The True Emperor and the False

Our emperor, beloved of God, shares in this hope even in this present life, since God has gifted him with natural virtues, and he has received into his soul the overflow of God’s favor. His reason he draws from the great Source of all reason. He is wise and good and just, because he has fellowship with perfect Wisdom, Goodness, and Righteousness; virtuous, because he follows the pattern of perfect virtue; brave, because he shares in heavenly strength. Truly the man who has shaped his soul to royal virtues, by the standard of that heavenly kingdom, deserves the imperial title. But think of the man who is a stranger to these blessings: who denies the Sovereign of the universe and owns no allegiance to the heavenly Father of spirits; who does not clothe himself with the virtues that befit an emperor, but covers his soul with moral ugliness and baseness; who puts the fury of a savage beast in place of royal mercy, the incurable venom of malicious wickedness in place of a generous temper, folly in place of prudence, and in place of reason and wisdom that recklessness which is the most hateful of all vices. For from recklessness, as from a spring of bitterness, flow the most destructive fruits: hardened debauchery of life, greed, murder, ungodliness, and defiance of God. Surely a man given over to vices like these, however powerful he may be thought because of his tyrannical violence, has no true right to the name of Emperor. [a] For how could a man whose soul bears the stamp of a thousand absurd images of false gods show a copy of the true and heavenly sovereignty? Or how can he be absolute lord over others when he has made himself subject to a thousand cruel masters? He is a slave of low pleasures and ungoverned lust, a slave of wrongly extorted wealth, of rage and passion, of cowardice and terror; a slave of ruthless demons and soul-destroying spirits.

Let our emperor, then, on the testimony of truth itself, be declared the only one worthy of the title. He is dear to the Supreme Sovereign himself; he alone is free, or rather, he is truly lord. He is above the thirst for wealth, superior to sexual desire, victorious even over natural pleasures, controlling anger and passion rather than controlled by them. He is indeed an emperor, and bears a title that matches his deeds. He is a Victor in truth, who has won the victory over the passions that overpower the rest of men. His character is shaped after the divine original of the Supreme Sovereign, and his mind reflects the radiance of God’s virtues as in a mirror. So our emperor is perfect in good judgment, in goodness, in justice, in courage, in godliness, in devotion to God. He truly and alone is a philosopher, since he knows himself, and is fully aware that every blessing showered on him comes from a source quite outside himself, from heaven itself. He displays the majestic title of supreme authority by the splendor of his clothing, and he alone worthily wears the imperial purple that suits him so well. [b] He is indeed an emperor who calls on his heavenly Father night and day, begging his favor in prayer, and whose eager desires are fixed on his heavenly kingdom. For he knows that present things, subject as they are to decay and death, flowing on and vanishing like a river’s stream, are not worth comparing with him who is Sovereign of all. That is why he longs for the imperishable and bodiless kingdom of God. And he trusts that he will obtain this kingdom, since he lifts his mind in lofty thought above the vault of heaven, and is filled with an inexpressible longing for the glories that shine there, compared with which he counts the treasures of this present world as darkness. For he sees that earthly sovereignty is only a petty and passing rule over a mortal and short-lived life, and he rates it not much higher than the power of a goatherd, a shepherd, or a herdsman; in fact he thinks it more burdensome than theirs, and exercised over more stubborn subjects. The cheers of the people and the voice of flattery he finds more troublesome than pleasing, because of the steady constancy of his character and the genuine discipline of his mind.

Again, when he looks at the military service of his subjects, the vast array of his armies, the multitudes of cavalry and infantry wholly devoted to his command, he feels no astonishment and no pride at holding such mighty power. Instead he turns his thoughts inward on himself and recognizes there the same common nature. He smiles at his robe, embroidered with gold and flowers, and at the imperial purple and the diadem itself, when he sees the crowd gazing in wonder at the splendid sight, like children at a bogeyman. He himself is above such feelings, and clothes his soul with the knowledge of God, a robe embroidered with self-control, righteousness, godliness, and every other virtue: a robe that truly becomes a sovereign. The wealth that others so desire, gold, silver, or precious gems, he regards as what they really are in themselves: mere stones and worthless matter, of no use to protect or defend anyone from harm. For what power have these things to free anyone from disease, or to keep death away? And since he knows this truth from his own experience in using these things, he looks on the splendid dress of his subjects with calm indifference, and smiles at the childishness of those who are attracted by it. Lastly, he avoids all excess in food and wine, and leaves needless delicacies to gluttons. He judges that such indulgences, however suitable for others, are not suitable for him, and he is deeply convinced that they do harm and darken the reasoning powers of the soul. For all these reasons our emperor, taught by God and noble in mind, reaching for higher things than this life offers, calls on his heavenly Father as one who longs for his kingdom, shows a godly spirit in every act of his life, and finally, as a wise and good teacher, gives his subjects the knowledge of him who is the Sovereign Lord of all.