Clem. 1.11.1Haec Augustus senex aut iam in senectūtem annīs vergentibus ;These things Augustus did as an old man, or when his years were already verging on old age; Clem. 1.11.1in adulēscentiā caluit, ārsit īrā, multa fēcit, ad quae invītus oculōs retorquēbat.in youth he was hot-headed, he blazed with anger, he did many things on which he turned back his eyes unwillingly. Clem. 1.11.1Comparāre nēmō mānsuētūdinī tuae audēbit dīvum Augustum, etiam sī in certāmen iuvenīlium annōrum dēdūxerit senectūtem plūs quam mātūram ;No one will dare to compare the deified Augustus with your gentleness, even if he brings a more than ripe old age into contest with youthful years; Clem. 1.11.1fuerit moderātus et clēmēns, nempe post mare Actiacum Rōmānō cruōre īnfectum, nempe post frāctās in Siciliā classēs et suās et aliēnās, nempe post Perusīnās- ārās et prōscrīptiōnēs proscriptiones.grant that he was moderate and merciful: yes, after the sea at Actium was stained with Roman blood, yes, after fleets, his own and others', were wrecked off Sicily, yes, after the altars of Perusia and the proscriptions. Clem. 1.11.2Ego vērō clēmentiam nōn vocō lassam crūdēlitātem ;For my part, I do not call weary cruelty clemency; Clem. 1.11.2haec est.this is it.
Clem. 1.11.2Caesar, clēmentia vēra, quam tū praestās, quae nōn saevitiae paenitentiā coepit, nūllam habēre maculam, numquam- cīvīlem sanguinem fūdisse fudisse;Caesar, the true clemency, which you display, which did not begin from remorse for savagery: to have no stain, never to have shed citizens' blood; Clem. 1.11.2haec est in maximā potestāte vērissima animī temperantia et hūmānī generis comprendēns ut suī amor nōn cupiditāte aliquā, nōn temeritāte ingeniī, nōn priōrum prīncipum exemplīs corruptum, quantum sibi in cīvēs suōs liceat, experiendō temptāre, sed hebetāre aciem imperiī suī.this is, in the greatest power, the truest self-control of the mind and an all-embracing love of the human race as of oneself, not corrupted by any desire, by any rashness of temper, by the examples of earlier princes, so as to test by experiment how far it may go against its own citizens, but rather to blunt the edge of its power. Clem. 1.11.3Praestitistī, Caesar, cīvitātem incruentam, et hoc, quod magnō animō glōriātus es nūllam tē tōtō orbe stillam cruōris hūmānī mīsisse, eō maius est mīrābiliusque, quod nūllī umquam citius gladius commissus est.You have given us, Caesar, a state unstained by blood, and this, of which you have boasted with great spirit, that you have shed not a drop of human blood in the whole world, is all the greater and more wonderful because no one was ever entrusted with the sword sooner.
Clem. 1.11.4Clēmentia ergō nōn tantum honestiōrēs sed tūtiōrēs praestat ōrnāmentumque imperiōrum est simul et certissima salūs.Clemency, then, makes rulers not only more honoured but safer, and is at once the ornament of empires and their surest safety. Clem. 1.11.4Quid enim est, cūr rēgēs cōnsenuerint līberīsque ac nepōtibus trādiderint regna, tyrannōrum exsecrābilis ac brevis potestās sit ?For why is it that kings have grown old and handed down their kingdoms to children and grandchildren, while the power of tyrants is accursed and brief? Clem. 1.11.4Quid interest inter tyrannum ac rēgem (speciēs enim ipsa fortūnae ac licentia pār est), nisi quod tyrannī in voluptātem saeviunt, rēgēs nōn nisi ex causā ac necessitāte ?What difference is there between a tyrant and a king (for the outward show of their fortune and their licence are equal), except that tyrants are savage for pleasure, kings only for a reason and from necessity?