There are four reasons for prudent men and well-ordered communities to take up arms, draw their swords and put their persons, their lives and their possessions at risk: first, to defend the Catholic faith; second, to defend their own lives, in accordance with divine and natural law; third, to defend their honour, their families and their possessions; fourth, in the service of their king in a just war; and if we wished to add a fifth reason, which would come second in the list, it would be to defend their country.
