Abstract
Abstract
Clemency, pardoning a criminal or an enemy defeated on the battlefield, became an important political quality in the Late Roman Republic, especially in Julius Caesar's civil war propaganda. Subsequently, clemency was a quality advertised by most Roman emperors. During the High Empire, philosophers and poets celebrated clemency in private life; forgiving wrongdoers was superior to exacting even a just punishment. Early Christian writers used the Roman vocabulary of clemency to describe Christian mercy. Although personifications of Clementia appeared on coins, no sustained cult developed in the Roman world.