.): "A just war is wont to be described as one that avenges
wrongs, when a nation or state has to be punished, for refusing to
make amends for the wrongs inflicted by its subjects, or to restore
what it has seized unjustly."

Thirdly, it is necessary that the belligerents should have a rightful
intention, so that they intend the advancement of good, or the
avoidance of evil. Hence Augustine says (De Verb. Dom. [*The words
quoted are to be found not in St. Augustine's works, but Can. Apud.
Caus. xxiii, qu. 1]): "True religion looks upon as peaceful those
wars that are waged not for motives of aggrandizement, or cruelty,
but with the object of securing peace, of punishing evil-doers, and
of uplifting the good." For it may happen that the war is declared by
the legitimate authority, and for a just cause, and yet be rendered
unlawful through a wicked intention. Hence Augustine says (Contra
Faust. xxii, 74): "The passion for inflicting harm, the cruel thirst
for vengeance, an unpacific and relentless spirit, the fever of
revolt, the lust of power, and such like things, all these are
rightly condemned in war."

Reply Obj. 1: As Augustine says (Contra Faust. xxii, 70): "To take
the sword is to arm oneself in order to take the life of anyone,
without the command or permission of superior or lawful authority."
On the other hand, to have recourse to the sword (as a private
person) by the authority of the sovereign or judge, or (as a public
person) through zeal for justice, and by the authority, so to speak,
of God, is not to "take the sword," but to use it as commissioned by
another, wherefore it does not deserve punishment. And yet even those
who make sinful use of the sword are not always slain with the sword,
yet they always perish with their own sword, because, unless they
repent, they are punished eternally for their sinful use of the sword.

Reply Obj. 2: Such like precepts, as Augustine observes (De Serm.
Dom. in Monte i, 19), should always be borne in readiness of mind, so
that we be ready to obey them, and, if necessary, to refrain from
resistance or self-defense. Nevertheless it is necessary sometimes
for a man to act otherwise for the common good, or for the good of
those with whom he is fighting. Hence Augustine says (Ep. ad
Marcellin. cxxxviii): "Those whom we have to punish with a kindly
severity, it is necessary to handle in many ways against their will.
For when we are stripping a man of the lawlessness of sin,