Let the ruler be discreet in silence and profitable in speech, lest he either utter what ought to be kept quiet, or keep silent what ought to be uttered. For just as incautious speech draws men into error, so indiscreet silence leaves in error those who might have been instructed. Often improvident rulers, fearing to lose human favour, dread to speak freely what is right; and, according to the voice of Truth (John 10:12), they no longer serve the guardianship of the flock with a shepherd's zeal, but discharge the office of hirelings, since when the wolf comes they flee, hiding themselves under silence. For this reason the Lord rebukes them through the prophet, saying: They are dumb dogs, not able to bark (Isaiah 56:10). And again He complains, saying:
You have not gone up against the enemy, nor set up a wall for the house of Israel, to stand in battle in the day of the Lord (Ezekiel 13:5). To go up against the enemy is to oppose the powers of this world with a free voice in defence of the flock. And to stand in battle in the day of the Lord is to resist, out of love of righteousness, those who contend for wickedness. For a shepherd's having feared to speak what is right, what else is it than to have turned his back by keeping silent? Whereas surely, if he sets himself before the flock, he opposes a wall for the house of Israel against its enemies. Hence again it is said to the offending people: Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish things, and they did not lay open your iniquity, to provoke you to repentance (Lamentations 2:14).
For in sacred speech the prophets are sometimes called teachers, who, in showing that present things are fleeting, make manifest the things to come. These the divine word convicts of seeing false things, because, while they fear to reprove faults, they vainly flatter offenders with a promise of security; and they by no means lay open the iniquity of sinners, because they hold their peace from the voice of rebuke. For the key that opens is the word of correction, since by rebuking it uncovers the fault which often even he who committed it does not know. Hence Paul says: That he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine, and to convince those who contradict (Titus 1:9). Hence through Malachi it is said: The lips of the priest keep knowledge,
and men shall seek the law from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts (Malachi 2:7). Hence through Isaiah the Lord admonishes, saying: Cry aloud, cease not, lift up your voice like a trumpet (Isaiah 58:1). For whoever comes to the priesthood takes up the office of a herald, so that he himself, crying out, may go before the coming of the Judge who follows terribly. Therefore if the priest is ignorant of preaching, what voice of proclamation shall the dumb herald give? For this reason the Holy Spirit rested upon the first pastors in the form of tongues (Acts 2:3), because surely He makes those whom He has filled to speak of Him at once. Hence Moses is commanded that when the priest enters the tabernacle, he be encompassed with bells (Exodus 28:33),
that is, that he may have the voices of preaching, lest by silence he offend the judgment of the heavenly Beholder. For it is written: That the sound may be heard when he enters and goes out of the sanctuary in the sight of the Lord, and that he die not (Exodus 28:35). For the priest, entering or going out, dies if no sound is heard from him, because he provokes the wrath of the hidden Judge against himself, if he goes on without the sound of preaching. Fittingly, moreover, are the bells described as inserted into his garments. For what else ought we to understand by the priest's garments than righteous works? As the prophet testifies, who says: Let your priests be clothed with righteousness (Psalm 132:9).
Therefore the bells cling to his garments, so that the very works of the priest, together with the sound of his tongue, may proclaim the way of life. But when the ruler prepares himself to speak, let him consider with how great care of caution he speaks, lest, if we are carried away to speak in a disorderly way, the hearts of the hearers be struck with the wound of error, and while perhaps he desires to seem wise, he unwisely sever the bond of unity. For hence Truth says: Have salt in yourselves, and have peace among yourselves (Mark 9:50). By salt, indeed, is signified the wisdom of the word. Whoever, therefore, strives to speak wisely, let him greatly fear lest by his eloquence the unity of the hearers be confounded. Hence Paul says: Not to be more wise than it behooveth to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety (Romans 12:3).
Hence, in the priest's vestment, according to the divine voice, pomegranates are joined to the bells (Exodus 28:34). For what is signified by the pomegranates, unless the unity of faith? For as in a pomegranate many seeds are protected within by one outer rind, so the unity of faith covers the innumerable peoples of holy Church, whom within a diversity of merits holds. Therefore, lest the ruler rush incautiously to speak, Truth herself proclaims to the disciples through herself what we have already set forth: Have salt in yourselves, and have peace among yourselves (Mark 9:50). As if, figuratively, through the priest's dress she should say: Join pomegranates to the bells, so that in all you say you may keep the unity of faith with cautious observance.
Rulers must also provide with solicitous intention that from them not only nothing wrong be in any way brought forth, but not even right things be uttered excessively and disorderly; because often the force of what is said is lost, when it is made cheap in the hearts of hearers by the incautious importunity of loquacity; and this same loquacity defiles its own author, who knows not how to serve the hearers unto the profit of advancement. Hence it is well said through Moses: The man who suffers a flux of seed shall be unclean (Leviticus 15:2). For in the mind of the hearers, the quality of the speech heard is the seed of the thought that follows, since while the word is conceived through the ear, thought is generated in the mind. Hence also by the wise of this world the excellent preacher was called a sower of words (Acts 17:18).
Whoever, therefore, suffers a flux of seed is declared unclean, because, being subject to much speaking, he defiles himself with that which, had he brought it forth in an orderly manner, he might have been able to bring forth the offspring of right thought into the hearts of the hearers; and while he incautiously runs to waste through loquacity, he pours out the seed not to the use of generation, but to uncleanness. Hence also Paul, when he admonished his disciple concerning insistence in preaching, saying: I charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who shall judge the living and the dead, by his coming and his kingdom, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season (2 Timothy 4:1-2);
when about to say 'out of season,' he first put 'in season,' because indeed importunity destroys itself by its very cheapness in the mind of the hearer, if it knows not how to have its own opportuneness.