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19“I could cite innumerable instances of such a kind, which, no matter how true they may be, are surely not proper subjects for gentlemen to concern themselves about or to be reported to you. Such rumours, if ignored, would do you no harm, but if listened to, would irritate you even against your will; 2and that is a thing by all means to be avoided, especially in one who rules over others. It is generally believed, at any rate, that many men are unjustly put to death as the result of such a feeling, some without a trial and others by a prearranged conviction in court; for the people will not admit that the testimony given or the statements made under torture or any evidence of that nature is true or suffices for the condemnation of the victims. 3This is the sort of talk that does, in fact, go the rounds, even though it is sometimes unjust, in the case of practically all who are put to death by action of the courts. And you, Augustus, ought not only to avoid unjust action, but even the suspicion of it; for though it is sufficient for a person in private station not to be guilty of wrongdoing, yet it behooves a ruler to incur not even the suspicion of wrongdoing. 4You are ruling over human beings, not wild beasts, and the only way you can make them truly well disposed toward you is by convincing them, by every means and on every occasion consistently, that you will wrong no one, either purposely or unwittingly. A man can be compelled to fear another, but he ought to be persuaded to love him; 5and he is persuaded not only by the good treatment he himself receives, but also by the benefits he sees conferred on others. The man, however, who suspects that a certain person has been put to death unjustly both fears that he may some day meet a like fate and is compelled to hate the one who is responsible for the deed. And to be hated by one’s subjects, quite apart from its being deplorable in general, is also exceedingly unprofitable. 6For most people feel that, although all other men must defend themselves against all who wrong them in any way or else become objects of contempt and so be oppressed, yet rulers ought to prosecute only those who wrong the state, tolerating those who are supposed to be committing offences against them privately; rulers, they reason, can not themselves be harmed either by contempt or by direct attack, inasmuch as there are many instrumentalities which protect them from both.
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