



Produced by John Bickers





HIERO

By Xenophon

Translation by H. G. Dakyns


     Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a
     pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans,
     and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land
     and property in Scillus, where he lived for many
     years before having to move once more, to settle
     in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.




PREPARER'S NOTE

This was typed from Dakyns' series, "The Works of Xenophon," a
four-volume set. The complete list of Xenophon's works (though there is
doubt about some of these) is:

     Work                                   Number of books

     The Anabasis                                         7
     The Hellenica                                        7
     The Cyropaedia                                       8
     The Memorabilia                                      4
     The Symposium                                        1
     The Economist                                        1
     On Horsemanship                                      1
     The Sportsman                                        1
     The Cavalry General                                  1
     The Apology                                          1
     On Revenues                                          1
     The Hiero                                            1
     The Agesilaus                                        1
     The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians   2

Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text into English
using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The diacritical marks
have been lost.


HIERO

The Hiero is an imaginary dialogue, c. 474 B.C., between Simonides of
Ceos, the poet; and Hieron, of Syracuse and Gela, the despot.




HIERO, or "THE TYRANT"

A Discourse on Despotic Rule


I

Once upon a time Simonides the poet paid a visit to Hiero the "tyrant,"
(1) and when both obtained the leisure requisite, Simonides began this
conversation:

 (1) Or, "came to the court of the despotic monarch Hiero." For the
    "dramatis personae" see Dr. Holden's Introduction to the "Hieron"
    of Xenophon.

Would you be pleased to give me information, Hiero, upon certain
matters, as to which it is likely you have greater knowledge than
myself? (2)

 (2) Or, "would you oblige me by explaining certain matters, as to
    which your knowledge naturally transcends my own?"

And pray, what sort of things may those be (answered Hiero), of which I
can have greater knowledge than yourself, who are so wise a man?

I know (replied the poet) that you were once a private person, (3) and
are now a monarch. It is but likely, therefore, that having tested both
conditions, (4) you should know better than myself, wherein the life of
the despotic ruler differs from the life of any ordinary person, looking
to the sum of joys and sorrows to which flesh is heir.

 (3) Or, "a common citizen," "an ordinary mortal," "a private
    individual."

 (4) Or, "having experienced both lots in life, both forms of
    existence."

Would it not be simpler (Hiero replied) if you, on your side, (5) who
are still to-day a private person, would refresh my memory by recalling
the various circumstances of an ordinary mortal's life? With these
before me, (6) I should be better able to describe the points of
difference which exist between the one life and the other.

 (5) Simonides is still in the chrysalis or grub condition of private
    citizenship; he has not broken the shell as yet of ordinary
    manhood.

 (6) Lit. "in that case, I think I should best be able to point out the
    'differentia' of either."

Thus it was that Simonides spoke first: Well then, as to private
persons, for my part I observe, (7) or seem to have observed, that
we are liable to various pains and pleasures, in the shape of sights,
sounds, odours, meats, and drinks, which are conveyed through certain
avenues of sense--to wit, the eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth. And there
are other pleasures, those named of Aphrodite, of which the channels are
well known. While as to degree of heat and cold, things hard and
soft, things light and heavy, the sense appealed to here, I venture
to believe, is that of the whole body; (8) whereby we discern these
opposites, and derive from them now pain, now pleasure. But with regard
to things named good and evil, (9) it appears to me that sometimes the
mind (or soul) itself is the sole instrument by which we register our
pains and pleasures; whilst at other times such pains and pleasures
are derived conjointly through both soul and body. (10) There are some
pleasures, further, if I may trust my own sensations, which are conveyed
in sleep, though how and by what means and when precisely, are matters
as to which I am still more conscious of my ignorance. Nor is it to
be wondered at perhaps, if the perceptions of waking life in some way
strike more clearly on our senses than do those of sleep. (11)

 (7) Or, "if I may trust my powers of observation I would say that
    common men are capable of pains and pleasures conveyed through
    certain avenues of sense, as sight through our eyes, sounds
    through our ears, smells through our noses, and meats and drinks
    through our mouths."

 (8) Cf. Cic. "de N. D." ii. 56, S. 141.

 (9) Reading {edesthai te kai lupeisthai...} or if with Breit
    reading {ote d' au lupeisthai}, transl. "then as to good and evil
    we are affected pleasurably or painfully, as the case may be:
    sometimes, if I am right in my conclusion, through the mind itself
    alone; at other times..."

 (10) Or, "they are mental partly, partly physical."

 (11) Lit. "the incidents of waking life present sensations of a more
    vivid character."

To this statement Hiero made answer: And I, for my part, O Simonides,
would find it hard to state, outside the list of things which you have
named yourself, in what respect the despot can have other channels of
perception. (12) So that up to this point I do not see that the despotic
life differs in any way at all from that of common people.

 (12) i.e. "being like constituted, the autocratic person has no other
    sources of perception: he has no claim to a wider gamut of
    sensation, and consequently thus far there is not a pin to choose
    between the life of the despot and that of a private person."

Then Simonides: Only in this respect it surely differs, in that the
pleasures which the "tyrant" enjoys through all these several avenues
of sense are many times more numerous, and the pains he suffers are far
fewer.

To which Hiero: Nay, that is not so, Simonides, take my word for it; the
fact is rather that the pleasures of the despot are far fewer than
those of people in a humbler condition, and his pains not only far more
numerous, but more intense.

That sounds incredible (exclaimed Simonides); if it were really so, how
do you explain the passionate desire commonly displayed to wield the
tyrant's sceptre, and that too on the part of persons reputed to be the
ablest of men? Why should all men envy the despotic monarch?

For the all-sufficient reason (he replied) that they form conclusions on
the matter without experience of the two conditions. And I will try
to prove to you the truth of what I say, beginning with the faculty of
vision, which, unless my memory betrays me, was your starting-point.

Well then, when I come to reason (13) on the matter, first of all I find
that, as regards the class of objects of which these orbs of vision are
the channel, (14) the despot has the disadvantage. Every region of
the world, each country on this fair earth, presents objects worthy of
contemplation, in quest of which the ordinary citizen will visit, as the
humour takes him, now some city (for the sake of spectacles), (15) or
again, the great national assemblies, (16) where sights most fitted to
entrance the gaze of multitudes would seem to be collected. (17) But the
despot has neither part nor lot in these high festivals, (18) seeing it
is not safe for him to go where he will find himself at the mercy of the
assembled crowds; (19) nor are his home affairs in such security that he
can leave them to the guardianship of others, whilst he visits foreign
parts. A twofold apprehension haunts him: (20) he will be robbed of
his throne, and at the same time be powerless to take vengeance on his
wrongdoer. (21)

 (13) {logizomenos}, "to apply my moral algebra."

 (14) {en tois dia tes opseos theamasi}. See Hartman, "An. Xen. Nova,"
    p. 246. {theamasi} = "spectacular effects," is perhaps a gloss on
    "all objects apprehensible through vision." Holden (crit. app.)
    would rather omit {dia tes opseos} with Schneid.

 (15) The words are perhaps a gloss.

 (16) e.g. the games at Olympia, or the great Dionysia at Athens, etc.

 (17) Omitting {einai}, or if with Breit. {dokei einai...
    sunageiresthai}, transl. "in which it is recognised that sights
    are to be seen best fitted to enchain the eyes and congregate vast
    masses." For other emendations see Holden, crit. app.; Hartm. op.
    cit. p. 258.

 (18) "Religious embassies"; it. "Theories." See Thuc. vi. 16; "Mem."
    IV. viii. 2.

 (19) Lit. "not stronger than those present."

 (20) Or, "The dread oppresses him, he may be deprived of his empire
    and yet be powerless."

 (21) Cf. Plat. "Rep." ix. 579 B: "His soul is dainty and greedy; and
    yet he only of all men is never allowed to go on a journey, or to
    see things which other free men desire to see; but he lives in his
    hole like a woman hidden in the house, and is jealous of any other
    citizen who goes into foreign parts and sees things of interest"
    (Jowett).

Perhaps you will retort: "Why should he trouble to go abroad to seek for
such things? They are sure to come to him, although he stops at home."
Yes, Simonides, that is so far true; a small percentage of them no
doubt will, and this scant moiety will be sold at so high a price to
the despotic monarch, that the exhibitor of the merest trifle looks
to receive from the imperial pocket, within the briefest interval, ten
times more than he can hope to win from all the rest of mankind in a
lifetime; and then he will be off. (22)

 (22) Lit. "to get from the tyrant all in a moment many times more than
    he will earn from all the rest of mankind in a whole lifetime, and
    depart."

