Seneca · c. 4 BCE – 65 CE
On Clemency 2.7 ¶2 — Seneca
Translation by Aubrey Stewart (1889)
Seneca, On Clemency 2.7 ¶2
In my opinion, this is a mere dispute about words, and we are agreed about the thing itself. The wise man will remit many penalties, and will save many who are wicked, but whose wickedness is not incurable. He will act like good husbandmen, who do not cultivate only straight and tall trees, but also apply props to straighten those which have been rendered crooked by various causes; they trim some, lest the luxuriance of their boughs should hinder their upward growth, they nurse those which have been weakened by being planted in an unsuitable position, and they give air to those which are overshadowed by the foliage of others. The wise man will see the several treatments suitable to several dispositions, and how what is crooked may be straightened.…
Cite this passage
Seneca, On Clemency 2.7 ¶2, tr. Aubrey Stewart (1889)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-clemency/2.7.2
Seneca, Dialogues, tr. Aubrey Stewart (1887–1889). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesWhatever label is used, a wise person will let many wrongdoers off and save those who are not beyond repair, as good farmers prop up and prune crooked trees instead of tending only the straight ones. Each person's flaws call for their own kind of correction.
Older wording
- “husbandmen”
- — farmers
Themes and situations
- Kindness and forgiveness
- Learning and progress
- Virtue and character
- Leadership and power
- Parenting
- Leading others
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