r common sense.

The lesson of clemency is of perpetual obligation. Thanks to the
mediaeval poet for teaching it. Harshness is bad. Cruelty is detestable.
Even justice may relent at the prompting of mercy. Do not fail, then, to
cultivate the grace of clemency. Perhaps no scene in history is more
charming than that of Caesar, who, after vows against an enemy, listened
calmly to the appeal for pardon, and, as he listened, let the guilty
papers fall from his hand. Early in life he had pleaded in the Senate
for the lives of conspirators; and afterwards, when supreme ruler of the
Roman world, he practised the clemency he had once defended, unless
where enemies were incorrigible, and then he knew how to be stern and
positive. It is by example that we are instructed; and we may well learn
from the great master of clemency that the general welfare must not be
sacrificed to this indulgence. And we may learn also from the Divine
Teacher, that, even while forgiving enemies, there are Scribes and
Pharisees who must be exposed, and money-changers who must be scourged
from the temple. But with us there are Scribes and Pharisees, and there
are also criminals, worse than any money-changers, who are now trying to
establish themselves in the very temple of our government.

Cultivate clemency. But consider well what is embraced in this charity.
It is not required that you should surrender the Republic into the hands
of pardoned criminals. It is not required that you should surrender
friends and allies to the tender mercies of these same pardoned
criminals. Clearly not. Clemency has its limitations; and when it
transcends these, it ceases to be a virtue, and is only a mischievous
indulgence. Of course, one of these limitations, never to be
disregarded, is the _general security_, which is the first duty of
government. No pardon can be allowed to imperil the nation; nor can any
pardon be allowed to imperil those who have a right to look to us for
protection. There must be no vengeance upon enemies; but there must be
no sacrifice of friends. And here is the distinction which cannot be
forgotten. _Nothing for vengeance; everything for justice._ Follow this
rule, and the Republic will be safe and glorious. Thus wrote Marcus
Aurelius to his colleague and successor in empire, Lucius Verus. These
words are worthy to be repeated now by the chief of the Republic:--

"Ever since the Fates
Placed me upon the throne, two aims h