PJt 



THE KING'S MIRROR 319 



dered obedience to their leader and fulfilled the sacred 

 laws. Those who survived regretted their sins and turned 

 their hearts to penitence for having broken the law, 

 while those who were slain were cleansed in their 

 penance and in the pangs which they suffered when they 

 died. And it was much better for them to suffer a brief 

 pain in death than a long torture in hell. Of the same 

 character are the penalties that kings impose; for a 

 king cleanses himself in the blood of the unjust, if he 

 slays them as a rightful punishment to fulfil the sacred 

 laws. (Moreover, there are many capable men who fear ^ 

 punishment alone, and would commit crimes if they S* J 



were not in terror of the king's revenge.jBut one who is - !^' 

 to suffer punishment will confess his sins and repent of 

 his misdeeds; though if he did not see a sudden death 

 prepared for him, he would show no repentance. He is, 

 therefore, saved by his repentance and the pangs which 

 he suffers in his death. And it is better for him to suffer 

 a brief punishment here than endless agony and tor- 

 ture; for God never punishes the same sin twice. Con- 

 sequently the king's punishment becomes a good and 

 kind deed toward all those who are subject to him, for 

 he would rather have the one who is to be punished 

 suffer a brief pain here for his wickedness than to be 

 lost forever, in the world to come. Through this kind- 

 ness he also saves the righteous and peaceable from the 

 avarice and the wickedness of the violent. We may, 

 therefore, conclude that .punishment is a good deed, if 

 it is exacted according to a righteous verdict; for King 

 Saul was deposed from^ his kingship because he failed 

 to punish according to God's orders at the time when 

 he invaded the kingdoms of Amalek and the Amorites. 



