Synopsis
A treatise on kingship arguing that the best ruler governs for the common good, guided by virtue and oriented ultimately toward the people's eternal as well as temporal welfare.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Public domainA king rules well only when he directs his subjects toward the common good rather than his own advantage, and tyranny is precisely the perversion of rule into private gain.
It fuses Aristotelian political science with Christian theology, making legitimacy depend on serving a shared good ordered to human flourishing.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with John Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration.
Reading note
Note that Aquinas began it and others completed it; read it as practical counsel for rulers, attentive to the common-good standard for legitimacy.
Best paired with
John Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration