#de clementia

[gracchisuggestions]

Seneca’s Trick Mirror

I have determined to write a book upon clemency, Nero Caesar, in order that I may as it were serve as a mirror to you, and let you see yourself arriving at the greatest of all pleasures. For although the true enjoyment of good deeds consists in the performance of them, and virtues have no adequate reward beyond themselves, still it is worth your while to consider and investigate a good conscience from every point of view, and afterwards to cast your eyes upon this enormous mass of mankind — quarrelsome, factious, and passionate as they are; likely, if they could throw off the yoke of your government, to take pleasure alike in the ruin of themselves and of one another — and thus to commune with yourself: — "Have I of all mankind been chosen and thought fit to perform the office of a god upon earth? [...] My sword is sheathed, nay, fixed in its sheath: I am sparing of the blood even of the lowest of my subjects: a man who has nothing else to recommend him, will nevertheless find favour in my eyes because he is a man. I keep harshness concealed, but I have clemency always at hand: I watch myself as carefully as though I had to give an account of my actions to those laws which I have brought out of darkness and neglect into the light of day. I have been moved to compassion by the youth of one culprit, and the age of another: I have spared one man because of his great place, another on account of his insignificance: when I could find no reason for showing mercy, I have had mercy upon myself. I am prepared this day, should the gods demand it, to render to them an account of the human race." You, Caesar, can boldly say that everything which has come into your charge has been kept safe, and that the state has neither openly nor secretly suffered any loss at your hands. You have coveted a glory which is most rare, and which has been obtained by no emperor before you, that of innocence.

- L. Annaeus Seneca, opening of De Clementia

It should perhaps be noted that references elsewhere in De Clementia date it to after Nero’s eighteenth birthday, and Nero’s eighteenth birthday was in December of the same year that his thirteen-year-old stepbrother abruptly keeled over at the dinner table. 

[garland-on-thy-brow]

[Susanna Braund, Discussion to Seneca's De Clementia.]

[rilkent]

"Bununla birlikte şu iki şeyin birbiriyle harmanlanması ve sıra ile yapılması gerekir: Yalnızlık ve kalabalığa katılma. Yalnızlık bizim insanlara karşı özlem duymamıza sebep olur, kalabalık ise kendimize karşı özlem duymamıza ve biri diğeri için çare olur: Yalnızlık, kalabalığa karşı duyulan nefrete, kalabalık, yalnızlıktan duyulan bıkkınlığa çare olur."

[pandaemoniumpancakes]

It is a glorious thing to stablish peace, And kings approach the nearest unto God By giving life and safety unto men.

William Shakespeare, Queen Philippa from act v.1 in Edward III, line 41.

“The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: 'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown: His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God's When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That, in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much To mitigate the justice of thy plea; Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.”

   (William Shakespeare, Portia from act iv.1 in Merchant of Venice, lines 192-3)

                      ❧

   “Nor does it gaze upon its ruler with other emotion than, did they vouchsafe us the power of beholding them, we should gaze upon the immortal gods—with veneration and with worship. But tell me: he who bears himself in a godlike manner, who is beneficent and generous and uses his power for the better end—does he not hold a place second only to the gods?” (Seneca, De Clementia I.19:8-9, trans. John W. Basore)

   “He has no need to rear on high his towering castles, or to wall about steep hills against ascent, or to cut away the sides of mountains, or to encircle himself with rows of walls and turrets; through mercy a king will be assured of safety on an open plain. His one impregnable defence is the love of his countrymen.” (Seneca, De Clementia I.19:6, trans. John W. Basore)

   Non opus est instruere in altum editas arces nec in adscensum arduos colles emunire nec latera montium abscidere, multiplicibus se muris turribusque saepire: salvum regem clementia in aperto praestabit. Unum est inexpugnabile munimentum amor civium.

