For although Claudius had been accused of gambling and drunkenness, not only were no worse sins laid to his charge, but he had successfully established some claim to being considered a learned man.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Men are not punished for their sins, but by them.
Most of the vices and mortal sins condemned today correspond to inclinations that were purely adaptive or at least harmless in primitive man.
We can only write well about our sins because it is too difficult to recall a virtuous act or even whether it was the result of good or evil motives.
Man can and does rationalize his sins. He finds reasons for all his weakness, invents excuses that first calm and then deaden his conscience. He blames God, society, education, and environment for his wrong doing.
A man's conscience and his judgment is the same thing; and as the judgment, so also the conscience, may be erroneous.
You've committed no sins, just mistakes.
Mistakes you can learn from; sins stay with you forever.
One is punished by the very things by which he sins.
The decision of such judges as Claudius and his Senate is worth very little in the question of a man's innocence or guilt; but the sentence was that Seneca should be banished to the island of Corsica.
A person who has been punished is not less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment.