FORUM+ADDIE

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**// De Clementia, //**** by Seneca ** **from Chapter 1, section 1: lines 1-7** Scribere de **clementia**, Nero Caesar, institui, ut quodam modo speculi vice fungerer et te tibi ostenderem perventurum ad voluptatem maximam omnium. Quamvis enim recte factorum verus fructus sit fecisse nec ullum virtutum pretium dignum illis extra ipsas sit, iuvat inspicere et circumire bonam conscientiam, tum immittere oculos in hanc immensam multitudinem discordem, seditiosam, impotentem, in perniciem alienam suamque pariter exultaturam si hoc iugum fregerit, et ita loquisecum:

I have decided, Nero Caesar, to write about **clemency**, so that in a certain way I might be occupied by the turn of an image and I might show you to yourself, about to arrive to the greatest satisfaction of all. For although the true profit of good deeds rightly may be in having done them and there is not any fitting reward for the virtues apart from themselves, it helps to inspect and measure the good conscience, then to turn the eyes onto this immense unhappy multitude, sedition, the powerless, onto foreign danger, and equally our own danger, which is about to arise, if this yoke is broken, and thus i speak with him: (continued: http://forumgaudii.wikispaces.com/Forum+Melioris )

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, or Seneca the Younger, was a Roman philosopher during the Silver Age of Classical Latin. Although he is known for his many tragedies, he is perhaps most famous for his role as the tutor to Nero during the glory days of this rule over Rome. It is said that Seneca, as he lost his influence on the corrupt Nero, participated in the Pisonian Conspiracy, a plot to kill this emperor. As a punishment, he was apparently ordered by Nero to kill himself in a fatal bath believed later by Christians to be a holy baptism. Seneca wrote De Clementia to Nero in an attempt to enlighten this ruler on the importance of clemency as a virtue in an emperor.

Clementia is the Roman virtue of mercy, or forgiveness. Just as it was in ancient times, clementia is still prevalent in our society today. For example, one major aspect in the United States Judicial System is that of forgiveness. If no one could move past their crimes, then our jails would be filled with people, but because of modern-day clementia, people can suffer the consequences of their crime and then move on with their lives. This virtue is significant today for the same reason it was in ancient times: everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is to learn from these mistakes and, because of clementia, not be defined by these actions.

"Errare Humanum Est" - Roman Proverb