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Retribution or repayment in kind is the cornerstone of Western ideas about justice. In iron-age societies that lacked written laws, courts, and police, justice was synonymous with vengeance: families avenged offences against kin, and cycles of offense and reprisal morphed into great feuds, the subject of saga and legend. Theories of justice and the practice of private revenge coexisted in Christian Europe, at odds but hand in hand, until the eighteenth century. Among aristocratic families a code of honor demanding vengeance lasted well into the modern period. In Elizabethan England a man was expected to retaliate swiftly for slights to himself or the abuse of his kin or dependents. As Laertes says to Claudius:
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James's grandparents, the Lennox clan, insisted that the child had a duty to revenge his father's murder. To spur him on, they commissioned a painting, The Darnley Memorial, of his father's tomb, with the details of his murder carved in relief. Before it the young James and the Lennox family pray for revenge, while a wall plaque bids the young king to remember his father's murder until God appoints the time for him as His scourge to avenge it. |
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The Bible itself recognizes the lex talionis or the law of repayment in kind, Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe (Exodus 21:23-5, Geneva version) Scripture itself supports private or family vengeance when it declares, "The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: when he meeteth him, he shall slay him" (Numbers 35:19). And the Old Testament God Himself is a God of wrath who promises to wreak destruction upon His enemies and the enemies of His people. |
"Wound for wound, |
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But the Christian position on vengeance is complex, even contradictory. Even while the wrathful God of the Old Testament promises to take His revenge in Deuteronomy 32:35—"To me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste" (Geneva Bible)— He explicitly reserves the right of vengeance to Himself. The Lord Himself forbids private revenge in Leviticus 19:18: "Thou shalt not avenge, nor be mindful of wrong against the children of thy people, but shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; I am the Lord." The Wisdom of Solomon includes the injunction: "Say not thou, I will recompense evil: but wait upon the Lord, and he shall save thee" (Proverbs 20:22). "He that seeketh vengeance, shall find vengeance of the Lord, and he will surely keep his sins," the commentator Jesus the son of Sirach writes in Ecclesiasticus 28:1. And, most important, Jesus Christ Himself explicitly condemns the lex talionis of the Old Testament in the Sermon on the Mount:
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But the Sermon decrees an ideal of righteousness that few attain, and those demanding an eye for an eye could claim that God's Himself was vengeful. In Ecclesiasticus the sage warns: "For the most High hateth the wicked, and will repay vengeance unto the ungodly, and keepeth them against the day of horrible vengeance" (12:6). Christians struggling to reconcile the Lord's prohibition on private revenge with His promise of divine retribution had to ponder chapter 12 of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, his most careful exposition of his creed: |
"Vengeance |
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Rejoice with them that rejoice, & weep with them that weep. Be of like affection one towards another: be not high minded: but make your selves equal to them of the lower sort: be not wise in yourselves. Recompense to no man evil for evil: procure things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as in you is, have peace with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him: if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with goodness. |
"Vengeance |
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Paul preaches the same brotherly love as Jesus on the Mount: "avenge not yourselves, but give place to wrath." But in the very same verse Paul cites God's promise to wreak divine retribution in our stead: "Vengeance is mine: I will repay." The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who were considering a return to their Jewish beliefs, insists that God will avenge Himself upon the willful sinner: "For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me: I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people" (10:30). In the Geneva Bible a marginal note adds, "God is a revenger of such as despise him: otherwise he should not rightly govern his Church." |
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But how, then, is God to achieve His vengeance if He denies vengeance to those who have been wronged? Paul provides an answer in Romans 13:
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Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist, shall receive to themselves condemnation. For Magistrates are not to be feared for good works, but for evil. Wilt thou then bee without fear of the power? doe well: so shalt thou have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God for thy wealth, but if thou do evil, fear: for he beareth not the sword for naught: for he is the minister of God to take vengeance on him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must be subject, not because of wrath only, but also for conscience sake.