To which Simonides: Well, granted you have the worst of it in sights and
sightseeing; yet, you must admit you are large gainers through the sense
of hearing; you who are never stinted of that sweetest of all sounds,
(23) the voice of praise, since all around you are for ever praising
everything you do and everything you say. Whilst, conversely, to that
most harsh and grating of all sounds, the language of abuse, your ears
are sealed, since no one cares to speak evil against a monarch to his
face.

 (23) Cf. Cic. "pro Arch." 20, "Themistoclem illum dixisse aiunt cum ex
    eo quaereretur, 'quod acroama aut cujus vocem libentissime
    audiret': 'ejus, a quo sua virtus optime praedicaretur.'"

Then Hiero: And what pleasure do you suppose mere abstinence from evil
words implies, when it is an open secret that those silent persons are
cherishing all evil thoughts against the tyrant? (24) What mirth, do you
imagine, is to be extracted from their panegyrics who are suspected of
bestowing praise out of mere flattery?

 (24) "One knows plainly that these dumb attendants stand there like
    mutes, but harbour every evil thought against their autocratic
    lord."

Simonides made answer: Yes, I must indeed admit, I do concede to you,
that praise alone is sweetest which is breathed from lips of free men
absolutely free. But, look you, here is a point: you will find it hard
to persuade another, that you despots, within the limits of those things
whereby we one and all sustain our bodies, in respect, that is, of meats
and drinks, have not a far wider range of pleasures.

Yes, Simonides (he answered), and what is more, I know the explanation
of the common verdict. The majority have come to the conclusion that we
monarchs eat and drink with greater pleasure than do ordinary people,
because they have got the notion, they themselves would make a better
dinner off the viands served at our tables than their own. And doubtless
some break in the monotony gives a fillip of pleasure. And that explains
why folk in general look forward with pleasure to high days and holy
days--mankind at large, but not the despot; his well-stocked table
groaning from day to day under its weight of viands admits of no state
occasions. So that, as far as this particular pleasure, to begin with,
goes, the pleasure of anticipation, the monarch is at disadvantage
compared with private people.

And in the next place (he continued), I am sure your own experience will
bear me out so far: the more viands set before a man at table (beyond
what are sufficient), (25) the more quickly will satiety of eating
overtake him. So that in actual duration of the pleasure, he with his
many dishes has less to boast of than the moderate liver.

 (25) {ta peritta ton ikanon}. These words Hartm. op. cit. p. 254,
    regards as an excrescence.

Yes, but good gracious! surely (broke in Simonides), during the actual
time, (26) before the appetite is cloyed, the gastronomic pleasure
derived from the costlier bill of fare far exceeds that of the cheaper
dinner-table.

 (26) Lit. "so long as the soul (i.e. the appetite) accepts with
    pleasure the viands"; i.e. there's an interval, at any rate,
    during which "such as my soul delights in" can still apply and for
    so long.

But, as a matter of plain logic (Hiero retorted), should you not
say, the greater the pleasure a man feels in any business, the more
enthusiastic his devotion to it?

That is quite true (he answered).

Hiero. Then have you ever noticed that crowned heads display more
pleasure in attacking the bill of fare provided them, than private
persons theirs?

No, rather the reverse (the poet answered); if anything, they show a
less degree of gusto, (27) unless they are vastly libelled.

 (27) "No, not more pleasure, but exceptional fastidiousness, if what
    people say is true." {agleukesteron}, said ap. Suid. to be a
    Sicilian word = "more sourly."

Well (Hiero continued), and all these wonderfully-made dishes which
are set before the tyrant, or nine-tenths of them, perhaps you have
observed, are combinations of things acid to the taste, or pungent, or
astringent, or akin to these? (28)

 (28) Lit. "and their congeners," "their analogues," e.g. "curries,
    pickles, bitters, peppery condiments."

To be sure they are (he answered), unnatural viands, one and all, in my
opinion, most alien to ordinary palates. (29)

 (29) Or, "unsuited to man's taste," "'caviare to the general' I name
    them."

Hiero. In fact, these condiments can only be regarded as the cravings
(30) of a stomach weakened by luxurious living; since I am quite sure
that keen appetites (and you, I fancy, know it well too) have not the
slightest need for all these delicate made things.

 (30) Cf. Plat. "Laws," 687 C; "Hipp." ii. 44. Lit. "can you in fact
    regard these condiments as other than..." See Holden ad loc.
    (ed. 1888); Hartm. op. cit. p. 259, suggests {enthumemata},
    "inventions."

It is true, at any rate (observed Simonides), about those costly
perfumes, with which your persons are anointed, that your neighbours
rather than yourselves extract enjoyment from them; just as the
unpleasant odour of some meats is not so obvious to the eater as to
those who come in contact with him.

Hiero. Good, and on this principle we say of meats, that he who is
provided with all sorts on all occasions brings no appetite to any of
them. He rather to whom these things are rarities, that is the man who,
when some unfamiliar thing is put before him, will take his fill of it
with pleasure. (31)

 (31) {meta kharas}. Cf. Aesch. Fr. 237, {stomatos en prote khara}, of
    a hungry man; "Od." xvii. 603.

It looks very much (interposed Simonides) as if the sole pleasure left
you to explain the vulgar ambition to wear a crown, must be that named
after Aphrodite. For in this field it is your privilege to consort with
whatever fairest fair your eyes may light on.

Hiero. Nay, now you have named that one thing of all others, take my
word for it, in which we princes are worse off than lesser people. (32)

 (32) Reading {saph' isthi}, or if as Cobet conj. {saphestata}, transl.
    "are at a disadvantage most clearly by comparison with ordinary
    folk."

To name marriage first. I presume a marriage (33) which is contracted
with some great family, superior in wealth and influence, bears away
the palm, since it confers upon the bridegroom not pleasure only but
distinction. (34) Next comes the marriage made with equals; and last,
wedlock with inferiors, which is apt to be regarded as degrading and
disserviceable.

 (33) Cf. "Hunting," i. 9. Holden cf. Eur. "Rhes." 168; "Androm." 1255.

 (34) Cf. Dem. "in Lept." S. 69, p. 499. See Plat. "Rep." 553 C.

Now for the application: a despotic monarch, unless he weds some foreign
bride, is forced to choose a wife from those beneath him, so that the
height of satisfaction is denied him. (35)

 (35) Al. "supreme content, the quintessential bliss, is quite unknown
    to him."

The tender service of the proudest-souled of women, wifely rendered, how
superlatively charming! (36) and by contrast, how little welcome is
such ministration where the wife is but a slave--when present, barely
noticed; or if lacking, what fell pains and passions will it not
engender!

 (36) Or, "the gentle ministrations of loftiest-thoughted women and
    fair wives possess a charm past telling, but from slaves, if
    tendered, the reverse of welcome, or if not forthcoming..."

And if we come to masculine attachments, still more than in those
whose end is procreation, the tyrant finds himself defrauded of such
mirthfulness, (37) poor monarch! Since all of us are well aware, I
fancy, that for highest satisfaction, (38) amorous deeds need love's
strong passion. (39)

 (37) "Joys sacred to that goddess fair and free in Heaven yclept
    Euphrosyne."

 (38) For {polu diapherontos} cf. Browning ("Abt Vogler"), not indeed
    of Aphrodisia conjoined with Eros, but of the musician's gift:

        That out of three sounds he frame not a fourth sound, but a
        star.

 (39) i.e. "Eros, the Lord of Passion, must lend his hand." "But," he
    proceeds, "the god is coy; he has little liking for the breasts of
    kings. He is more likely to be found in the cottage of the peasant
    than the king's palace."

But least of all is true love's passion wont to lodge in the hearts of
monarchs, for love delights not to swoop on ready prey; he needs the
lure of expectation. (40)

 (40) Or, "even on the heels of hoped-for bliss he follows."

Well then, just as a man who has never tasted thirst can hardly be said
to know the joy of drinking, (41) so he who has never tasted Passion is
ignorant of Aphrodite's sweetest sweets.

 (41) Reading with Holden (after H. Steph.) {osper oun an tis...} or
    with Hartm. (op. cit. p. 259) {osper ouk an tis...}

So Hiero ended.

