Forum+Melioris



Forum Melioris

//Meliorare te se oporteat.// //**De Clementia** // Seneca Ch. 1 Sec. 2 **About Seneca and //De Clementia//** Lucius Annaeus Seneca, most commonly known as Seneca the Younger, was a statesman and dramatist as well as the tutor and later the advisor of the emperor Nero. He was banished from Rome in 41 AD by Claudius, but was brought back in 49 AD to tutor the young Nero. After the death of Claudius in 54 AD, Nero was secured on the throne and Seneca became his advisor. He remained in this position for 8 years, and this time is considered the more competent period of Nero's rule. However, Seneca eventually lost his influence over Nero, and he retired in 62 AD. In 65 AD, Seneca was caught up in the aftermath of a conspiracy to kill Nero. Although he may have been innocent, he was ordered by Nero to commit suicide. It was in 56 AD, in the earliest part of Nero's rule and the period when his influence over the emperor was strongest, that Seneca wrote this letter to his former pupil describing the necessity of clemency as a virtue of the emperor. **Chapter 1, Section 1**
 * = "Egone ex omnibus mortalibus placui electusque sum, qui in terris deorum vice fungerer? Ego vitae necisque gentibus arbiter; qualem quisque sortem statumque habeat, in mea manu positum est; quid cuique mortalium fortuna datum velit, mea ore pronuntiat; ex nostro responso laetitiae causas populi urbesque concipiunt; nulla pars usquam nisi volente propitioque me floret; haec tot milia gladiorum, quae pax mea comprimit, ad nutum meum stringentur; quas nationes funditus excidi, quas transportari, quibus libertatem dari, quibus eripi, quos reges mancipia fieri quorumque capiti regium circumdari decus oporteat, quae ruanturbes, quae oriantur, mea iuris dictio est." ||= "Was I not pleased to have been chosen from amongst all humans to be engaged in the succession of gods on Earth? I am the overseer of life and death for the people; let each man have whatever fate and position (he wishes), having been placed in my band; let my mouth announce whatever fate wishes be given to each mortal; from our response the people and the cities derive the cause of happiness; no part anywhere flourishes if I am not willing or rendered favorable (to it); so many thousands of these swords, which my peace sheathed, draw at my command; which nations are razed to the ground, which are transported, to which liberty is given, from which it is taken away, which kings become slaves and the heads of which states ought to be surrounded with glory, which cities are destroyed, and which arise, is dictated through my law." ||

**About Clementia** Clementia is the public Roman virtue of clemency, showing mercy to conquered nations and peoples. This was important in the past because sparing a nation or a race would make them more congenial towards you in the future and less likely to rebel against Roman rule. They wouldn't rebel if they had no real reason to, and abstaining from burning major cities and slaughtering their inhabitants is a good idea most of the time. This virtue is important to keep in mind in the modern world, and not just when you've gone and conquered a nation. It is important to be a good sport when you win a game or an argument and to acknowledge the skill and hard work of your defeated rivals. Conversely, if you were on the losing side, you would expect that the winners would be good sports instead of continuing to rub their win in your face or proceeding to beat you up after the game.