This article examines a discussion about punishment which took place in Tiberian Rome. Should clementia or severitas inform the decisions of the judges and what was the proper relationship between the authority of the senate and the clementia of the princeps? My argument has five parts. I begin (I) by examining clementia and severitas in the work of Velleius Paterculus. I next (II) examine Velleius’ presentation of Tiberius as a figure who adjudicates punishment in his community. I then (III and IV) argue that Velleius’ ideas were the product of and sought to contribute to controversy about the ownership and use of clementia which can be tracked though Tiberius’ principate. Finally (V), I suggest that Tacitus made use of the rhetoric of clementia and severitas current in Tiberian Rome and that it influenced his reading of saevitia under the principate.

This article examines Seneca's theory of monarchy in De clementia. It focuses in particular on Seneca's appropriation and redefinition of some key terms within Roman political thought in order to present his theory as an account of the restitution of liberty to the res publica under the government of the virtuous princeps. By relocating the Roman body politic to a Stoic moral universe, Seneca is able to draw upon parts of his philosophical inheritance in order to substantiate his claim in some depth.