has some elements common to all associations, and others proper to various species of association
(family, collegium, city, province, and commonwealth). In this chapter it is usually called the law of association ( lex
consociationis), but in later chapters symbiotic right ( jus symbioticum) is the more common expression.]
[11]
[12]
Genesis 1:26 f.; 3:16; Ecclesiasticus 17.
Romans 13.
[13] [Althusius employs jus naturae (or naturale) interchangeably with lex naturae (or naturalis). Both expressions are
henceforth translated as “natural law.” ]
[14] Laws, III, 1.
[15] Ephesians 5:21.
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