it without orders.

_Idem, to Publicola:_ Counsel concerning the slaying of men
pleaseth me not, that none may be slain by them, unless perhaps a
man is a soldier or in a public office, so that he does the deed
not in his own behalf, but for others and for the state,
accepting power legitimately conferred, if it is consonant with
the task imposed on him.

_Likewise:_ It has been said: let us not resist the evil man, let
not the vengeance delight us which feeds the mind on others' ill,
let us not neglect the reproofs of men.

_Idem, to Marcella:_ If that earthly commonwealth of thine keep
to the teachings of Christ, even wars will not be waged without
goodwill, for with pitying heart even wars if possible will be
waged by the good, so that the lusts of desire may be subdued and
those faults destroyed which ought under just rule to be either
rooted out or chastised. For if Christian training condemned all
wars, this should rather be the advice given in the gospel for
their safety to the soldiers who ask for it, namely to throw
aside their arms and retire altogether from the field. But this
is the word spoken to them: Do violence to no man, neither accuse
any falsely; and be content with your wages.

He warns them that the wages that belong to them should satisfy
them, but he by no means forbids them to take the field.

_Idem, to his comrade Boniface:_ "I will give thee and thine a
useful counsel: Take arms in thy hands; let prayer strike the