The. 13. Chapter. The ninth Precept; Thou shalt not beare false witnesse. And first of Contumelie.
AS touching this place, 1 I iudge that there be foure things to be considered of; first, what is Contumelie; secondlie, from whence it springeth; thirdlie, whether it be sinne; lastlie, whether it be tollerable. These principall points being examined, we will applie the matter vnto Dauid; to consider, whether he did rightlie, in bearing therewith in Semei. What it is, we shall by this meanes knowe. First, we will note the etymologie of the word; after that, 2 we will set foorth the definition. Contumelie (if we giue credit vnto Vlpianus the lawier, in the Digests, in the title De iniurijs, lawe the first) is so called, of Contemnendo, Contemning: and in verie déed it hath his beginning of contempt. Those, whom we reproch, we despise. Touching the definition, we gather out of the second booke of Aristotles Rhetorikes, that this euill hath, 3 for his generall word, ⟨…⟩, that is, Contempt. It is defined what it is; to wit, A certeine action about the opinion; and concerneth that thing, which appeareth vnto vs to be of no value. We in our mind and conceit contemne those things, which séeme to be of no value. Of this contempt he maketh thrée kinds. The first is, ⟨…⟩, that is, 4 Despising. The second is, ⟨…⟩, that is, A certeine kind of disprofiting; as if we be so affected against others, that we take pleasure in the hindering of their commodities. There be some loftie minds, which in comparison of themselues, thinke men vnwoorthie of anie good thing. The third is, ⟨…⟩, that is, Contumelie, whereof we now intreate.
The same consisteth in saiengs and dooings, when we vse the bitterer sort of words & déeds, to the defacing of anie mans honour, and doo take pleasure therein. Wherefore Cicero, in his Oration for Marcus Coelius, said: that Shrewd speaches tend to no other end, but to contumelie; which if it be bosted of, after anie insolent maner, is named a reproch; but being doone merilie, it is called iesting. 5 To perceiue it the better, thou must vnderstand, that betwéene reproching and honoring there is a contrarietie. They are vnder one kind, and yet, as contraries, are furthest off one from another. They apperteine to the signification of honour. If we honour anie man, we declare that we thinke well of him; if we reproch him, we shew by some signe, words, or déeds, that we thinke euill of him. And therefore it behooueth, that if a man either vse contumelie, or haue it vsed vnto him, this manner of signification is alwaies therein. For if we should doo anie thing against the estimation of anie man, and yet not signifie the ill opinion we haue of him, it would not be properlie called contumelie.
I will shew it by examples. A man breaking open another mans doore, to steale, to commit adulterie, or to kill some man, that breaking in of the gate is heinous; but being not purposelie doone, to dishonest him, it is iniurie: if he breake it open, to reproch him, he dealeth contumeliouslie against him. Absalom abused the wiues of his father. 6 If he had doone it of lust, it had béene incest onelie, and not contumelie: but séeing he did these things without hauing delight in their loue and beautie, onelie through the hatred he bare to his father, meaning to dishonour him, it is now called contumelie. When in these contumelies, tawnts are vsed against anie man; those sometimes are sins, and some times no sinnes. 7 No sinnes, as if one vpbraid another, that he hath the pox, that he is lame or blind: sinne, as when Semei calleth Dauid, A man of bloud.