156. That it is lawful to kill a man, _et non_.

How he brought out the conflict of opinions is shown by the following
example:

THAT IT IS LAWFUL TO KILL A MAN, AND THE OPPOSITE THESIS.

_Jerome on Isaiah, Bk. V._ He who cuts the throat of a man of
blood, is not a man of blood.

_Idem, On the Epistle to the Galatians:_ He who smites the
wicked because they are wicked and whose reason for the murder is
that he may slay the base, is a servant of the Lord.

_Idem, on Jeremiah:_ For the punishment of homicides, impious
persons and poisoners is not bloodshed, but serving the law.

_Cyprian, in the Ninth Kind of Abuse:_ The King ought to restrain
theft, punish deeds of adultery, cause the wicked to perish from
off the face of the earth, refuse to allow parricides and
perjurers to live.

_Augustine:_ Although it is manslaughter to slaughter a man, a
person may sometimes be slain without sin. For both a soldier in
the case of an enemy and a judge or his official in the case of a
criminal, and the man from whose hand, perhaps without his will
or knowledge, a weapon has flown, do not seem to me to sin, but
merely to kill a man.

_Likewise:_ The soldier is ordered by law to kill the enemy, and