Simonides answered laughingly: How say you, Hiero? What is that? Love's
strong passion for his soul's beloved incapable of springing up in any
monarch's heart? What of your own passion for Dailochus, surnamed of men
"most beautiful"?

Hiero. That is easily explained, Simonides. What I most desire of him is
no ready spoil, as men might reckon it, but rather what it is least of
all the privilege of a tyrant to obtain. (42) I say it truly, I--the
love I bear Dailochus is of this high sort. All that the constitution of
our souls and bodies possibly compels a man to ask for at the hands of
beauty, that my fantasy desires of him; but what my fantasy demands, I
do most earnestly desire to obtain from willing hands and under seal of
true affection. To clutch it forcibly were as far from my desire as to
do myself some mortal mischief.

 (42) Lit. "of tyrant to achieve," a met. from the chase. Cf.
    "Hunting," xii. 22.

Were he my enemy, to wrest some spoil from his unwilling hands would
be an exquisite pleasure, to my thinking. But of all sweet favours the
sweetest to my notion is the free-will offering of a man's beloved. For
instance, how sweet the responsive glance of love for love; how sweet
the questions and the answers; (43) and, most sweet of all, most
love-enkindling, the battles and the strifes of faithful lovers. (44)
But to enjoy (45) one's love perforce (he added) resembles more an act
of robbery, in my judgment, than love's pastime. And, indeed, the robber
derives some satisfaction from the spoils he wins and from the pain he
causes to the man he hates. But to seek pleasure in the pain of one
we love devoutly, to kiss and to be hated, to touch (46) and to be
loathed--can one conceive a state of things more odious or more pitiful?
For, it is a certainty, the ordinary person may accept at once each
service rendered by the object of his love as a sign and token of
kindliness inspired by affection, since he knows such ministry is free
from all compulsion. Whilst to the tyrant, the confidence that he is
loved is quite foreclosed. On the contrary, (47) we know for certain
that service rendered through terror will stimulate as far as possible
the ministrations of affection. And it is a fact, that plots and
conspiracies against despotic rulers are oftenest hatched by those who
most of all pretend to love them. (48)

 (43) "The 'innere Unterhaltung'"; the {oarismos}. Cf. Milton, "P. L.":

        With thee conversing, I forget all time.

 (44) Cf. Ter. "Andr." iii. 3. 23, "amantium irae amoris
    intergratiost."

 (45) "To make booty of."

 (46) For {aptesthai} L. & S. cf. Plat. "Laws," 840 A; Aristot. "H. A."
    v. 14. 27; Ep. 1 Cor. vii. 1.

 (47) Reading {au}. "If we do know anything it is this, that," etc.

 (48) Or, "do oftenest issue from treacherous make-believe of warmest
    friendship." Cf. Grote, "H. G." xi. 288; "Hell." VI. iv. 36.



II

To these arguments Simonides replied: Yes, but the topics you have named
are to my thinking trifles; drops, as it were, in the wide ocean. How
many men, I wonder, have I seen myself, men in the deepest sense, (1)
true men, who choose to fare but ill in respect of meats and drinks and
delicacies; ay, and what is more, they voluntarily abstain from sexual
pleasures. No! it is in quite a different sphere, which I will name at
once, that you so far transcend us private citizens. (2) It is in your
vast designs, your swift achievements; it is in the overflowing wealth
of your possessions; your horses, excellent for breed and mettle; the
choice beauty of your arms; the exquisite finery of your wives; the
gorgeous palaces in which you dwell, and these, too, furnished with
the costliest works of art; add to which the throng of your retainers,
courtiers, followers, not in number only but accomplishments a most
princely retinue; and lastly, but not least of all, in your supreme
ability at once to afflict your foes and benefit your friends.

 (1) Lit. "many among those reputed to be men." Cf. "Cyrop." V. v. 33;
    "Hell." i. 24, "their hero"; and below, viii. 3. Aristoph. "Ach."
    78, {oi barbaroi gar andras egountai monous} | {tous pleista
    dunamenous phagein te kai piein}: "To the Barbarians 'tis the test
    of manhood: there the great drinkers are the greatest men"
    (Frere); id. "Knights," 179; "Clouds," 823; so Latin "vir." See
    Holden ad loc.

 (2) "Us lesser mortals."

To all which Hiero made answer: That the majority of men, Simonides,
should be deluded by the glamour of a despotism in no respect astonishes
me, since it is the very essence of the crowd, if I am not mistaken,
to rush wildly to conjecture touching the happiness or wretchedness of
people at first sight.

Now the nature of a tyrrany is such: it presents, nay flaunts, a show
of costliest possessions unfolded to the general gaze, which rivets the
attention; (3) but the real troubles in the souls of monarchs it keeps
concealed in those hid chambers where lie stowed away the happiness and
the unhappiness of mankind.

 (3) There is some redundancy in the phraseology.

I repeat then, I little marvel that the multitude should be blinded in
this matter. But that you others also, you who are held to see with
the mind's eye more clearly than with the eye of sense the mass of
circumstances, (4) should share its ignorance, does indeed excite my
wonderment. Now, I know it all too plainly from my own experience,
Simonides, and I assure you, the tyrant is one who has the smallest
share of life's blessings, whilst of its greater miseries he possesses
most.

 (4) Lit. "the majority of things"; al. "the thousand details of a
    thing."

For instance, if peace is held to be a mighty blessing to mankind, then
of peace despotic monarchs are scant sharers. Or is war a curse? If so,
of this particular pest your monarch shares the largest moiety. For,
look you, the private citizen, unless his city-state should chance to be
engaged in some common war, (5) is free to travel wheresoe'er he chooses
without fear of being done to death, whereas the tyrant cannot stir
without setting his foot on hostile territory. At any rate, nothing will
persuade him but he must go through life armed, and on all occasions
drag about with him armed satellites. In the next place, the private
citizen, even during an expedition into hostile territory, (6) can
comfort himself in the reflection that as soon as he gets back home he
will be safe from further peril. Whereas the tyrant knows precisely the
reverse; as soon as he arrives in his own city, he will find himself
in the centre of hostility at once. Or let us suppose that an invading
army, superior in force, is marching against a city: however much the
weaker population, whilst they are still outside their walls, may feel
the stress of danger, yet once within their trenches one and all expect
to find themselves in absolute security. But the tyrant is not out of
danger, even when he has passed the portals of his palace. Nay! there
of all places most, he feels, he must maintain the strictist watch. (7)
Again, to the private citizen there will come eventually, either through
truce or terms of peace, respite from war; but for the tyrant, the day
of peace will never dawn. What peace can he have with those over whom
he exercises his despotic sway? (8) Nor have the terms of truce been yet
devised, on which the despotic ruler may rely with confidence. (9)

 (5) {koinon}, i.e. making demands upon the energies of all the
    citizens in common, as opposed to the personal character of war as
    conducted by a despot = "public," "patriotic," "national" war. Al.
    borne by the particular {polis} as member of a league, whether of
    states united for the time being in a {summakhia}, or permanently
    in a confederacy = a "federal" war.

 (6) "Even if serving on a campaign in the enemy's country."

 (7) Or, "he has to exercise the utmost vigilance."

 (8) "With those who are 'absolutely governed,' not to say tyrannically
    ruled."

 (9) Or, "which the tyrant may accept in faith and go his way
    rejoicing."

Wars doubtless there are, (10) wars waged by states and wars waged by
autocratic monarchs against those whom they have forcibly enslaved, and
in respect of these wars there is no hardship which any member of the
states at war (11) can suffer but the tyrant will feel it also. That
is to say, both must alike be under arms, keep guard, run risks; and
whatever the pains of defeat may be, they are equally sustained by both.
Up to this point there is no distinction. The "bitters" are equal. But
when we come to estimate the "sweets" derivable from warfare between
states, (12) the parallel ceases. The tyrant, if he shared the pains
before, no longer shares the pleasures now. What happens when a state
has gained the mastery in battle over her antagonist? It would be hard
(I take it) to describe the joy of that occurrence: joy in the rout,
joy in the pursuit, joy in the slaughter of their enemies; and in what
language shall I describe the exultation of these warriors at their
feats of arms? With what assumption they bind on their brows
the glittering wreath of glory; (13) with what mirth and jollity
congratulate themselves on having raised their city to newer heights
of fame. Each several citizen claims to have shared in the plan of the
campaign, (14) and to have slain the largest number. Indeed it would
be hard to find where false embellishment will not creep in, (15) the
number stated to be the slain exceeding that of those that actually
perished. So truly glorious a thing it seems to them to have won a great
victory. (16)

 (10) Lit. "and further, wars there are, waged against
     forcibly-subjected populations whether by free states"--e.g.
     of Olynthus, "Hell." V. ii. 23, or Athens against her
     "subject allies" during the Pel. war--"or by despotic
     rules"--Jason of Pherae ("Hell." VI.) Al. "wars waged by
     free states against free states, and wars waged by tyrants
     against enslaved peoples."

