Abstract
Ubi interrogatio, ibi lex: Wherever you look the law is there, stated Augustine forcefully and clearly in his commentary to the fifty-seventh (58) Psalm, verse 2: Si vere utique iusticiam loquimini, recte iudicate, filii hominum. (Do ye indeed speak righteousness? Judge uprightly, O ye sons of men.) Augustine's commentary to this verse articulates a problem and an opposition. It is a powerful passage which sets forth a compelling picture of the fugitive, not from the law, but from his own heart. The conclusion to Augustine's discussion is simple and personal: to identify the law is to reinstate one's own person. The commentary closes with a decisive statement. Wherever one looks, the law is there. But as men lust after what is outside themselves, they have been made exiles. So the written law was, accordingly, given. Hence, to these fugitives from the law, written upon their own hearts, which could have been comprehended and which could have called them back, the written law cries aloud. Return, then. prevaricators, to your heart.
Recommended Citation
Deusen, Nancy Van
(1994)
"Ubi Lex? Robert Grosseteste’s Discussion of Law, Letter, and Time and Its Musical Exemplification,"
University of Dayton Review: Vol. 22:
No.
3, Article 23.
Available at:
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/udr/vol22/iss3/23
Comments
Issue contains the subject matter of the 1994 Philosophy Colloquium, which had the theme "Augustine on Human Goodness: Metaphysics, Ethics and Politics." It was held April 7-9, 1994.