Note 69 — Chapter II
Reading edition
Lucii Annæi Senecæ De Clementia Libri Tres, Paris, 1532. The work was published by Calvin at his own expense, as a warning, unquestionably against persecution on religious grounds. It is of great rarity in its original shape, but is reprinted in the Geneva Edition of his Opera Minora of the year 1597.
Seneca on Clemency is also to be found translated into English: ‘Lucius Annæus Seneca, his first Book of Clemency, written to Nero Cæsar,’ Lond. 1553. The sentence quoted above and commented by the French editor is rendered by the English translator briefly but not unhappily thus:
For it doth rather cowardice appear Than clemency an injury in mind to bear: ’Tis he in whose command revenge doth lie That’s merciful if he do pass it by.