A prince usually inflicts punishment for one of two reasons, to avenge either himself or another. I shall first discuss the situation in which he is personally concerned; for moderation is more difficult when vengeance serves the end of anger rather than of discipline. At this point it is needless to caution him to be slow in believing, to ferret out the truth, to befriend innocence, and to remember that to prove this is as much the business of the judge as of the man under trial; for all this concerns justice, not mercy. What I now urge is that, although he has been clearly injured, he should keep his feelings under control, and, if he can in safety, should remit the punishment; if not, that he should modify it, and be far more willing to forgive wrongs done to himself than to others. For just as the magnanimous man is not be who makes free with what is another’s, but he who deprives himself of what he gives to some one else, so I shall not call him merciful who is peaceable when the smart is another’s, but him who, though the spur galls himself, does not become restive, who understands that it is magnanimous to brook injuries even where authority is supreme, and that there is nothing more glorious than a prince who, though wronged, remains unavenged.