Moral essays. With an English translation by J.W. Basore

ON MERCY, I in. S-5all men know to be as much their friend as he istheir superior ; whose concern they daily find to bevigilant for the safety of each and all ; upon whoseapproach they do not flee as if some monster ordeadly beast had leaped from his lair, but rusheagerly forward as toward a bright and beneficentstar. In his defence they are ready on the instantto throw themselves before the swords of assassins,and to lay their bodies beneath his feet if his pathto safety must be paved with slaughtered men ; hissleep they guard by nightly \igils, his person theydefend with an encirchng barrier, against assailingdangers they make themselves a rampart.Not A\"ithout reason do cities and peoples showthis accord in giWng such protection and loveto their kings, and in flinging themselves and allthey have into the breach whenever the safetyof their ruler craves it. Nor is it self-depreciationor madness when many thousands meet thesteel for the sake of one man, and with manydeaths ransom the single life, it may be, of a feebledotard.The whole body is the servant of the mind, andthough the former is so much larger and so muchmore showy, while the unsubstantial soul remainsin\isible not knowing where its secret habitationlies, yet the hands, the feet, and the eyes are in itsemploy ; the outer skin is its defence ; at its biddingwe he idle, or restlessly run to and fro ; when itcommands, if it is a grasping tyrant, we search the seafor gain ; if covetous of fame, ere now we have thrusta right hand into the flame, or plunged willingly intoa chasm. In the same way this vast throng, encirchngthe life of one man, is ruled by his spirit, guided by his367