Policraticus was the first book of political science to be produced during the Middle Ages. Written by John of Salisbury around 1159, it belongs to the genre of advice literature known as "mirrors for princes", and is addressed to the territorial ruler. Though it takes up a wide variety of ethical questions, it is most famous for attempting to define the responsibilities of kings and their relationship to their subjects.
“Between a tyrant and a prince there is this single or chief difference, that the latter obeys the law and rules the people by its dictates, accounting himself as but their servant.”
Est ergo tyranni et principis hæc differentia sola, quod hic legi obtemperat, et ejus arbitrio populum regit, cujus se credit ministrum.
John of Salisbury Policraticus
Bk. 4, ch. 1
Policraticus (1159)
“Accurate reading on a wide range of subjects makes the scholar; careful selection of the better makes the saint.”
Exquisita lectio singulorum, doctissimum; cauta electio meliorum, optimum facit.
John of Salisbury Policraticus
Bk. 7, ch. 10
Policraticus (1159)
“Law is the gift of God, the model of equity, a standard of justice, a likeness of the divine will, the guardian of well-being, a bond of union and solidarity between peoples, a rule defining duties, a barrier against the vices and the destroyer thereof, a punishment of violence and all wrongdoing.”
Lex donum Dei est, æquitatis forma, norma justitiæ, divinæ voluntatis imago, salutis custodia, unio et consolidatio populorum, regula officiorum, exclusio et exterminatio vitiorum, violentiæ et totius injuriæ pœna.
John of Salisbury Policraticus
Bk. 8, ch. 17
Policraticus (1159)
“A man is free in proportion to the measure of his virtues, and the extent to which he is free determines what his virtues can accomplish.”
Et pro virtutum habitu quilibet et liber est, et, quatenus est liber, eatenus virtutibus pollet.
John of Salisbury Policraticus
Bk. 7, ch. 25
Policraticus (1159)
