Publisher's Synopsis
This book is a timeless work. In the De Bono Pacis, however, Remigius dei Girolami establishes what this common good is, it is peace: "the good of the world consists of peace, that is in the tranquility of its parts toward one another. These texts, in their discussion of how to overcome this conflict, offer a unique perspective, since Remigius carefully avoids the core of the conflict, the last playing out of the Investiture Controversy between Pope and Emperor, and instead focuses on the relationship between the individual and the state. These are not polemic texts, meant to bolster one side over the other, rather he paints a picture in which even the victory of one side over the other results in destruction for all since conflict is of detriment to society as a whole. It is not an imperial party or papal party that is the problem and must be defeated, as is seen often in other texts of the same time period, such as the Defensor Pacis by Marsilius of Padua or Dante's De Monarchia, whose hatred of the Black Guelfs was so great that he consigned many of their leaders in the Inferno. Instead, it is the individual who does not love the city who is culpable for the destruction of the state, conversely, it is through the love of this individual for the community that all benefit.
In addition to the translation, the book offers contextualization and structural analysis in a general introduction as well as introductions to each text. Much of the discussion centers on the influence of Thomas Aquinas, felt everywhere in Remigius dei Girolami's works, from the setup of the section of objections to the adoption of the Thomistic understanding of the relationship of human and divine law to the pervasive reliance on Aristotle. Especially in the De Bono Communi and De Bono Pacis quotations of and references to the works of Aristotle are made as often as Scriptural references. It is this reliance on Aristotle that allows Remigius dei Girolami to formulate his argument. Remigius adopts the Aristotelian principle of the part and the whole in his understanding of the relationship of the individual to the community. Using the image of a hand or foot as part of the body, beyond which the hand or foot has no real existence, Remigius adapts this to argue that the citizen has no real existence beyond the community. If this is the case, then anything which endangers the community, such as the constant fighting between political factions, is an existential threat to each individual part of the community, even the part which is victorious.
