WIST QuotationsGod has said, “Thou shalt not kill”; shall we kill so readily for the theft of a bit of small change? Perhaps it will be argued that God’s law against killing does not apply where human laws allow it. But then what prevents men from making other laws in the same way — perhaps even laws legalizing rape, adultery, and perjury? God has taken from each person the right not only to kill another, but even to kill himself. If mutual consent to human laws on manslaughter entitles men freely to exempt their agents from divine law and allows them to kill where he has given no example, what is this but preferring the law of man to the law of God?
[Deus uetuit occidi quenquam, & nos tam facile occidimus ob ademptam pecuniolam! Quod si quis interpretetur, illo dei iussu interdictam necis potestatem, nisi quatenus humana lex declaret occidendum, quid obstat quo minus homines eodem modo constituant inter se, quatenus stuprum admittendum sit, adulterandum, peierandum! Siquidem quum deus non alienae modo, uerum etiam suae cuique mortis ius ademerit, si hominum inter se consensus de mutua cede, certis placitis consentientium, adeo debet ualere, ut illius praecepti uinculis eximat suos satellites, qui sine ullo exemplo dei, eos interemerint, quos humana sanctio iussit occidi; an non hoc pacto praeceptum illud dei tantum iuris est habiturum, quantum humana iura permiserint!]
[Deus uetuit occidi quenquam, & nos tam facile occidimus ob ademptam pecuniolam! Quod si quis interpretetur, illo dei iussu interdictam necis potestatem, nisi quatenus humana lex declaret occidendum, quid obstat quo minus homines eodem modo constituant inter se, quatenus stuprum admittendum sit, adulterandum, peierandum! Siquidem quum deus non alienae modo, uerum etiam suae cuique mortis ius ademerit, si hominum inter se consensus de mutua cede, certis placitis consentientium, adeo debet ualere, ut illius praecepti uinculis eximat suos satellites, qui sine ullo exemplo dei, eos interemerint, quos humana sanctio iussit occidi; an non hoc pacto praeceptum illud dei tantum iuris est habiturum, quantum humana iura permiserint!]
Thomas More (1478-1535) English lawyer, social philosopher, statesman, humanist, Christian martyr
Utopia, Book 1, ch. 1 “Discourses of Raphael Hythloday” (1518 ed.) [tr. Adams (1992 ed.)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/more-thomas/84007/
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More, Thomas - Utopia, Book 1, ch. 1 "Discourses of Raphael Hythloday" (1518 ed.) [tr. Adams (1992 ed.)] | WIST Quotations
God has said, "Thou shalt not kill"; shall we kill so readily for the theft of a bit of small change? Perhaps it will be argued that God's law against killing does not apply where human laws allow it. But then what prevents men from making other laws in the…
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