I am sure I have heard the proverb (or whatever you call it), "To spare the wicked is to punish the just." Can anyone help me identify the source of it? I have tried googling it to no avail. Ideally I would like to find it in Latin, which I believe is the language I saw it in. Thanks for any help!
2007-09-30 17:02:25 · 4 answers · asked by Agellius CM 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Try this web page man, I don't know if it is exactly what you're looking for but...
http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/ans/ans016.htm
good luck!
2007-09-30 17:07:45 · answer #1 · answered by zzgorch 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Medieval Sourcebook:
Anselm (1033-1109):
Proslogium
CHAPTER X.
How he justly punishes and justly spares the wicked. --God, in sparing the wicked, is just, according to his own nature because he does what is consistent with his goodness; but he is not just, according to our nature, because he does not inflict the punishment deserved.
BUT it is also just that you should punish the wicked. For what is more just than that the good should receive goods, and the evil, evils? How, then, is it just that you should punish the wicked, and, at the same time, spare the wicked? Or, in one way, do you justly punish, and, in another, justly spare them? For, when you punish the wicked, it is just, because it is consistent with their deserts; and when, on the other hand, you sparest the wicked, it is just, not because it is compatible with their deserts, but because it is compatible with your goodness.
For, in sparing the wicked, you are as just, according to your nature, but not according to ours, as you are compassionate, according to our nature, and not according to yours; seeing that, as in saving us, whom it would be just for you to destroy, you are compassionate, not because you feel an affection (affectum), but because we feel the effect (effectum); so you are just, not because you requite us as we deserve, but because you do that which becomes you as the supremely good Being. In this way, therefore, without contradiction you do justly punish and justly spare.
2007-10-01 00:08:53 · answer #2 · answered by Persiphone_Hellecat 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think it is otherway about, dont let an innocent be punished by letting go the criminal unpunished.
2007-10-01 00:06:37 · answer #3 · answered by jimmybond 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there are so many sources of that saying!
2007-10-01 00:05:12 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