 (11) Does {o en tais polesi} = "the citizen"? So some commentators; or
    (sub. {polemos}) = "the war among states" (see Hartman, op. cit.
    p. 248)? in which case transl. "all the hardships involved in
    international war come home to the tyrant also." The same
    obscurity attaches to {oi en tais polesi} below (the commonly
    adopted emend. of the MS. {oi sunontes polesi}) = "the citizens,"
    or else = "international wars."

 (12) "The pleasures incidental to warfare between states"; al. "the
    sweets which citizens engaged in warfare as against rival states
    can count upon."

 (13) Reading {analambanousin}, or, if after Cobet, etc.,
    {lambanousin}, transl. "what brilliant honour, what bright credit
    they assume."

 (14) "To have played his part in counsel." See "Anab." passim, and M.
    Taine, "Essais de Critique," "Xenophon," p. 128.

 (15) Lit. "they do not indulge in false additions, pretending to have
    put more enemies to death than actually fell."

 (16) Cf. "Hipparch," viii. 11; "Cyrop." VIII. iii. 25; "Thuc." i. 49.

But the tyrant, when he forebodes, or possibly perceives in actual fact,
some opposition brewing, and puts the suspects (17) to the sword, knows
he will not thereby promote the welfare of the state collectively. The
cold clear fact is, he will have fewer subjects to rule over. (18) How
can he show a cheerful countenance? (19) how magnify himself on his
achievement? On the contrary, his desire is to lessen the proportions
of what has taken place, as far as may be. He will apologise for what
he does, even in the doing of it, letting it appear that what he has
wrought at least was innocent; (20) so little does his conduct seem
noble even to himself. And when those he dreaded are safely in their
graves, he is not one whit more confident of spirit, but still more on
his guard than heretofore. That is the kind of war with which the tyrant
is beset from day to day continually, as I do prove. (21)

 (17) See Hold. (crit. app.); Hartman, op. cit. p. 260.

 (18) Cf. "Mem." I. ii. 38.

 (19) Cf. "Anab." II. vi. 11; "Hell." VI. iv. 16.

 (20) "Not of malice prepense."

 (21) Or, "Such then, as I describe it, is the type of war," etc.



III

Turn now and contemplate the sort of friendship whereof it is given to
tyrants to partake. And first, let us examine with ourselves and see if
friendship is truly a great boon to mortal man.

How fares it with the man who is beloved of friends? See with what
gladness his friends and lovers hail his advent! delight to do him
kindness! long for him when he is absent from them! (1) and welcome him
most gladly on his return! (2) In any good which shall betide him they
rejoice together; or if they see him overtaken by misfortune, they rush
to his assistance as one man. (3)

 (1) Reading {an ate}, or if {an apie}, transl. "have yearning hearts
    when he must leave them."

 (2) See Anton Rubinstein, "Die Musik and ihre Meister," p. 8, "Some
    Remarks on Beethoven's Sonata Op. 81."

 (3) Cf. "Cyrop." I. vi. 24 for a repetition of the sentiment and
    phraseology.

Nay! it has not escaped the observation of states and governments that
friendship is the greatest boon, the sweetest happiness which men may
taste. At any rate, the custom holds (4) in many states "to slay the
adulterer" alone of all "with impunity," (5) for this reason clearly
that such miscreants are held to be destroyers of that friendship (6)
which binds the woman to the husband. Since where by some untoward
chance a woman suffers violation of her chastity, (7) husbands do not
the less honour them, as far as that goes, provided true affection still
appear unsullied. (8)

 (4) Lit. "many of the states have a law and custom to," etc. Cf. "Pol.
    Lac." ii. 4.

 (5) Cf. Plat. "Laws," 874 C, "if a man find his wife suffering
    violence he may kill the violator and be guiltless in the eye of
    the law." Dem. "in Aristocr." 53, {ean tis apokteine en athlois
    akon... e epi damarti, k.t.l.... touton eneka me pheugein
    kteinanta}.

 (6) See Lys. "de caed Eratosth." S. 32 f., {outos, o andres, tous
    biazomenous elattonos zemias axious egesato einai e tous
    peithontas. ton men gar thanaton kategno, tois de diplen epoiese
    ten blaben, egoumenos tous men diaprattomenous bia upo ton
    biasthenton miseisthai, tous de peisantas outos aution tas psukhas
    diaphtheirein ost' oikeioteras autois poiein tas allotrias
    gunaikas e tois andrasi kai pasan ep' ekeinois ten oikian
    gegonenai kai tous paidas adelous einai opoteron tugkhanousin
    ontes, ton andron e ton moikhon. anth' on o ton nomon titheis
    thanaton autois epoiese ten zemian}. Cf. "Cyrop." III. i. 39;
    "Symp." viii. 20; Plut. "Sol." xxiii., {olos de pleisten ekhein
    atopian oi peri ton gunaikon nomoi to Soloni dokousi. moikhon men
    gar anelein tio labonti dedoken, ean d' arpase tis eleutheran
    gunaika kai biasetai zemian ekaton drakhmas etaxe' kan proagogeue
    drakhmas aikosi, plen osai pephasmenos polountai, legon de tas
    etairas. autai gar emphanos phoitosi pros tous didontas}, "Solon's
    laws in general about women are his strangest, for he permitted
    any one to kill an adulterer that found him in the act; but if any
    one forced a free woman, a hundred drachmas was the fine; if he
    enticed her, twenty;--except those that sell themselves openly,
    that is, harlots, who go openly to those that hire them" (Clough,
    i. p. 190).

 (7) Or, "fall a victim to passion through some calamity," "commit a
    breach of chastity." Cf. Aristot. "H. A." VII. i. 9.

 (8) Or, "if true affection still retain its virgin purity." As to this
    extraordinary passage, see Hartman, op. cit. p. 242 foll.

So sovereign a good do I, for my part, esteem it to be loved, that I do
verily believe spontaneous blessings are outpoured from gods and men on
one so favoured.

This is that choice possession which, beyond all others, the monarch is
deprived of.

But if you require further evidence that what I say is true, look at the
matter thus: No friendship, I presume, is sounder than that which binds
parents to their children and children to their parents, brothers and
sisters to each other, (9) wives to husbands, comrade to comrade.

 (9) Or, "brothers to brothers."

If, then, you will but thoughtfully consider it, you will discover it is
the ordinary person who is chiefly blest in these relations. (10) While
of tyrants, many have been murderers of their own children, many by
their children murdered. Many brothers have been murderers of one
another in contest for the crown; (11) many a monarch has been done to
death by the wife of his bosom, (12) or even by his own familiar friend,
by him of whose affection he was proudest. (13)

 (10) Or, "that these more obvious affections are the sanctities of
    private life."

 (11) Or, "have caught at the throats of brothers"; lit. "been slain
    with mutually-murderous hand." Cf. Pind. Fr. 137; Aesch. "Sept. c.
    Theb." 931; "Ag." 1575, concerning Eteocles and Polynices.

 (12) See Grote, "H. G." xi. 288, xii. 6; "Hell." VI. iv. 36; Isocr.
    "On the Peace," 182; Plut. "Dem. Pol." iii. (Clough, v. p. 98);
    Tac. "Hist." v. 8, about the family feuds of the kings of Judaea.

 (13) "It was his own familiar friend who dealt the blow, the nearest
    and dearest to his heart."

How can you suppose, then, that being so hated by those whom nature
predisposes and law compels to love him, the tyrant should be loved by
any living soul beside?



IV

Again, without some moiety of faith and trust, (1) how can a man not
feel to be defrauded of a mighty blessing? One may well ask: What
fellowship, what converse, what society would be agreeable without
confidence? What intercourse between man and wife be sweet apart
from trustfulness? How should the "faithful esquire" whose faith is
mistrusted still be lief and dear? (2)

 (1) "How can he, whose faith's discredited, the moral bankrupt..."

