The Game of Chess

gentle, and mercy should shine from him. Regarding this, Seneca spoke to Nero Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the Roman philosopher who was tutor and advisor to Emperor Nero. His treatise De Clementia (On Mercy) is likely the source here.: nothing suits a king in all things as much as gentleness original: "senfftmütikait". For whoever wishes to be loved should judge with a gentle hand. Valerius Valerius Maximus, a Roman author whose collection of historical anecdotes was a standard textbook for moral behavior in the Middle Ages. also speaks of this: human sweetness softens the hardness of men, and it tames and constrains unruly minds.

We have an example of this in the Duke of Athens, Peisistratos original: "pysistraton." Peisistratos was a 6th-century BC ruler of Athens often cited in medieval literature as a model of clemency., of whom we read that his daughter once walked before her mother, and a young man came toward her who was so moved by her beauty that he kissed her in front of her mother. Because of this, the mother complained to the prince and begged that the youth be beheaded. Then the lord said: "Lady, shall we kill those who love us? What then shall we do to those who are our enemies?" And with that, he forgave the young man.

Another instance of great patience is read regarding him: once, one of his enemies named Arippus Likely a misspelling of Thrasippus, a man who, according to historical anecdote, spat in Peisistratos's face to provoke him. threw his filth original: "vnflat." In this context, it refers to spittle or vile matter thrown as an insult. into his face, over his eyes and mouth. Despite this indignity, he acted as the—