1How true this is I wish to remind you by an example from your own family. 1The deified Augustus was a mild prince, if one begins to judge him from the time of his principate; 1in the time when the commonwealth was shared, indeed, he wielded the sword. 1When he was the age you are now, just past his eighteenth year, he had already buried daggers in the breasts of friends, already sought the side of the consul Mark Antony by treachery, already been a partner in the proscription. 2But when he had passed his fortieth year and was staying in Gaul, information was brought to him that Lucius Cinna, a man of dull wit, was plotting against him; 2he was told where and when and how Cinna meant to attack him; 2one of the accomplices was the informer.
3He resolved to avenge himself on him, and ordered a council of his friends to be summoned. 3He spent a restless night, reflecting that a young man of noble birth, blameless apart from this. 3the grandson of Gnaeus Pompey, must be condemned; 3now he could not kill one man, he to whom Mark Antony had dictated the edict of proscription at dinner. 4Groaning, he uttered from time to time various words that contradicted one another: 'What then? 4Shall I let my assassin walk about free from care while I am anxious? 4Shall he then not pay the penalty who resolves, not to kill, but to sacrifice, a head sought in vain in so many civil wars, unharmed in so many battles by sea and so many on land, now that peace has been established on land and sea?
4' (for they had decided to attack him while he was sacrificing). 5Again, after a pause, in a much louder voice he raged at himself more than at Cinna: 'Why do you live, if it matters to so many that you should die? 5What end will there be to punishments? 5What end to bloodshed? 5I am the head exposed to noble young men, on which they may sharpen their swords; 5life is not worth so much if, so that I may not perish, so much must be destroyed. 6' At last his wife Livia interrupted him and said: 'Will you admit a woman's advice? 6Do what doctors usually do, who, when the usual remedies do not succeed, try their opposites.
6By severity you have achieved nothing so far; 6Lepidus followed Salvidienus. 6Murena followed Lepidus, Caepio Murena, Egnatius Caepio, not to mention others whose daring so much is a disgrace. 6Now try how clemency turns out for you; 6pardon Lucius Cinna. 6He has been caught; 6he can no longer harm you; he can benefit your reputation. 7' Delighted to have found an advocate, he thanked his wife, and at once ordered word to be sent to the friends he had asked to the council that it was cancelled, and summoned Cinna alone to him; and having sent everyone out of the room and ordered a second chair to be set for Cinna, he said: 'This I ask of you first, that you do not interrupt me as I speak, that you do not cry out in the middle of my speech; 7you will be given free time to speak.
8Cinna, when I had found you in the enemy's camp, not merely made my enemy but born one, I saved you and granted you your entire inheritance. 8Today you are so fortunate and so rich that the victors envy the vanquished. 8When you sought a priesthood, I passed over several whose parents had served with me, and gave it to you; 8though I have deserved so well of you, you have resolved to kill me. 9' When at this word Cinna cried out that such madness was far from him, he said: 'You are not keeping faith, Cinna; 9it was agreed that you would not interrupt. 9You are preparing, I say, to kill me'; 9he added the place, the accomplices, the day, the plan of the plot, and to whom the sword had been entrusted.
10And when he saw him with eyes fixed on the ground, silent now not because of their agreement but from guilt, he said: 'With what purpose are you doing this? 10That you may be prince yourself? 10By Hercules, it goes badly with the Roman people if nothing but I stands in the way of your ruling. 10You cannot look after your own house; recently you were beaten in a private suit by the influence of a freedman; 10so true is it that nothing comes easier to you than to bring a case against Caesar. 10Tell me, if I alone hinder your hopes, will Paulus put up with you, and Fabius Maximus, and the Cossi and the Servilii, and so great a column of nobles, not those who display empty names but those who bring honour to their ancestral portraits?
10' Not to fill a large part of this volume by repeating his whole speech (for it is agreed that he spoke for more than two hours, drawing out this punishment, the only one with which he meant to be content), he said: 'Cinna, I give you life a second time, first to an enemy, now to a plotter and parricide. 11From this day let friendship begin between us; 11let us contend whether I have given you life in better faith, or you owe it.' 11After this he offered him the consulship unasked, complaining that Cinna did not dare to stand for it. 11He found him his most devoted and faithful friend, and was his sole heir.
11He was never again the target of any plot by anyone.