Monarchia (II, iii, 1-17)

(1) Dico igitur ad questionem quod romanus populus de iure, non usurpando, Monarche offitium, quod 'Imperium' dicitur, sibi super mortales omnes ascivit. (1) On this question I therefore affirm that it was by right, and not by usurping, that the Roman people took on the office of the monarch (which is called "empire") over all men.
(2) Quod quidem primo sic probatur: nobilissimo populo convenit omnibus aliis preferri; romanus populus fuit nobilissimus; ergo convenit ei omnibus aliis preferri. (2) This can be proved firstly as follows: it is appropriate that the noblest race should rule over all the others; the Roman people was the noblest; therefore it was appropriate that they should rule over all the others.
(3) Assumpta ratione probatur: nam, cum honor sit premium virtutis et omnis prelatio sit honor, omnis prelatio virtutis est premium. Sed constat quod merito virtutis nobilitantur homines, virtutis videlicet proprie vel maiorum. (3) The major premiss is proved by an argument from reason: for since "honour is the reward for virtue" and every position of authority is an honour, every position of authority is the reward of virtue. But we know that men become noble through virtue, either their own virtue or that of their forebears.
(4) Est enim nobilitas virtus et divitie antique, iuxta Phylosophum in Politicis; et iuxta Iuvenalem:
nobilitas animi sola est atque unica virtus.
Que due sententie ad duas nobilitates dantur: propriam scilicet et maiorum. Ergo nobilibus ratione cause premium prelationis conveniens est. 		(4) For "nobility is virtue and ancient wealth", as Aristotle says in the Politics; and according to Juvenal: "nobility of mind is the sole and only virtue". These two sayings refer to two kinds of nobility, i.e. a man's own nobility and that of his ancestors. Therefore the reward of a position of authority is appropriate to the noble by reason of the cause of their nobility.
(5) Et cum premia sint meritis mensuranda iuxta illud evangelicum «Eadem mensura qua mensi fueritis, remetietur vobis», maxime nobili maxime preesse convenit. (5) And since rewards should be commensurate with deserts, as we read in the words of the Gospel: "With the same measure you have applied to others you will be measured", it is appropriate that the most noble should have the highest position of authority over others.
(6) Subassumptam vero testimonia veterum persuadent; nam divinus poeta noster Virgilius per totam Eneyden gloriosissimum regem Eneam patrem romani populi fuisse testatur in memoriam sempiternam; quod Titus Livius, gestorum romanorum scriba egregius, in prima parte sui voluminis, que a capta Troia summit exordium, contestatur. (6) The minor premiss is supported by the testimony of the ancients; for our divine poet Virgil bears witness throughout the whole of the Aeneid, to his everlasting memory, that the father of the Roman people was that most glorious king Aeneas; and Titus Livy, the illustrious chronicler of Roman deeds, confirms this in the first part of his book, which takes as its starting-point the capture of Troy.
(7) Qui quidem invictissimus atque piissimus pater quante nobilitatis vir fuerit, non solum sua considerata virtute sed progenitorum suorum atque uxorum, quorum utrorunque nobilitas hereditario iure in ipsum confluxit, explicare nequirem: sed «summa sequar vestigia rerum». (7) It would be beyond me to give a full account of just how noble this supremely victorious and supremely dutiful father was, taking into account not only his own virtue but that of his forebears and his wives, whose nobility flowed into him by hereditary right: "but I shall trace the main outlines of the facts".
(8) Quantum ergo ad propriam eius nobilitatem audiendus est Poeta noster introducens in primo Ilioneum orantem sic:
Rex erat Eneas nobis, quo iustior alter nec pietate fuit nec bello maior et armis.
(8) Now as far as his own nobility is concerned, we must listen to our poet when in the first book he introduces Ileoneus as he petitions in this manner: "Aeneas was our king; no man more just In piety, nor greater in war and arms".
(9) Audiendus est idem in sexto, qui, cum de Miseno mortuo loqueretur qui fuerat Hectoris minister in bello et post mortem Hectoris Enee ministrum se dederat, dicit ipsum Misenum «non inferiora secutum», comparationem faciens de Enea ad Hectorem, quem pre omnibus Homerus glorificat, ut refert Phylosophus in hiis que de moribus fugiendis ad Nicomacum. (9) Let us listen to him too in the sixth book, when he speaks of the dead Misenus, who had served Hector in battle and who after Hector's death had entered the service of Aeneas; he says that Misenus "followed no less a hero", comparing Aeneas with Hector, whom Homer glorifies above all others, as Aristotle relates in that book of the Ethics which deals with behaviour to be avoided.
(10) Quantum vero ad hereditariam, quelibet pars tripartiti orbis tam avis quam coniugibus illum nobilitasse invenitur. Nam Asya propinquioribus avis, ut Assaraco et aliis qui Frigiam regnaverunt, Asye regionem; unde Poeta noster in tertio:
Postquam res Asye Priamique evertere gentem immeritam visum superis.
