第35章

'A man's honour,' he remarks, 'may be attacked or filched away in various ways- in all of which vindication appears very reasonable; as, for instance, when one offers to strike us with a stick, or give us a slap on the face, or affront us either by words or signs- sive per signa.'" "Well, father,"said I, "it must be owned that you have made every possible provision to secure the safety of reputation; but it strikes me that human life is greatly in danger, if any one may be conscientiously put to death simply for a defamatory speech or a saucy gesture." "That is true," he replied; "but, as our fathers are very circumspect, they have thought it proper to forbid putting this doctrine into practice on such trifling occasions.They say, at least, 'that it ought hardly to be reduced to practice- practice vix probari potest.' And they have a good reason for that, as you shall see.""Oh, I know what it will be," interrupted I; "because the law of God forbids us to kill, of course." "They do not exactly take that ground," said the father; "as a matter of conscience, and viewing the thing abstractly, they hold it allowable." "And why then, do they forbid it?" "I shall tell you that, sir.It is because, were we to kill all the defamers among us, we should very shortly depopulate the country.'Although,' says Reginald, 'the opinion that we may kill a man for calumny is not without its probability in theory, the contrary one ought to be followed in practice; for, in our mode of defending ourselves, we should always avoid doing injury to the commonwealth; and it is evident that by killing people in this way there would be too many murders.'We should be on our guard,' says Lessius, 'lest the practice of this maxim prove hurtful to the State; for in this case it ought not to be permitted- tunc enim non est permittendus.'" "What, father! is it forbidden only as a point of policy, and not of religion?

Few people, I am afraid, will pay any regard to such a prohibition, particularly when in a passion.Very probably they might think they were doing no harm to the State, by ridding it of an unworthy member." "And accordingly,"replied the monk, "our Filiutius has fortified that argument with another, which is of no slender importance, namely, 'that for killing people after this manner, one might be punished in a court of justice.'" "There now, father; I told you before, that you will never be able to do anything worth the while, unless you get the magistrates to go along with you." "The magistrates,"said the father, "as they do not penetrate into the conscience, judge merely of the outside of the action, while we look principally to the intention;and hence it occasionally happens that our maxims are a little different from theirs." "Be that as it may, father; from yours, at least, one thing may be fairly inferred- that, by taking care not to injure the commonwealth, we may kill defamers with a safe conscience, provided we can do it with a sound skin.But, sir, after having seen so well to the protection of honour, have you done nothing for property? I am aware it is of inferior importance, but that does not signify; I should think one might direct one's intention to kill for its preservation also." "Yes," replied the monk; "and I gave you a hint to that effect already, which may have suggested the idea to you.All our casuists agree in that opinion; and they even extend the permission to those cases 'where no further violence is apprehended from those that steal our property; as, for example, where the thief runs away.' Azor, one of our Society, proves that point." "But, sir, how much must the article be worth, to justify our proceeding to that extremity?""According to Reginald and Tanner, 'the article must be of great value in the estimation of a judicious man.' And so think Layman and Filiutius.""But, father, that is saying nothing to the purpose; where am I to find 'a judicious man' (a rare person to meet with at any time), in order to make this estimation? Why do they not settle upon an exact sum at once?""Ay, indeed!" retorted the monk; "and was it so easy, think you, to adjust the comparative value between the life of a man, and a Christian man, too, and money? It is here I would have you feel the need of our casuists.Show me any of your ancient fathers who will tell for how much money we may be allowed to kill a man.What will they say, but 'Non occides- Thou shalt not kill?'" "And who, then, has ventured to fix that sum?" I inquired.

"Our great and incomparable Molina," he replied- "the glory of our Society-who has, in his inimitable wisdom, estimated the life of a man 'at six or seven ducats; for which sum he assures us it is warrantable to kill a thief, even though he should run off'; and he adds, 'that he would not venture to condemn that man as guilty of any sin who should kill another for taking away an article worth a crown, or even less- unius aurei, vel minoris adhuc valoris'; which has led Escobar to lay it down, as a general rule, 'that a man may be killed quite regularly, according to Molina, for the value of a crown-piece.'" "O father," cried I; "where can Molina have got all this wisdom to enable him to determine a matter of such importance, without any aid from Scripture, the councils, or the fathers? It is quite evident that he has obtained an illumination peculiar to himself, and is far beyond St.Augustine in the matter of homicide, as well as of grace.