“C. Plinius Sabiniano suo S.
“Libertus tuus, cui succensere te dixeras, venit ad me advolutusqne pedibus meis tanquam tuis haesit. Flevit multum, multum rogavit, multum etiam tacuit, in summa fecit mihi fidem paenitentiae. Vere credo emendatum, quia deliquisse se sentit. Irasceris, scio, et irasceris merito, id quoque scio: sed tunc praecipua mansuetudinus laus, cum irae caussa iustissima est. Amasti hominem et, spero, amabis: interim sufficit ut exorari te sinas. Licebit rursus irasci, si meruerit, quod exoratus excusatius facies. Remitte aliquid adulescentiae ipsius, remitte lacrimis, remitte indulgentiae tuae: ne torseris illum, ne torseris etiam te. Torqueris enim, cum tam lenis irasceris. Vereor ne videar non rogare, sed cogere, si precibus eius meas iunxero. Jungam tamen tanto plenius et effusius, quanto ipsum acrius severiusque corripui, districte minatus numquam me postea rogaturum. Hoc illi, quem terreri oportebat; tibi non idem. Nam fortasse iterum rogabo, impetrabo iterum; sit modo tale ut rogare me, ut praestare te deceat. Vale!”
Translation
“C. Plinius to his Sabinianus, greeting:—
“Your freedman, with whom, as you had told me, you were vexed, came to me, and, flinging himself at my feet, clung to them as though they had been yours. He wept much, entreated much, yet at the same time left much unsaid, and, in short, convinced me that he was sincerely sorry. I believe that he is really reformed, because he is conscious of his delinquency. You are angry, I know; justly angry, that too I know; but gentleness is most praiseworthy exactly where anger is most justifiable. You loved the poor fellow, and I hope will love him again; meanwhile, it is enough to yield to intercession. Should he ever deserve it you may be angry again, and all the more excusably by yielding now. Make some allowance for his youth, for his tears, for your own kindly disposition. Do not torture him, lest you torture yourself as well, for it is a torture to you when one of your kindly nature is angry. I fear you will think that I am not asking but forcing you if I join my prayers to his; I will, however, do so, and all the more fully and unreservedly in proportion to the sharpness and severity with which I took him to task, sternly threatening that I would never say a word for him again. That I said to him because he needed to be well frightened; but I do not say it to you, for perhaps I shall say a word for him again, and again gain my point; provided only my request be such as it becomes me to ask and you to grant. Farewell!”