(10) As far as hereditary nobility is concerned, we find that each of the three regions into which the world is divided made him noble, both through his ancestors and through his wives. For Asia did so through his more immediate forebears, such as Assaracus and the others who ruled over Phrygia, a region of Asia; hence our poet says in the third book: "After the Gods saw fit to overthrow The might of Asia and Priam's guiltless race".
(11) Europa vero avo antiquissimo, scilicet Dardano: Affrica quoque avia vetustissima, Electra scilicet, nata magni nominis regis Athlantis; ut de ambobus testimonium reddit Poeta noster in octavo, ubi Eneas ad Evandrum sic ait:
Dardanus yliace primus pater urbis et auctor, Electra, ut Grai perhibent, Athlantide cretus, advehitur Teucros: Electram maximus Athlas edidit, ethereos humero qui sustinet orbes.
(11) Europe did so with his most ancient male forebear, i.e. Dardanus; Africa did so too with his most ancient female forebear Electra, daughter of King Atlas of great renown; our poet bears witness concerning both of them in his eighth book, where Aeneas speaks in these words to Evander: "Dardanus, First father and founder of the city of Troy, Born of Electra, as the Greeks maintain, Comes to the Teucrians; mighty Atlas begat her, Who bears the spheres of heaven on his shoulders".
(12) Quod autem Dardanus ab Europa originem duxerit, noster Vates in tertio cantat dicens:
est locus, Hesperiam Grai cognomine dicunt, terra antiqua, potens armis atque ubere glebe. Oenotri coluere viri; nunc fama minores Ytaliam dixisse ducis de nomine gentem: hee nobis proprie sedes, hinc Dardanus ortus.
(12) That Dardanus was of European birth our bard proclaims in the third book: "There is a land the Greeks call Hesperia, Ancient, mighty in arms and fertile soil. Oenotrians lived there; a later generation Has called the nation Italy after their leader: This is our homeland; Dardanus was born here".
(13) Quod vero Athlas de Affrica fuerit, mons in illa suo nomine dictus est testis, quem esse in Affrica dicit Orosius in sua mundi descriptione sic: «Ultimus autem finis eius est mons Athlas et insule quas Fortunatas vocant»; 'eius', idest Affrice, quia de ipsa loquebatur. (13) That Atlas came from Africa is confirmed by the mountain there which bears his name. Orosius in his description of the world tells us it is in Africa in these words: "Its furthest boundary is Mount Atlas and the islands they call Fortunate" ("its" meaning "Africa's", because he is talking about Africa).
(14) Similiter etiam coniugio nobilitatum fuisse reperio. Prima nanque coniunx Creusa, Priami regis filia, de Asya fuit, ut superius haberi potest per ea que dicta sunt. Et quod fuerit coniunx testimonium perhibet noster Poeta in tertio, ubi Andromache de Ascanio filio Eneam genitorem interrogat sic:
Quid puer Ascanius? superatne et vescitur aura, quem tibi iam Troya peperit fumante Creusa?
(14) In similar fashion I find that he was also made noble by marriage. For his first wife, Creusa, the daughter of king Priam, was from Asia, as may be gathered from what was said earlier. And that she was his wife our poet bears witness in his third book, where Andromache questions Aeneas as a father about his son Ascanius in this way: "What of your boy Ascanius, Whom Creusa bore when Troy was smouldering? Is he alive and does he breathe earth's air?"
(15) Secunda Dido fuit, regina et mater Cartaginensium in Affrica; et quod fuerit coniunx, Idem noster vaticinatur in quarto; inquit enim de Didone:
Nec iam furtivum Dido meditatur amorem: coniugium vocat; hoc pretexit nomine culpam.
(15) His second wife was Dido, queen and mother of the Carthaginians in Africa; and that she was his wife our bard proclaims in the fourth book, for he says there of Dido: "Dido no longer thinks of a secret love: She calls it marriage; this name conceals her sin".
(16) Tertia Lavinia fuit, Albanorum Romanorumque mater, regis Latini filia pariter et heres, si verum est testimonium nostri Poete in ultimo, ubi Turnum victum introducit orantem suppliciter ad Eneam sic:
Vicisti, et victum tendere palmas Ausonii videre: tua est Lavinia coniunx.
(16) The third was Lavinia, mother of the Albans and the Romans, the daughter of King Latinus and his heir as well, if our poet is to be believed in his last book, where he introduces the defeated Turnus making supplication to Aeneas in these words: "You have won; the Ausonians have seen The vanquished man stretch forth his upturned hands: Lavinia is your wife".
(17) Que ultima uxor de Ytalia fuit, Europe regione nobilissima. Hiis itaque ad evidentiam subassumpte prenotatis, cui non satis persuasum est romani populi patrem, et per consequens ipsum populum, nobilissimum fuisse sub celo? Aut quem in illo duplici concursu sanguinis a qualibet mundi parte in unum virum predestinatio divina latebit? (17) This last wife was from Italy, the most noble region of Europe. When these facts in support of the minor premiss are borne in mind, who is not satisfied that the father of the Roman people, and as a consequence that people itself, was the noblest in the world? Or who will fail to recognise divine predestination in that double confluence of blood from every part of the world into a single man?