Du Bon Usage de La Douceur En Politique Dans L'Oeuvre de Tacite

This book by Yasmina Benferhat takes the form of an in-depth survey of the notion of kindness in the corpus of Tacitus’ writings, including both his opuscules and his major historical works. This exploration of kindness in the works of Tacitus (AD 55–120) is presented in four successive components. The first concerns what might be called “false kindness,” an issue which somehow needs to be confronted. These are examples of excessive indulgence, whether towards oneself or towards others. Such kindness is nothing but permissiveness and weakness. The second component deals with a form of kindness which already demands a certain amount of resolve, if not an effort of self-control made on one’s own behalf or that of others. This part covers the aspects of kindness associated with the desire to make human relations more agreeable, from polite small-talk to benevolence and compassion. At this stage, however, the role of individual will remains limited. It is less restricted in the third part of the book, which considers how one might react when confronting a fault or an offence: clemency – this virtue to which, several centuries earlier, Seneca had devoted his treatise – may be defined as the capacity to forgive. Such clementia still falls within the realm of behaviour. It is only in the fourth and last part of this book that the highest and most internal form of kindness is explored – that of the individual who strives to control and calm anger – his own, or that of others.