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

ON MERCY, I. XVI. 1-5In the eyes of a ruler let no man count for so littlethat his destruction is not noted ; be he what hemay, he is part of the realm. From the forms oflesser power let us draw a parallel for great power.There is more than one kind of power : a prince haspower over his subjects, a father over liis children,a teacher over his pupils, a tribune or a centurionover his soldiers. Will he not seem the worst sortof father who controls his children by constantwhippings for even the most trifling offences ? Andof teachers, which ^«ll reflect more credit upon theUberal studies—the one who will draw the blood ofhis pupils if their memory is weak, or if the eye isnot quick and lags in reading, or the one who choosesrather by kind admonition and a sense of shame tocorrect, and so to teach, his pupils ? Show me atribune or centurion that is harsh ; he will causedeserters, who all the same " are pardonable. Is itjust, I ask, that man should be subjected to severerand harsher rule than dumb beasts ? And yet thehorse is not plied with the lash and terrified by thehorse-breaker who is an expert ; for it wll growfearful and obstinate unless it is soothed with caressinghand. The same is true of the hunter, whetherhe is teaching young dogs to follow the trail, or makesuse of those already trained for routing out the gameor running it down : he neither employs constantthreats (for that \n\] break their spirit, and all theirnative qualities Nnll be gradually lost in a timidityunworthy of their breed), nor does he allow them torange and roam around without restraint. This appliesagain to drivers of the more sluggish beasts of burden,which, though they are born to abuse and misery, maybe driven to refuse the yoke by too much cruelty.405