Stoics and Saints - College of Stoic Philosophers

A SYLVAN JUSTICIAE.
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travel home to England through France, and that once, when
his courtiers were making a jest of the English king, he said,
Cease, I forbid you
either to ridicule him or to cause him
to hate me for your folly.
His charity and piety will save
him from all
danger and all disgrace.
One anecdote may be quoted to illustrate his admirably
wise and firm administration of his realm. Tn former times
the Provostship of Paris was sold to the highest bidder,
and robberies and other crimes abounded. The common
people were afraid of dwelling in the open country, which
became almost a desert. Hearing of all this, the King
settled that he would himself appoint an able man with a
sufficient salary ;
and that he would abolish all the heavy
taxes which weighed the people down. He found a just
judge and put the matter into his hands. This officer
administered justice without fear or favour, and life and
property in Paris became perfectly secure. The same policy
was pursued throughout the realm, and it is said that in
a short time population increased so much from the justness
and uprightness that reigned, that the estates, rents, and
revenues of the kingdom were in one year nearly doubled,
and the country very much improved.
One of the most notable passages in mediaeval history
is that in which Joinville describes an ever memorable
scene in the following words :
Many times have I seen this holy saint after hearing Mass in the
summer, go and amuse himself in the wood of Vincennes ; when,
seating himself at the foot of an oak, he would make us seat ourselves
round about him, and everyone who wished to speak with him came
thither without ceremony, and without hindrance from any usher or
others. He then demanded aloud if there were any who had com
plaints to make "
and
;
when there were some he said, My friends,
be silent and your causes shall be despatched one after another." Then
oftentimes he called to him Lord Peter de Fontaines, and the Lord
Geoffrey de Villette, and said to them, "Despatch these causes"; and
whenever he heard anything that could be amended in the speeches
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