 (2) Or, "the trusty knight and serving-man." Cf. "Morte d'Arthur,"
    xxi. 5, King Arthur and Sir Bedivere.

Well, then, of this frank confidence in others the tyrant has the
scantiest share. (3) Seeing his life is such, he cannot even trust
his meats and drinks, but he must bid his serving-men before the feast
begins, or ever the libation to the gods is poured, (4) to taste the
viands, out of sheer mistrust there may be mischief lurking in the cup
or platter. (5)

 (3) Or, "from this... is almost absolutely debarred."

 (4) "Or ever grace is said."

 (5) Cf. "Cyrop." I. iii. 4.

Once more, the rest of mankind find in their fatherland a treasure worth
all else beside. The citizens form their own body-guard (6) without pay
or service-money against slaves and against evil-doers. It is theirs
to see that none of themselves, no citizen, shall perish by a violent
death. And they have advanced so far along the path of guardianship (7)
that in many cases they have framed a law to the effect that "not the
associate even of one who is blood-guilty shall be accounted pure." So
that, by reason of their fatherland, (8) each several citizen can live
at quiet and secure.

 (6) "Are their own 'satellites,' spear-bearers." Cf. Thuc. i. 130;
    Herod. ii. 168; vii. 127.

 (7) "Pushed so far the principle of mutual self-aid."

 (8) "Thanks to the blessing of a fatherland each citizen may spend his
    days in peace and safety."

But for the tyrant it is again exactly the reverse. (9) Instead of
aiding or avenging their despotic lord, cities bestow large honours
on the slayer of a tyrant; ay, and in lieu of excommunicating the
tyrannicide from sacred shrines, (10) as is the case with murderers of
private citizens, they set up statues of the doers of such deeds (11) in
temples.

 (9) "Matters are once more reversed precisely," "it is all
     'topsy-turvy.'"

 (10) "And sacrifices." Cf. Dem. "c. Lept." 137, {en toinun tois peri
    touton nomois o Drakon... katharon diorisen einai}. "Now in the
    laws upon this subject, Draco, although he strove to make it
    fearful and dreadful for a man to slay another, and ordained that
    the homicide should be excluded from lustrations, cups, and
    drink-offerings, from the temples and the market-place, specifying
    everything by which he thought most effectually to restrain people
    from such a practice, still did not abolish the rule of justice,
    but laid down the cases in which it should be lawful to kill, and
    declared that the killer under such circumstances should be deemed
    pure" (C. R. Kennedy).

 (11) e.g. Harmodius and Aristogeiton. See Dem. loc. cit. 138: "The
    same rewards that you gave to Harmodius and Aristogiton,"
    concerning whom Simonides himself wrote a votive couplet:

        {'E meg' 'Athenaioisi phoos geneth' enik' 'Aristogeiton
        'Ipparkhon kteine kai 'Armodios.}

But if you imagine that the tyrant, because he has more possessions than
the private person, does for that reason derive greater pleasure from
them, this is not so either, Simonides, but it is with tyrants as with
athletes. Just as the athlete feels no glow of satisfaction in asserting
his superiority over amateurs, (12) but annoyance rather when he
sustains defeat at the hands of any real antagonist; so, too, the tyrant
finds little consolation in the fact (13) that he is evidently richer
than the private citizen. What he feels is pain, when he reflects that
he has less himself than other monarchs. These he holds to be his true
antagonists; these are his rivals in the race for wealth.

 (12) Or, "It gives no pleasure to the athlete to win victories over
    amateurs." See "Mem." III. viii. 7.

 (13) Or, "each time it is brought home to him that," etc.

Nor does the tyrant attain the object of his heart's desire more quickly
than do humbler mortals theirs. For consider, what are their objects of
ambition? The private citizen has set his heart, it may be, on a house,
a farm, a servant. The tyrant hankers after cities, or wide territory,
or harbours, or formidable citadels, things far more troublesome and
more perilous to achieve than are the pettier ambitions of lesser men.

And hence it is, moreover, that you will find but few (14) private
persons paupers by comparison with the large number of tyrants who
deserve the title; (15) since the criterion of enough, or too much,
is not fixed by mere arithmetic, but relatively to the needs of the
individual. (16) In other words, whatever exceeds sufficiency is much,
and what falls short of that is little. (17)

 (14) Reading as vulg. {alla mentoi kai penetas opsei oukh outos
    oligous ton idioton os pollous ton turannon}. Lit. "however that
    may be, you will see not so few private persons in a state of
    penury as many despots." Breitenbach del. {oukh}, and transl.,
    "Daher weist du auch in dem Masse wenige Arme unter den
    Privat-leuten finden, als viele unter den Tyrannen." Stob.,
    {penetas opsei oligous ton idioton, pollous de ton
    turannon}. Stob. MS. Par., {alla mentoi kai plousious opsei
    oukh outos oligous ton idioton os penetas pollous ton
    turannon}. See Holden ad loc. and crit. n.

 (15) Cf. "Mem." IV. ii. 37.

 (16) Or, "not by the number of things we have, but in reference to the
    use we make of them." Cf. "Anab." VII. vii. 36.

 (17) Dr. Holden aptly cf. Addison, "The Spectator," No. 574, on the
    text "Non possidentem multa vocaveris recte beatum..."

And on this principle the tyrant, with his multiplicity of goods, is
less well provided to meet necessary expenses than the private person;
since the latter can always cut down his expenditure to suit his daily
needs in any way he chooses; but the tyrant cannot do so, seeing that
the largest expenses of a monarch are also the most necessary, being
devoted to various methods of safeguarding his life, and to cut down any
of them would be little less than suicidal. (18)

 (18) Or, "and to curtail these would seem to be self-slaughter."

Or, to put it differently, why should any one expend compassion on a
man, as if he were a beggar, who has it in his power to satisfy by
just and honest means his every need? (19) Surely it would be more
appropriate to call that man a wretched starveling beggar rather,
who through lack of means is driven to live by ugly shifts and base
contrivances.

 (19) i.e. "to expend compassion on a man who, etc., were surely a
    pathetic fallacy." Al. "Is not the man who has it in his power,
    etc., far above being pitied?"

Now it is your tyrant who is perpetually driven to iniquitous spoilation
of temples and human beings, through chronic need of money wherewith to
meet inevitable expenses, since he is forced to feed and support an army
(even in times of peace) no less than if there were actual war, or else
he signs his own death-warrant. (20)

 (20) "A daily, hourly constraint is laid upon him to support an army
    as in war time, or--write his epitaph!"



V

But there is yet another sore affliction to which the tyrant is liable,
Sinmonides, which I will name to you. It is this. Tyrants no less than
ordinary mortals can distinguish merit. The orderly, (1) the wise, the
just and upright, they freely recognise; but instead of admiring them,
they are afraid of them--the courageous, lest they should venture
something for the sake of freedom; the wise, lest they invent some
subtle mischief; (2) the just and upright, lest the multitude should
take a fancy to be led by them.

 (1) The same epithets occur in Aristoph. "Plut." 89:

        {ego gar on meirakion epeiles' oti
        os tous dikaious kai sophous kai kosmious
        monous badioimen.}

    Stob. gives for {kasmious} {alkimous}.

 (2) Or, "for fear of machinations." But the word is suggestive of
    mechanical inventions also, like those of Archimedes in connection
    with a later Hiero (see Plut. "Marcel." xv. foll.); or of
    Lionardo, or of Michael Angelo (Symonds, "Renaissance in Italy,"
    "The Fine Arts," pp. 315, 393).

And when he has secretly and silently made away with all such people
through terror, whom has he to fall back upon to be of use to him, save
only the unjust, the incontinent, and the slavish-natured? (3) Of these,
the unjust can be trusted as sharing the tyrant's terror lest the cities
should some day win their freedom and lay strong hands upon them;
the incontinent, as satisfied with momentary license; and the
slavish-natured, for the simple reason that they have not themselves the
slightest aspiration after freedom. (4)

 (3) Or, "the dishonest, the lascivious, and the servile."

 (4) "They have no aspiration even to be free," "they are content to
    wallow in the slough of despond." The {adikoi} (unjust) correspond
    to the {dikaioi} (just), {akrateis} (incontinent) to the {sophoi}
    (wise) (Breit. cf. "Mem." III. ix. 4, {sophian de kai sophrosunen
    ou diorizen}), {andrapododeis} (servile) to the {kasmioi},
    {andreioi} (orderly, courageous).

This, then, I say, appears to me a sore affliction, that we should look
upon the one set as good men, and yet be forced to lean upon the other.

And further, even a tyrant cannot but be something of a patriot--a
lover of that state, without which he can neither hope for safety nor
prosperity. On the other hand, his tyrrany, the exigencies of despotic
rule, compel him to incriminate his fatherland. (5) To train his
citizens to soldiery, to render them brave warriors, and well armed,
confers no pleasure on him; rather he will take delight to make his
foreigners more formidable than those to whom the state belongs, and
these foreigners he will depend on as his body-guard.

 (5) Or, "depreciate the land which gave him birth." Holden cf.
    "Cyrop." VII. ii. 22. See Sturz, s.v.

Nay more, not even in the years of plenty, (6) when abundance of all
blessings reigns, not even then may the tyrant's heart rejoice amid the
general joy, for the greater the indigence of the community the humbler
he will find them: that is his theory.

 (6) "In good seasons," "seasons of prosperity." Cf. Aristot. "Pol." v.
    6. 17.



VI

He continued: I desire to make known to you, Simonides, (1) those divers
pleasures which were mine whilst I was still a private citizen, but
of which to-day, nay, from the moment I became a tyrant, I find myself
deprived. In those days I consorted with my friends and fellows, to our
mutual delectation; (2) or, if I craved for quietude, (3) I chose myself
for my companion. Gaily the hours flitted at our drinking-parties,
ofttimes till we had drowned such cares and troubles as are common to
the life of man in Lethe's bowl; (4) or ofttimes till we had steeped
our souls in song and dance (5) and revelry; ofttimes till the flame of
passion kindled in the breasts of my companions and my own. (6) But now,
welladay, I am deprived of those who took delight in me, because I
have slaves instead of friends as my companions; I am robbed of my
once delightful intercourse with them, because I discern no vestige
of goodwill towards me in their looks. And as to the wine-cup and
slumber--these I guard against, even as a man might guard against an
ambuscade. Think only! to dread a crowd, to dread solitude, to dread the
absence of a guard, to dread the very guards that guard, to shrink from
having those about one's self unarmed, and yet to hate the sight of
armed attendants. Can you conceive a more troublesome circumstance? (7)
But that is not all. To place more confidence in foreigners than in your
fellow-citizens, nay, in barbarians than in Hellenes, to be consumed
with a desire to keep freemen slaves and yet to be driven, will he
nill he, to make slaves free, are not all these the symptoms of a mind
distracted and amazed with terror?

 (1) Or, "I wish I could disclose to you (he added) those heart-easing
    joys." For {euphrosunas} cf. "Od." vi. 156; Aesch. "P. V." 540;
    Eur. "Bacch." 376. A favourite word with our author; see "Ages."
    ix. 4; "Cyrop." passim; "Mem." III. viii. 10; "Econ." ix. 12.

 (2) Lit. "delighting I in them and they in me."

 (3) Or, "when I sought tranquility I was my own companion."

 (4) Or, "in sheer forgetfulness."

 (5) Or, "absorbed our souls in song and festal cheer and dance." Cf.
    "Od." viii. 248, 249, {aiei d' emin dais te phile kitharis te
    khoroi te} | {eimata t' exemoiba loetra te therma kau eunai}, "and
    dear to us ever is the banquet and the harp and the dance, and
    changes of raiment, and the warm bath, and love and sleep"
    (Butcher and Lang).

 (6) Reading as vulg. {epithumias}. Breit. cf. "Mem." III. ix. 7; Plat.
    "Phaed." 116 E, "he has eaten and drunk and enjoyed the society of
    his beloved" (Jowett). See "Symp." the finale; or if, after Weiske
    and Cobet, {euthumias}, transl. "to the general hilarity of myself
    and the whole company" (cf. "Cyrop." I. iii. 12, IV. v. 7), but
    this is surely a bathos rhetorically.

 (7) Or, "a worse perplexity." See "Hell." VII. iii. 8.

For terror, you know, not only is a source of pain indwelling in the
breast itself, but, ever in close attendance, shadowing the path, (8)
becomes the destroyer of all sweet joys.

 (8) Reading {sumparakolouthon lumeon}. Stob. gives {sumparomarton
    lumanter}. For the sentiment cf. "Cyrop." III. i. 25.

And if you know anything of war, Simonides, and war's alarms; if it was
your fortune ever to be posted close to the enemy's lines, (9) try to
recall to mind what sort of meals you made at those times, with what
sort of slumber you courted rest. Be assured, there are no pains you
then experienced, no horrors to compare with those that crowd upon the
despot, who sees or seems to see fierce eyes of enemies glare at him,
not face to face alone, but from every side.

 (9) Or, "in the van of battle, opposite the hostile lines."

He had spoken so far, when Simonides took up the thread of the
discourse, replying: Excellently put. A part I must admit, of what you
say; since war is terrible. Yet, Hiero, you forget. When we, at any
rate, are out campaigning, we have a custom; we place sentinels at the
outposts, and when the watch is set, we take our suppers and turn in
undauntedly.

And Hiero answered: Yes, I can well believe you, for the laws are the
true outposts, (10) who guard the sentinels, keeping their fears alive
both for themselves and in behalf of you. Whereas the tyrant hires his
guards for pay like harvest labourers. (11) Now of all functions, all
abilities, none, I presume, is more required of a guard than that of
faithfulness; and yet one faithful man is a commodity more hard to find
than scores of workmen for any sort of work you like to name; (12) and
the more so, when the guards in question are not forthcoming except for
money's sake; (13) and when they have it in their power to get far more
in far less time by murdering the despot than they can hope to earn by
lengthened service in protecting him.

 (10) Or, "beyond the sentinels themselves is set the outpost of the
    laws, who watch the watch."

 (11) Or, "ten-day labourers in harvest-time."

 (12) Or, "but to discover one single faithful man is far more
    difficult than scores of labourers in any field of work you
    please."

 (13) Or, "are merely hirelings for filthy lucre's sake."

And as to that which roused your envy--our ability, as you call it, to
benefit our friends most largely, and beyond all else, to triumph over
our foes--here, again, matters are not as you suppose.

How, for instance, can you hope to benefit your friends, when you may
rest assured the very friend whom you have made most your debtor will be
the happiest to quit your sight as fast as may be? since nobody believes
that anything a tyrant gives him is indeed his own, until he is well
beyond the donor's jurisdiction.

So much for friends, and as to enemies conversely. How can you say "most
power of triumphing over our enemies," when every tyrant knows full well
they are all his enemies, every man of them, who are despotically ruled
by him? And to put the whole of them to death or to imprison them is
hardly possible; or who will be his subjects presently? Not so, but
knowing they are his enemies, he must perform this dexterous feat: (14)
he must keep them at arm's length, and yet be compelled to lean upon
them.

 (14) Lit. "he must at one and the same moment guard against them, and
    yet be driven also to depend upon them."

But be assured, Simonides, that when a tyrant fears any of his citizens,
he is in a strait; it is ill work to see them living and ill work to put
them to the death. Just as might happen with a horse; a noble beast, but
there is that in him makes one fear he will do some mischief presently
past curing. (15) His very virtue makes it hard to kill the creature,
and yet to turn him to account alive is also hard; so careful must one
be, he does not choose the thick of danger to work irreparable harm. And
this, further, doubtless holds of all goods and chattels, which are at
once a trouble and a benefit. If painful to their owners to possess,
they are none the less a source of pain to part with.

 (15) Lit. "good but fearful (i.e. he makes one fear), he will some day
    do some desperate mischief."



VII

Now when he had heard these reasonings, Simonides replied: O Hiero,
there is a potent force, it would appear, the name of which is honour,
so attractive that human beings strain to grasp it, (1) and in the
effort they will undergo all pains, endure all perils. It would further
seem that even you, you tyrants, in spite of all that sea of trouble
which a tyranny involves, rush headlong in pursuit of it. You must be
honoured. All the world shall be your ministers; they shall carry out
your every injunction with unhesitating zeal. (2) You shall be the
cynosure of neighbouring eyes; men shall rise from their seats at your
approach; they shall step aside to yield you passage in the streets. (3)
All present shall at all times magnify you, (4) and shall pay homage to
you both with words and deeds. Those, I take it, are ever the kind of
things which subjects do to please the monarch, (5) and thus they treat
each hero of the moment, whom they strive to honour. (6)

 (1) Lit. "that human beings will abide all risks and undergo all pains
    to clutch the bait."

