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Mercy is sometimes described as the support of justice. That is true when laws

are unreasonable and unfair, because harsh laws create lawlessness, to prevent

which a wise governor will use the opportunity of their harshness to show his

own virtue of clemency. But the danger of mercy, even in these circumstances, is

that it leads to its own undoing. Shakespeare might have given Portia words no

less true than sweet to mitigate Shylocks legal due; but he has Timon tell a yetharder truth when he says, Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy.

There seems to be a consensus on that point. Pardon one offence, says PubliliusSyrus, and you encourage the commission of many.

Seneca: He who forbids not sin commands it

The chief reason for being merciful is that we all need mercy ourselves.

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