‘I secondly prove my proposition, by adding, that any subject-vassal who is an enemy to his sovereign lord sins mortally. My conclusion is therefore true,—and that he is a tyrant I shall prove by my lord St Gregory, who says:
‘Tyrannus est proprie qui non dominus reputatur. Non juste principatur; aut non principatu decoratur. Nam sicut regnum rectus principatus dicitur. Sic dominium perversum tyrannis nuncupatur.’
‘It appears plain, that whoever commits the crime of high treason against the person of the prince is guilty of the highest possible offence, and is deserving of a double death. By the first death, I mean the separation of the body from the soul, which causes a perdurable damnation; for St John the evangelist says, ‘Qui vivit non morietur nec lædetur a morte secunda;’ that is to say, That every human creature who shall obtain a victory over Covetousness and her three daughters, need not be afraid of the second death, namely, eternal damnation.
‘The second fact is, that in cases where a subject-vassal has been guilty of this crime, he cannot be too severely or too speedily punished; but a man of rank is more deserving of punishment than a simple subject, a baron than a simple knight, a count than a baron, a duke than a count, the cousin to the king than a foreigner, the king’s brother than a cousin, the son to the king than his brother. Such is the first part of the second fact,—and I thus prove the second part; for as the obligation is greater, by many degrees, to desire to preserve the safety of the king’s person and the good of the state, so the punishment of those who act contrary increases according to their rank; and the consequence I draw from it will prove true, namely, that the son is more bounden than the brother, the brother than the cousin, a duke than a count, a count than a baron, a baron than a knight, &c. to guard and preserve the honour of the king and the welfare of the realm; for to each of these ranks and dignities is a certain corresponding duty attached,—and the higher the rank, the greater the obligation, for the larger the possessions, and the more noble the person, the more he is bounden, as St Gregory, before quoted, says, ‘Cum crescunt dona et rationes donorum.’