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

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lives already completed. The affairs of the present gain prudence from past affairs”
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when memory, discretion, and judgment are
exercised. “Foresight regards future affairs by considering the outcome of past events. [ … ] For when a ship is still safely in
port, it should be equipped with necessary things before it is sent out to sea.”
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“
[§ 9] Most miserable is that commonwealth, therefore, in which its governor is imprudent or ignorant in the art of governing, in
which he learns for the first time from his own experience those things that were necessary from the beginning.”
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“An
uninformed king destroys his people, and a city shall be inhabited through the intelligence of rulers.”
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A wise king is called a
pillar of the people.
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For what the eye is in the body, and the sun in the heavens, so is the magistrate in the commonwealth.
He ought to be attentive to everything, and to keep many things secret. “Certain rulers are to be found who are not in the least
evil, and who would like to rule well and to benefit their subjects, but do not know how. Indeed, even when they wish to do so
and make the attempt, they instead inflict injury upon themselves and others as they pursue their intention. Thus the proverb is
true, that a sword should not be given to a child.”
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Nor should a wild and stubborn horse be given to one who is not skilled in
ruling him. But no animal is more capricious than man, and none requires greater art to handle.
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For this reason God requires
men for the administration of a commonwealth who excel in the practice and experience of things. …
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[§ 10] There is a twofold division, as I have said,
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in this political prudence: one into its members, and the other into
its kinds.
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The members of this prudence are two in number: namely, political understanding ( intellectus) and choice ( delectus)
of things to be done and to be omitted in the administration of the commonwealth.
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By political understanding a magistrate
sees, recognizes, knows, and comprehends the things that he is to do or to omit by reason of his office. … [§ 11] A complete
political understanding is composed of doctrine ( doctrina) and practice ( usus). 19 They are therefore considered to be the parts of
a perfect knowledge.
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[§ 12] Doctrine of things salutary and necessary for administration is supplied by the knowledge that comes through reading
and listening. But he is rightly to be praised who is productive and useful to the commonwealth, not he who merely knows many
things. The origin of intemperance is the wish to know more than enough, as Seneca declares. As we incline towards
intemperance in all things, so in literary matters. And in so doing we learn not of life, but of learning. “The reading of many
things is a weariness of the flesh.”
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The best way to learn is to listen to a teacher in person. It is to be sought in the
experience and practice of the learned through conversation with distinguished men among them; with theologians, jurists,
philosophers, historians, generals, soldiers, and others. A prince can learn more in a brief time in colloquies around a table with
these men—while wandering about and consulting them—than he would be able to gather in a longer period of time in schools. …
[§ 13] The means of learning from the voice of the dead, or from silent instructors, is provided principally by the reading of
histories. For by them it is possible without peril or expense to observe others, to look upon their journeys, calamities, perils,
wars, customs, virtues, vices, governments, life and death, joy and sadness, fortune and adversity, the beginning, middle, and
end of imperia, as well as the causes, effects, foundations, assessories, conflicts, and relations of all events. … [§ 14] But in
this matter Cicero advises that “two errors are to be avoided. One is that we must not consider the unknown as known, and thus
accept it without adequate investigation. [ … ] The other is that we ought not to devote excessive study and great pains to
obscure and difficult matters that are not necessary.”
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[§ 15] Three things are properly and unavoidably to be learned and known by the supreme magistrate in the administration of
the commonwealth. The sinews and bond of imperium and commonwealth depend upon them. First is the rule of living and
administering; the second is the nature of the people; and the third is the nature of rule ( regnum). 23 We will consider each of
these in order.
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[§ 16] THE RULE OF LIVING, OBEYING, AND ADMINISTERING is the will of God alone, which is the way of life, and the law of things to
be done and to be omitted. It is necessary that the magistrate rule, appoint, and examine all the business of his administration
with this law as a touchstone and measure, unless he wishes to rule the ship of state as an unreliable vessel at sea, and to
wander about and move at random. Thus the administration and government of a commonwealth is nothing other than the
execution of law. [§ 17] Therefore, this law alone prescribes not only the order of administering for the magistrate, but also the
rule of living for all subjects. …
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