Seneca, On Peace of Mind 14.5

Whatever he meant, it was a magnanimous answer. Someone may say, "After this Gaius might have let him live."

Canius had no fear of this: the good faith with which Gaius carried out such orders as these was well known. Will you believe that he passed the ten intervening days before his execution without the slightest despondency?

We now condemn people to death, and they wait for many years, even decades, to be given a release from their torture. At least Canius only had to wait for ten days.

Might Caligula have shown mercy? Perhaps, but it wouldn’t have been mercy at all, would it? It would have been yet another posturing of power, an expression of his dominance.

“Watch me take your life, and then watch me give it back. Now worship me!”

Does that seem too dramatic? Well, you’ve seen that when it comes to the boss at your job, or the manager about your bank loan, or that judge who lords over you concerning some late parking tickets.

My grandmother once described to me how it was in Austria, after the Anschluss of 1938. The most vicious of people now stopped gossiping and pointing fingers, and they started having you mangled for being whatever they disliked.

Many lost their livelihoods, and many more were shunned in proper society. A few, the most annoying, were hauled away, a hint of what would soon come.

The easy way out, my grandmother said, was to beg for forgiveness, and to give the holy salute. Then you might be graciously spared, kissing the feet of your new masters.

Then you would eventually die on the Eastern Front, by the hands of yet another authoritarian regime.

Do you still think I am exaggerating? It all comes around again.

Canius saw through it all, recognizing that there is no place for playing power games. Only one power matters, the power over our own choices; nothing ever trumps a healthy conscience.

Did you think you were better because you could oppress me? Did you think it would hurt me? Canius knew better.

The greatest enemy to such people, the fancy folks with their money and influence, is not a massive and violent social revolution; that will only lead to another set of bullies.

No, the only solution is an individual revolution of the heart and mind, where I myself, and only myself, choose to define myself. Choose to hate me, and I will still choose to love you. Try to give me grief, and I will still find a way to joy. 

Written in 12/2011 

IMAGE: Rounding up the unpopular Austrians