Seneca: When sponges were not forthcoming, he ordered…

The point of describing extreme cruelty is not to make us feel superior to monsters from the past. It is to show what happens when anger and power lose all regard for another person's humanity. Once someone becomes merely an obstacle, an enemy, or a problem to be disposed of, almost any treatment can seem permissible. We see smaller versions of this whenever people delight in someone else's public humiliation or demand consequences without asking whether they are proportionate. Justice must sometimes be firm. But firmness without humanity becomes savagery. Before you punish, fire, expose, or condemn someone, remember that they remain a person, not a prop in your outrage. Ask what is necessary, what is fair, and what restores order without adding needless pain. The ability to stop before cruelty begins is one of civilization's daily disciplines.