Nietzsche says that when a community grows in power and confidence

 Nietzsche says that when a community grows in power and confidence, “its penal law becomes more lenient.” We can even imagine a society “so conscious of its power, that it could allow itself the no blest luxury available to it––that of letting its malefactors go unpunished.” (GM II 10)9 This would be consistent with the agonistic structure of will to power, in that an overly superior power can and even should alter its disposi tion toward an underling, especially when resistance is significantly dimin ished or absent.10 Justice, Nietzsche tells us, can “sublimate itself” and move from punishment toward mercy. The idea that justice and law are not grounded simply in retribution for injury is articulated further in the next section of the Genealogy.