Idem, Bk.  I of the “City of God": Thou shall not kill, except in the case of those whose death God orders, or else when a law hath been passed to suit the needs of the time and express command hath been laid upon a person.  But he does not kill who owes service to the person who gives him his orders, for he is as it were a mere sword for the person who employs his assistance.

Likewise: When a soldier, in obedience to the power under which he is legitimately placed, kills a man, by no law of the state is he accused of murder; nay if he has not done it, he is accused of desertion and insubordination.  But if he had acted under his own initiative and of his own will, he would have incurred the charge of shedding human blood.  And so he is punished if he does not do when ordered that for which he would receive punishment if he did 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 ears of the creator; because in battle the heavens are opened, God looks forth and awards the victory to the side he sees to be the righteous one.”

Idem: The wars to be waged we undertake either at the command of God or under some lawful rule.  Else John when the soldiers to be baptized came to him saying, “And what shall we do?” would make answer to them:  “Cast aside your arms, leave the service; smite no man; ruin no man.”

But because he knew that they did these