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Even in the high Middle Ages, however, vengeance remained morally ambiguous. In the Second Part of his Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas argues against private vengeance, vengeance taken "to take pleasure in another's evil" even against "one who had unjustly inflicted evil" upon the avenger. But if vengeance is required to prevent the sinner from persisting in wickedness, then, Aquinas concludes, "vengeance may be lawful."
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Whether vengeance is lawful?I answer that, Vengeance consists in the infliction of a penal evil on one who has sinned. Accordingly, in the matter of vengeance, we must consider the mind of the avenger. For if his intention is directed chiefly to the evil of the person on whom he takes vengeance and rests there, then his vengeance is altogether unlawful: because to take pleasure in another's evil belongs to hatred, which is contrary to the charity whereby we are bound to love all men. Nor is it an excuse that he intends the evil of one who has unjustly inflicted evil on him, as neither is a man excused for hating one that hates him: for a man may not sin against another just because the latter has already sinned against him, since this is to be overcome by evil, which was forbidden by the Apostle, who says (Rm. 12:21): "Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good." "Overcome
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If, however, the avenger's intention be directed chiefly to some good, to be obtained by means of the punishment of the person who has sinned (for instance that the sinner may amend, or at least that he may be restrained and others be not disturbed, that justice may be upheld, and God honored), then vl, provided other due circumstances be observed. "Vengeance
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In such cases, as Hamlet puts it, Is't not perfect conscience
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During the Reformation, an age that considered the time of miracles long past, Christian commentators also distinguished sharply between private vengeance, which was sinful, and divine retribution taken by a magistrate acting as God's scourge and minister. In his Commentary on Romans 12:19, John Calvin flatly declares, "however grievously we may be injured, we are not to seek revenge, but to commit it to the Lord." The desire for revenge arises from "an inordinate love of self and innate pride," to take from the Lord "the right of judging."
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Hence, as it is not lawful to usurp the office of God, it is not lawful to revenge; for we thus anticipate the judgment of God, who will have this office reserved for himself. He at the same time intimates, that they shall have God as their defender, who patiently wait for his help; but that those who anticipate him leave no place for the help of God. "It is not lawful to usurp the office of God"
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But he prohibits here, not only that we are not to execute revenge with our own hands, but that our hearts also are not to be influenced by a desire of this kind: it is therefore superfluous to make a distinction here between public and private revenge; for he who, with a malevolent mind and desirous of revenge, seeks the help of a magistrate, has no more excuse than when he devises means for self-revenge. Nay, revenge, as we shall presently see, is not indeed at all times to be sought from God: for if our petitions arise from a private feeling, and not from pure zeal produced by the Spirit, we do not make God so much our judge as the executioner of our depraved passion. "Revenge is not
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Hence, we do not otherwise give place to wrath, than when with quiet minds we wait for the seasonable time of deliverance, praying at the same time, that they who are now our adversaries, may by repentance become our friends.
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For it is written, etc. He brings proof, taken from the song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32:35, where the Lord declares that he will be the avenger of his enemies; and God's enemies are all who without cause oppress his servants. "He who touches you," he says, "touches the pupil of mine eye." With this consolation then we ought to be content,—that they shall not escape unpunished who undeservedly oppress us,—and that we, by enduring, shall not make ourselves more subject or open to the injuries of the wicked, but, on the contrary, shall give place to the Lord, who is our only judge and deliverer, to bring us help. "The Lord will be the avenger of his enemies"
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Though it be not indeed lawful for us to pray to God for vengeance on our enemies, but to pray for their conversion, that they may become friends; yet if they proceed in their impiety, what is to happen to the despisers of God will happen to them. But Paul quoted not this testimony to show that it is right for us to be as it were on fire as soon as we are injured, and according to the impulse of our flesh, to ask in our prayers that God may become the avenger of our injuries; but he first teaches us that it belongs not to us to revenge, except we would assume to ourselves the office of God; and secondly, he intimates, that we are not to fear that the wicked will more furiously rage when they see us bearing patiently; for God does not in vain take upon himself the office of executing vengeance. "God take[s]
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The Calvinist editors of the Geneva Bible, compiled during their defeat and exile under Bloody Mary, too, place their faith in the office of the magistrate. In their marginal note they insisted that Romans 13, in which Saint Paul preached obedience to "the higher powers" of the state, applied only to the "private man," not the magistrate, who was responsible to God to resist those powers if they strayed from godly commands. Paul showed that what all "subjects owe to their magistrates," from the highest to the basest, the local justice to the king, is "obedience," from which "no man is free." "Because God is author of this order," they conclude, rebels "make war with God himself." "God by this means"—the means of civil authority vested in the state—"preserveth the good and bridleth the wicked God hath armed the Magistrate even with a revenging sword," and through his magistrate, His minister, God "revengeth the wicked."
