Res Gestae

He sometimes assumed an appearance of mildness, although his hot temper made him more inclined to severity; for he evidently forgot that a ruler should avoid all excess, as he would a precipice.

For he was never found to be content with a mild punishment, but he continually ordered blood-thirsty investigations one after the other; and in his cruel inquisitions some were tortured even to the danger of their lives; in fact, he was so prone to cruelty that he never rescued from

And yet he could have contemplated many examples of the men of old, and might have imitated native and foreign instances of humanity and righteous mercy, which philosophers call the kind sisters of the virtues Of these it will suffice to mention the following. Artaxerxes, that mighty king of the Persians, whom the length of one of his limbs made known as Macrochir,[*](μακρόχειρ, Longhand.) with inborn mildness corrected various punishments which that cruel nation had always practised, by sometimes cutting off the turbans of the guilty, in lieu of[*](For this meaning of ad vicem, cf. xv. 10, 2; xxvii. 3, 2.) their heads; and instead of cutting off men’s ears for various offences, as was the habit of the kings, he sheared off threads hanging from their head-coverings. This moderation of character so won for him the contentment and respect of his subjects, that through their unanimous support he accomplished many noteworthy deeds, which are celebrated by the Greek writers.

A general of Praeneste in one of the Samnite wars had been ordered to hasten to his post, but had been slow to obey, and was summoned to expiate that misdeed; Papirius Cursor, who was dictator at the time, ordered the lictor to make ready his axe, and in sight of the man, who was overcome with terror and had given up hope of excusing himself, he gave orders that a bush seen near should be cut down, by a jest of this kind[*](Cf. Livy, ix. 16, 17 ff; Pliny, N.H. xvii. 81; Pseud.- Aur. Vict., De Viris Illustr., 3, 14 ff.) at the same time punishing and acquitting the man; and thereby he suffered no loss of respect, and he

Valentinian, who perhaps knew nothing of these instances, and did not consider that slowness to anger in rulers is always a solace for unhappy circumstances, increased the number of punishments by fire and sword, which a righteous spirit regards as the last resort in times of stress, as the splendid writer Isocrates says;[*](Panath. 185, θαυμάζω δ᾽, εἴ τινες τὰς μάχας καὶ τὰς ϝίκας παρὰ τὸ δίκαιον γιγνομένας μὴ νομίζουσιν αἰσχίους εἶναι καὶ πλειόνων ὀνειδῶν μεστὰς ἢ τὰς ἥττας τὰς ἄνευ κακίας συμβαινούσας. ) there is an utterance of his for all time whereby he teaches that sometimes a ruler who has been overcome by arms ought to be pardoned, more than one who did not know what is just.