[j-august]

Of our movements few persons are aware; we can go forth and return home and change our dress without its being publicly known; but you are no more able to hide yourself than the sun. A strong light is all around you, the eyes of all are turned towards it. Do you think you are leaving your house? nay, you are dawning upon the world. You cannot speak without all nations everywhere hearing your voice; you cannot be angry, without making everything tremble, because you can strike no one without shaking all around him. Just as thunderbolts when they fall endanger few men but terrify all, so the chastisement inflicted by great potentates terrify more widely than they injure, and that for good reasons; for in the case of one whose power is absolute, men do not think of what he has done, so much as of what he may do. Nostros motus pauci sentiunt, prodire nobis ac recedere et mutare habitum sine sensu publico licet ; tibi non magis quam soli latere contingit. Multa circa te lux est, omnium in istam conversi oculi sunt. Prodire te putas ? Oriris. Loqui non potes, nisi ut vocem tuam, quae ubique sunt gentes, excipiant; irasci non potes, nisi ut omnia tremant, quia neminem adfligere, nisi ut, quidquid circa fuerit, quatiatur. Ut fulmina paucorum periculo cadunt, omnium metu, sic animadversiones magnarum potestatum terrent latius quam nocent, non sine causa; non enim, quantum fecerit, sed quantum facturus sit, cogitatur in eo, qui omnia potest.

Seneca, De Clementia 1.8

[j-august]

We have all of us sinned, some more deeply than others, some of set purpose, some either by chance impulse or led away by the wickedness of others; some of us have not stood bravely enough by our good resolutions, and have lost our innocence, although unwillingly and after a struggle; nor have we only sinned, but to the very end of our lives we shall continue to sin. Even if there be any one who has so thoroughly cleansed his mind that nothing can hereafter throw him into disorder or deceive him, yet even he has reached this state of innocence through sin. Peccavimus omnes, alii gravia, alii leviora, alii ex destinata, alii forte impulsi aut aliena nequitia ablati; alii in bonis consiliis parum fortiter stetimus et innocentiam inviti ac retinentes perdidimus; nec deliquimus tantum, sed usque ad extremum aevi delinquemus. Etiam si quis tam bene iam purgavit animum, ut nihil obturbare eum amplius possit ac fallere, ad innocentiam tamen peccando pervenit.

Seneca, De Clementia 1.6

[j-august]

Look at this city of Rome, in which the widest streets become choked whenever anything stops the crowds which unceasingly pour through them like raging torrents, in which the people streaming to three theatres demand the roads at the same time, in which the produce of the entire world is consumed, and reflect what a desolate waste it would become if only those were left in it whom a strict judge would acquit. How few magistrates are there who ought not to be condemned by the very same laws which they administer? How few prosecutors are themselves faultless? I imagine, also, that few men are less willing to grant pardon, than those who have often had to beg it for themselves. Cogitato, in hac civitate, in qua turba per latissima itinera sine intermissione defluens eliditur, quotiens aliquid obstitit, quod cursum eius velut torrentis rapidi moraretur, in qua tribus eodem tempore theatris caveae 1 postulantur, in qua consumitur, quidquid terris omnibus aratur, quanta solitudo ac vastitas futura sit, si nihil relinquitur, nisi quod iudex severus absolvent. Quotus quisque ex quaesitoribus est, qui non ex ipsa ea lege teneatur, qua quaerit ? quotus quisque accusator vacat culpa ? Et nescio, an nemo ad dandam veniam difficilior sit, quam qui illam petere saepius meruit.

Seneca, De Clementia 1.6

[j-august]

Although there is a harmony between all the virtues, and no one is better or more honourable than another, yet some virtues befit some persons better than others. Magnanimity befits all mortal men, even the humblest of all; for what can be greater or braver than to resist ill fortune? Yet this virtue of magnanimity occupies a wider room in prosperity, and shows to greater advantage on the judgment seat than on the floor of the court. On the other hand, clemency renders every house into which it is admitted happy and peaceful; but though it is more rare, it is on that account even more admirable in a palace. Cum autem virtutibus inter se sit concordia nec ulla altera melior aut honestior sit, quaedam tamen quibusdam personis aptior est. Decet magnanimitas quemlibet mortalem, etiam illum, infra quem nihil est; quid enim maius aut fortius quam malam fortunam retundere? Haec tamen magnanimitas in bona fortuna laxiorem locum habet meliusque in tribunali quam in plano conspicitur. Clementia, in quamcumque domum pervenerit, eam felicem tranquillamque praestabit, sed in regia, quo rarior, eo mirabilior.

Seneca, De Clementia 1.5