 (2) Cf. "Cyrop." II. iii. 8; VIII. i. 29.

 (3) Cf. "Mem." II. iii. 16; "Cyrop." VII. v. 20.

 (4) {gerairosi}, poetic. Cf. "Cyrop." VIII. i. 39; "Hell." I. vii. 33;
    "Econ." iv. 8; "Herod." v. 67; Pind. "O." iii. 3, v. 11; "N." v.
    15; "Od." xiv. 437, 441; "Il." vii. 321; Plat. "Rep." 468 D,
    quoting "Il." vii. 321.

 (5) Reading {tois turannois}, or if {tous turannous}, after Cobet,
    "That is how they treat crowned heads."

 (6) Cf. Tennyson, "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington":

        With honour, honour, honour to him,
        Eternal honour to his name.

Yes, Hiero, and herein precisely lies the difference between a man and
other animals, in this outstretching after honour. (7) Since, it would
seem, all living creatures alike take pleasure in meats and drinks, in
sleep and sexual joys. Only the love of honour is implanted neither in
unreasoning brutes (8) nor universally in man. But they in whose hearts
the passion for honour and fair fame has fallen like a seed, these
unmistakably (9) are separated most widely from the brutes. These may
claim to be called men, (10) not human beings merely. So that, in my
poor judgment, it is but reasonable you should submit to bear the pains
and penalties of royalty, since you are honoured far beyond all other
mortal men. And indeed no pleasure known to man would seem to be nearer
that of gods than the delight (11) which centres in proud attributes.

 (7) Or, "in this strong aspiration after honour." Holden aptly cf.
    "Spectator," No. 467: "The love of praise is a passion deeply
    fixed in the mind of every extraordinary person; and those who are
    most affected with it seem most to partake of that particle of the
    divinity which distinguishes mankind from the inferior creation."

 (8) {alogous}, i.e. "without speech and reason"; cf. modern Greek {o
    alogos} = the horse (sc. the animal par excellence). See
    "Horsemanship," viii. 14.

 (9) {ede}, "ipso facto."

 (10) See "Anab." I. vii. 4; Frotscher ap. Breit. cf. Cic. "ad Fam." v.
    17. 5, "ut et hominem te et virum esse meminisses."

 (11) Or, "joyance."

To these arguments Hiero replied: Nay, but, Simonides, the honours and
proud attributes bestowed on tyrants have much in common with their
love-makings, as I described them. Like honours like loves, the pair are
of a piece.

For just as the ministrations won from loveless hearts (12) are felt to
be devoid of grace, and embraces forcibly procured are sweet no longer,
so the obsequious cringings of alarm are hardly honours. Since how shall
we assert that people who are forced to rise from their seats do really
rise to honour those whom they regard as malefactors? or that these
others who step aside to let their betters pass them in the street,
desire thus to show respect to miscreants? (13) And as to gifts, it is
notorious, people commonly bestow them largely upon those they hate, and
that too when their fears are gravest, hoping to avert impending evil.
Nay, these are nothing more nor less than acts of slavery, and they may
fairly be set down as such.

 (12) Or, "the compliance of cold lips where love is not reciprocated
    is..."

 (13) Or, "to rank injustice."

But honours have a very different origin, (14) as different to my
mind as are the sentiments to which they give expression. See how, for
instance, men of common mould will single out a man, who is a man, (15)
they feel, and competent to be their benefactor; one from whom they hope
to reap rich blessings. His name lives upon their lips in praise. As
they gaze at him, each one among them sees in him a private treasure.
Spontaneously they yield him passage in the streets. They rise from
their seats to do him honour, out of love not fear; they crown him for
his public (16) virtue's sake and benefactions. They shower gifts upon
him of their own free choice. These same are they who, if my definition
holds, may well be said to render honour to their hero by such service,
whilst he that is held worthy of these services is truly honoured. And
for my part I can but offer my congratulations to him. "God bless him,"
say I, perceiving that so far from being the butt of foul conspiracy, he
is an object of anxiety to all, lest evil should betide him; and so he
pursues the even tenour of his days in happiness exempt from fears
and jealousy (17) and risk. But the current of the tyrant's life runs
differently. Day and night, I do assure you, Simonides, he lives like
one condemned by the general verdict of mankind to die for his iniquity.

 (14) Lit. "Honours would seem to be the outcome and expression of
    conditions utterly remote from these, in fact their very
    opposites."

 (15) Cf. Napoleon's accost of Goethe, "Vous etes un homme," and "as
    Goethe left the room, Napoleon repeated to Berthier and Daru,
    'Voila un homme!'" ("The Life of Goethe," Lewes, p. 500).

 (16) Reading {koines}, which ought to mean "common to them and him";
    if with Cobet {koine}, "in public crown him for his virtue's sake,
    a benefactor."

 (17) Or, "without reproach."

Now when Simonides had listened to these reasonings to the end, (18)
he answered: How is it, Hiero, if to play the tyrant is a thing so
villainous, (19) and that is your final judgment, how comes it you are
not quit of so monstrous an evil? Neither you, nor, for that matter, any
monarch else I ever heard of, having once possessed the power, did ever
of his own free will divest himself of sovereignty. How is that, Hiero?

 (18) Cf. "Econ." xi. 1.

 (19) Or, "if to monarchise and play the despot."

For one simple reason (the tyrant answered), and herein lies the supreme
misery of despotic power; it is not possible even to be quit of it. (20)
How could the life of any single tyrant suffice to square the account?
How should he pay in full to the last farthing all the moneys of all
whom he has robbed? with what chains laid upon him make requital to all
those he has thrust into felons' quarters? (21) how proffer lives enough
to die in compensation of the dead men he has slain? how die a thousand
deaths?

 (20) Holden aptly cf. Plut. "Sol." 14, {kalon men einai ten torannida
    khorion, ouk ekhein de apobasin}, "it was true a tyrrany was a
    very fair spot, but it had no way down from it" (Clough, i. p.
    181).

 (21) Or, "how undergo in his own person the imprisonments he has
    inflicted?" Reading {antipaskhoi}, or if {antiparaskhoi}, transl.
    "how could he replace in his own person the exact number of
    imprisonments which he has inflicted on others?"

Ah, no! Simonides (he added), if to hang one's self outright be ever
gainful to pour mortal soul, then, take my word for it, that is the
tyrant's remedy: there's none better suited (22) to his case, since he
alone of all men is in this dilemma, that neither to keep nor lay aside
his troubles profits him.

 (22) Or, "nought more profitable to meet the case." The author plays
    on {lusitelei} according to his wont.



VIII

Here Simonides took up the thread of the discourse (1) as follows: That
for the moment, Hiero, you should be out of heart regarding tyranny (2)
I do not wonder, since you have a strong desire to be loved by human
beings, and you are persuaded that it is your office which balks the
realisation of your dream.

 (1) Al. "took up the speaker thus."

 (2) "In reference to despotic rule."

Now, however, I am no less certain I can prove to you that government
(3) implies no obstacle to being loved, but rather holds the advantage
over private life so far. And whilst investigating if this be really so,
let us not embarrass the inquiry by asking whether in proportion to his
greater power the ruler is able to do kindness on a grander scale. But
put it thus: Two human beings, the one in humble circumstances, (4) the
other a despotic ruler, perform a common act; which of these twain will,
under like conditions, (5) win the larger thanks? I will begin with
the most trifling (6) examples; and first a simple friendly salutation,
"Good day," "Good evening," dropped at sight of some one from the
lips of here a ruler, there a private citizen. In such a case, whose
salutation will sound the pleasanter to him accosted?

 (3) {to arkhein}. Cf. "Cyrop." passim.

 (4) "A private person."

 (5) Lit. "by like expenditure of power."

 (6) {arkhomai soi}. Lit. "I'll begin you with quite commonplace
    examples." Holden cf. Shakesp. "Merry Wives," i. 4. 97, "I'll do
    you your master what good I can"; "Much Ado," ii. 3. 115, "She
    will sit you." For the distinction between {paradeigmaton} =
    examples and {upodeigmata} = suggestions see "Horsem." ii. 2.

Or again, (7) let us suppose that both should have occasion to pronounce
a panegyric. Whose compliments will carry farther, in the way of
delectation, think you? Or on occasion of a solemn sacrifice, suppose
they do a friend the honour of an invitation. (8) In either case it is
an honour, but which will be regarded with the greater gratitude, the
monarch's or the lesser man's?