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"We must obey
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"The Magistrates exercise
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The good magistrate became a figure of reverence to the established church as well. In the same year that he became domestic chaplain to the Prince of Wales, Joseph Hall, the most moderate and thoughtful defenders of the established Church of England, lauded the good magistrate as the exemplar of all righteousness.
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HE is the faithful deputy of his Maker, whose obedience is the rule whereby he ruleth. His breast is the ocean whereinto all the cares of private men empty themselves; which as he receives without complaint and overflowing, so he sends them forth again by a wise conveyance in the streams of justice. . . . On the bench, he is another from himself at home; now all private respects, of blood, alliance, amity, are forgotten; and if his own son come under trial, he knows him not. Pity, which in all others is wont to be the best praise of humanity and the fruit of Christian love, is by him thrown over the bar for corruption. As for Favor, the false advocate of the gracious, he allows him not to appear in the court; there only causes are heard speak, not persons. . . . Displeasure, revenge, recompense, stand on both sides the bench, but he scorns to turn his eye towards them, looking only right forward at equity, which stands full before him. "He is the faithful deputy of his Maker"
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His sentence is ever deliberate, and guided with ripe wisdom; yet his hand is slower than his tongue; but when he is urged by occasion either to doom or execution, he shows how much he hateth merciful injustice; neither can his resolution or act be reversed with partial importunity. . . . He hates to pay private wrongs with the advantage of his office, and if ever be be partial, it is to his enemy. He is not more sage in his gown than valorous in arms, and increaseth in the rigor of his discipline as the times in danger. His sword hath neither rusted for want of use, nor surfeiteth of blood; but after many threats is unsheathed, as . He is the guard of good laws, the refuge of innocency, the comet of the guilty, the paymaster of good deserts, the champion of justice, the patron of peace, the tutor of the church the father of his country, and, as it were, another god upon earth. "His sword is
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For Hall, too, "Vengeance is mine" is a bar to private vengeance; the good Christian patiently endures "not out of baseness and cowardliness, because he dares not revenge, but out of Christian fortitude, because he may not." But the God of Calvin and the Church of England does exact vengeance, and the agent of divine retribution is his deputy, the magistrate, "the dreadful instrument of divine revenge." The Calvinist editors of the Geneva Bible insisted that Romans 13, in which Saint Paul preached obedience to "the higher powers" of the state, applied only to the "private man," not the magistrate, who was responsible to God to resist those powers if they strayed from godly commands.
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But what if the magistrate is not good? In their notes on Romans the authors of the Geneva Bible pointedly conclude that the very means of divine retribution by which God "preserveth the good and bridleth the wicked" can be turned upon His magistrates as well: "by these words, the Magistrates themselves, are put in mind of that duty which they owe to their subjects."
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3 [The third argument taken from the end wherefore they were made, which is most profitable: for that God by this means preserveth the good and bridleth the wicked: by which words, the Magistrates themselves, are put in mind of that duty which they owe to their subjects.] For Magistrates are not to be feared for good works, but for evil. [An excellent way to bear this yoke, not only without grief, but also with great profit.] Wilt thou then be without fear of the power? do well: so shalt thou have praise of the same.
