In the middle ages 245

for the king, but the king for the kingdom.* Even

under the theocratic papal rule, the idea persisted

of an officium, duty, fused with that of power.

The Pope is the servant of the servants of God,

servus servorum Dei. It is just because the state

is an association of individuals, and instituted for

their welfare, that there is no difference between

the morality of the governors and that of the gov-

erned. For instance, fidelity to treaties and obser-

vance of the precepts of loyalty are required; they

constitute the very foundation of the jus gentium.

Or, again, war of conquest is forbidden, because it

prevents the state from watching over the welfare

of individuals.

But how will the government fulfill its function?

How will it aid the individual to attain his end, —

which is above all a certain moral happiness, re-

sulting from the facultas contemplandi veritatemf

The answer is this: By realizing the unitas multi-

tudinis, a unity which is accidental and external,

by realizing a honuiii commune, which results from

the harmonious and convergent activities expended

by the citizen, — activities which the De Regimine

is so careful to distinguish from the unitas hominis

of each individual.^

* Regnum non propter regem, sed rex propter regnum. De Regi-

mine Principum, III, c. 11.

5 See Thomas Aquinas, Comment in Ethic. Nicom., X, 11.

8 Ipsa tamen hominis unitas per naturam causatur ; multitudinis

autem unitas quae pax dicitur, per regentis industriam est pro

curanda. De Regimine Principum, lib. I, cap. 15.

246 PHILOSOPHY AND CIVILIZATION

Government is charged with a threefold partici-

pation in the affairs of our common life/ First, it

must establish (instituere) the common weal by

guarding the peace within its bounds, sometimes

referred to as convenientia voluntatum,^ by inciting

the citizens to lead a moral life, and by providing

for a sufficient abundance (sufficiens copia) of the

necessities of life. The public weal once estab-

lished, the next duty is to conserve it. This is ac-

complished by assuring a recruitment of the agents

of administration; by repressing disorder; by en-

couraging morality through a system of rewards

and punishments; and by protecting the state

against the attacks of enemies from without. Fi-

nally, the government is charged with a third mis-

sion, more vague, more elastic; to improve (ut sit

de promotione solicitus) , to rectify abuses, to make

up for defects, to work for progress.

The honum co7iimune to be established and main-

tained by the government is based upon a splendid

conception of solidarity: every good and virtuous

act performed by the individual man is capable of

benefitting the community, — the community in

which he has membership, as a part of the whole.

Hence it follows that, in the state, the individual

good can be referred always to the common wel-

fare : the scholar who studies and teaches, the monk

who prays and preaches, these render service to the

7 De Regimine Principurn, lib. T, oap. 15.

8 Thomas Aquinas, In Ethic. Nicom., Ill, 8.