It will be impossible for one to imagine anything more seemly for a ruler than the quality of mercy, no matter in what manner or with what justice he has been set over other men. We shall admit, of course, that this quality is the more beautiful and wonderful, the greater the power under which it is displayed; and this power need not be harmful if it is adjusted to Nature’s law. For Nature herself conceived the idea of king, as we may recognize from the case of bees and other creatures; the king27 of the bees has the roomiest cell, placed in the central and safest spot; besides, he does no work, but superintends the work of the others, and if they lose their king, they all scatter; they never tolerate more than one at a time, and they discover the best one by means of a fight28; moreover the appearance of the king is striking and different from that of the others both in size and beauty. His greatest mark of distinction, however, lies in this: bees are most easily provoked, and, for the size of their bodies, excellent fighters, and where they wound they leave their stings; but the king himself has no sting. Nature did not wish him to be cruel or to seek a revenge that would be so costly, and so she removed his weapon, and left his anger unarmed.
Great kings will find herein a mighty precedent; for it is Nature’s way to exercise herself in small matters, and to bestow the tiniest29 proofs of great principles. Shameful were it not to draw a lesson from the ways of the tiny creatures, since, as the mind of man has so much more power to do harm, it ought to show the greater self-control. Would at least that a man were subject to the same law, and that his anger broke off along with his weapon, and that he could not injure more than once or use the strength of ethers to wreak his hatred; for he would soon grow weary of his rage if he had no instrument to satisfy it but himself, and if by giving rein to his violence he ran the risk of death. But even as it is, such a man has no safe course; for he must fear as much as he wishes to be feared, must watch the hands of every person, and count himself assailed even when no one is for laying hold on him, and not a moment must he have that is free from dread. Would any one endure to live such a life when, doing no harm to others and consequently fearless, he might exercise beneficently his privilege of power to the happiness of all? For if any one thinks that a king can abide in safety where nothing is safe from the king, he is wrong; for the price of security is an interchange of security. He has no need to rear on high his towering castles, or to wall about steep hills against ascent, or to cut away the sides of mountains, or to encircle himself with rows of walls and turrets; through mercy a king will be assured of safety on an open plain. His one impregnable defense is the love of his countrymen.
And what is more glorious than to live a life which all men hope may last, and for which all voice their prayers when there is none to watch them? to excite men’s fears, not their hopes, if one’s health gives way a little? to have no one hold anything so precious that he would not gladly give it in exchange for his chieftain’s safety? Oh, surely a man so fortunate would owe it also to himself to live30; to that end he has shown by constant evidences of his goodness, not that the state is his, but that he is the state’s. Who would dare to devise any danger for such a man? Who would not wish to shield him if he could, even from the chance of ill — him beneath whose sway justice, peace, chastity, security, and honor flourish, under whom the state abounds in wealth and a store of all good things? Nor does it gaze upon its ruler with other emotion than, did they vouchsafe his the power of beholding them, we should gaze upon the immortal gods — with veneration and with worship. But tell me: he who bears himself in a godlike manner, who is beneficent and generous and uses his power for the better end — does he not hold a place second only to the gods? It is well that this should be your aim, this your ideal: to be considered the greatest man, only if at the same time you are considered the best.