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4 For he is the minister of God for thy wealth, [God hath armed the Magistrate even with a revenging sword.] but if thou do evil, fear: for he beareth not the sword for naught: for he is the minister of God to [By whom God revengeth the wicked] take vengeance on him that doeth evil.
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5 [The conclusion: We must obey the Magistrate, not only for fear of punishment, but much more because that (although the Magistrate hath no power over the conscience of man, yet seeing he is God's minister) he cannot be resisted by any good conscience.] Wherefore ye must be subject, not because of wrath only, but [so far as lawfully we may: for if unlawful things be commanded us, we must answer as Peter teacheth us, It is better to obey God, then men.] also for conscience sake. "The Magistrate is God's minister"
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But if the magistrate strays, who will become God's minister and wield his avenging sword? In his essay on vengeance, Sir Francis Bacon acknowledges that there are limits to the reach of the law, and thus of the magistrate's power to right all wrongs.
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Revenge is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth the law; but the revenge of that wrong, putteth the law out of office. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince's part to pardon. And Solomon, I am sure, saith, It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence. [Proverbs 19:11] That which is past is gone, and irrevocable; and wise men have enough to do, with things present and to come; therefore they do but trifle with themselves, that labor in past matters. There is no man doth a wrong, for the wrong's sake; but thereby to purchase himself profit, or pleasure, or honor, or the like. Therefore why should I be angry with a man, for loving himself better than me? And if any man should do wrong, merely out of ill-nature, why, yet it is but like the thorn or briar, which prick and scratch, because they can do no other. The most tolerable sort of revenge, is for those wrongs which there is no law to remedy; but then let a man take heed, the revenge be such as there is no law to punish; else a man's enemy is still before hand, and it is two for one. Some, when they take revenge, are desirous, the party should know, whence it cometh. This is the more generous. For the delight seemeth to be, not so much in doing the hurt, as in making the party repent. But base and crafty cowards, are like the arrow that flieth in the dark. . . . This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge, keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal, and do well. Public revenges are for the most part fortunate; as that for the death of Caesar; for the death of Pertinax; for the death of Henry the Third of France; and many more. But in private revenges, it is not so. Nay rather, vindictive persons live the life of witches; who, as they are mischievous, so end they infortunate. "Revenge is a kind of wild justice"
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Bacon's position is thoroughly secular, the position of a civil magistrate. Revenge is merely "wild" justice: savage, unruly, rash, ungoverned. If the first offense "but offend" the rule of law, the second offense of avenging it "putteth the law out of office." The best revenge most closely resembles the just sentence of the magistrate: not "private" retaliation but "public" or civil punishment for "those wrongs which there is no law"—and hence no magistrate—"to remedy," taken openly not for "the delight . . . in doing the hurt, as in making the party repent."
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The only revenge sanctioned by scrupulous Christians after the Reformation is that in which the revenger shun all private motives for revenge, acting not out of a sense of private injury or in a passion, not, as Bacon would have it for "the delight in doing the hurt," but as a selfless instrument of divine retribution upon the wicked. Ordinarily this task falls to the magistrate. But, as Bacon does acknowledge, "for those wrongs which there is no law to remedy," revenge is "tolerable." The genre of revenge tragedy from which Hamlet springs, treats such "wild justice," when such wild justice is the avenger's only resort. In revenge tragedy the revenger's injuries are beyond the remedy of the law because the state has fallen into corruption, and magistrate—the prince or king—himself shields the offender from punishment, usually because the offender is the magistrate himself. Revenge tragedy arises to contest the power of the state at precisely that moment in history in which the state begins to make unprecedented claims for its power. It raises in another key the same question raised by the history plays, whether it is legitimate to resist the power of the Lord's anointed when he himself is guilty of the kind of wickedness that God Himself promises to avenge. "Revenge is tolerable for those wrongs which there is |