 (7) "Come now."

 (8) Cf. "Mem." II. iii. 11 as to "sacrifices as a means of social
    enjoyment." Dr. Holden cf. Aristot. "Nic. Eth." VIII. ix. 160,
    "And hence it is that these clan communities and hundreds solemnise
    sacrifices, in connection with which they hold large gatherings,
    and thereby not only pay honour to the gods, but also provide for
    themselves holiday and amusement" (R. Williams). Thuc. ii. 38,
    "And we have not forgotten to provide for our weary spirits many
    relaxations from toil; we have regular games and sacrifices
    throughout the year" (Jowett). Plut. "Them." v., {kai gar
    philothuten onta kai lampron en tais peri tous xenous dapanais
   ...} "For loving to sacrifice often, and to be splendid in his
    entertainment of strangers, he required a plentiful revenue"
    (Clough, i. 236). To which add Theophr. "Char." xv. 2, "The
    Shameless Man": {eita thusas tois theois autos men deipnein par'
    etero, ta de krea apotithenai alsi pasas, k.t.l.}, "then when he
    has been sacrificing to the gods, he will put away the salted
    remains, and will himself dine out" (Jebb).

Or let a sick man be attended with a like solicitude by both. It is
plain, the kind attentions of the mighty potentate (9) arouse in the
patient's heart immense delight. (10)

 (9) "Their mightinesses," or as we might say, "their serene
    highnesses." Cf. Thuc. ii. 65.

 (10) "The greatest jubilance."

Or say, they are the givers of two gifts which shall be like in all
respects. It is plain enough in this case also that "the gracious
favour" of his royal highness, even if halved, would more than
counterbalance the whole value of the commoner's "donation." (11)

 (11) Or, "half the great man's 'bounty' more than outweighs the small
    man's present." For {dorema} cf. Aristot. "N. E." I. ix. 2,
    "happiness... a free gift of God to men."

Nay, as it seems to me, an honour from the gods, a grace divine, is shed
about the path of him the hero-ruler. (12) Not only does command itself
ennoble manhood, but we gaze on him with other eyes and find the fair
within him yet more fair who is to-day a prince and was but yesterday a
private citizen. (13) Again, it is a prouder satisfaction doubtless
to hold debate with those who are preferred to us in honour than with
people on an equal footing with ourselves.

 (12) Lit. "attends the footsteps of the princely ruler." Cf. "Cyrop."
    II. i. 23, Plat. "Laws," 667 B, for a similar metaphorical use of
    the word.

 (13) {to arkhein}, "his princely power makes him more noble as a man,
    and we behold him fairer exercising rule than when he functioned
    as a common citizen." Reading {kallio}, or if {edion}, transl. "we
    feast our eyes more greedily upon him."

Why, the minion (with regard to whom you had the gravest fault to find
with tyranny), the favourite of a ruler, is least apt to quarrel (14)
with gray hairs: the very blemishes of one who is a prince soon cease to
be discounted in their intercourse. (15)

 (14) Lit. "feels least disgust at age"; i.e. his patron's years and
    wrinkles.

 (15) Cf. Plat. "Phaedr." 231 B.

The fact is, to have reached the zenith of distinction in itself lends
ornament, (16) nay, a lustre effacing what is harsh and featureless and
rude, and making true beauty yet more splendid.

 (16) Or, "The mere prestige of highest worship helps to adorn." See
    Aristot. "N. E." xi. 17. As to {auto to tetimesthai m. s.} I think
    it is the {arkhon} who is honoured by the rest of men, which
    {time} helps to adorn him. Others seem to think it is the
    {paidika} who is honoured by the {arkhon}. If so, transl.: "The
    mere distinction, the privilege alone of being highly honoured,
    lends embellishment," etc.

Since then, by aid of equal ministrations, you are privileged to win not
equal but far deeper gratitude: it would seem to follow, considering
the vastly wider sphere of helpfulness which lies before you as
administrators, and the far grander scale of your largesses, I say it
naturally pertains to you to find yourselves much more beloved than
ordinary mortals; or if not, why not?

Hiero took up the challenge and without demur made answer: For this good
reason, best of poets, necessity constrains us, far more than ordinary
people, to be busybodies. We are forced to meddle with concerns which
are the very fount and springhead of half the hatreds of mankind.

We have moneys to exact if we would meet our necessary expenses. Guards
must be impressed and sentinels posted wherever there is need of watch
and ward. We have to chastise evil-doers; we must put a stop to those
who would wax insolent. (17) And when the season for swift action comes,
and it is imperative to expedite a force by land or sea, at such a
crisis it will not do for us to entrust the affair to easy-goers.

 (17) Or, "curb the over-proud in sap and blood."

Further than that, the man who is a tyrant must have mercenaries, and of
all the burdens which the citizens are called upon to bear there is none
more onerous than this, since nothing will induce them to believe these
people are supported by the tyrant to add to his and their prestige,
(18) but rather for the sake of his own selfishness and greed.

 (18) Reading with Breit. {eis timas}, or if the vulg. {isotimous},
    transl. "as equal merely to themselves in privilege"; or if with
    Schenkl (and Holden, ed. 3) {isotimias}, transl. "their firm
    persuasion is these hirelings are not supported by the tyrant in
    the interests of equality but of undue influence."



IX

To these arguments Simonides in turn made answer: Nay, Hiero, I am far
from stating that you have not all these divers matters to attend to.
They are serious duties, (1) I admit. But still, what strikes me is,
if half these grave responsibilities do lend themselves undoubtedly to
hatred, (2) the remaining half are altogether gratifying. Thus, to teach
others (3) arts of highest virtue, and to praise and honour each
most fair performance of the same, that is a type of duty not to be
discharged save graciously. Whilst, on the other hand, to scold at
people guilty of remissness, to drive and fine and chasten, these are
proceedings doubtless which go hand in hand with hate and bitterness.

 (1) Cf. "Econ." vii. 41.

 (2) Or, "tend indisputably to enmity."

 (3) Or, "people," "the learner."

What I would say then to the hero-ruler is: Wherever force is needed,
the duty of inflicting chastisement should be assigned to others, but
the distribution of rewards and prizes must be kept in his own hands.
(4)

 (4) Cf. "Cyrop." VIII. ii. 27; ib. i. 18; "Hipparch," i. 26.

Common experience attests the excellence of such a system. (5) Thus when
we (6) wish to set on foot a competition between choruses, (7) it is the
function of the archon (8) to offer prizes, whilst to the choregoi (9)
is assigned the duty of assembling the members of the band; (10) and
to others (11) that of teaching and applying force to those who come
behindhand in their duties. There, then, you have the principle at once:
The gracious and agreeable devolves on him who rules, the archon; the
repellent counterpart (12) on others. What is there to prevent the
application of the principle to matters politic in general? (13)

 (5) Or, "current incidents bear witness to the beauty of the
    principle."

 (6) {emin}. The author makes Simonides talk as an Athenian.

 (7) Lit. "when we wish our sacred choirs to compete."

 (8) Or, "magistrate"; at Athens the Archon Eponymos. See Boeckh, "P.
    E. A." p. 454 foll. Al. the {athlethetai}. See Pollux, viii. 93;
    cf. Aeschin. "c. Ctes." 13.

 (9) Or more correctly at Athens the choragoi = leaders of the chorus.

 (10) i.e. the choreutai.

 (11) Sc. the choro-didaskaloi, or chorus-masters.

 (12) {ta antitupa}, "the repellent obverse," "the seamy side." Cf.
    Theogn. 1244, {ethos ekhon solion pistios antitupon}. "Hell." VI.
    iii. 11.

 (13) Or, "Well then, what reason is there why other matters of
    political concern--all other branches of our civic life, in
    fact--should not be carried out on this same principle?"

All states as units are divided into tribes ({thulas}), or regiments
({moras}), or companies ({lokhous}), and there are officers
({arkhontes}) appointed in command of each division. (14)

 (14) e.g. Attica into ten phylae, Lacedaemon into six morae, Thebes
    and Argos into lochi. See Aristot. "Pol." v. 8 (Jowett, i. 166);
    "Hell." VI. iv. 13; VII. ii. 4.

Well then, suppose that some one were to offer prizes (15) to these
political departments on the pattern of the choric prizes just
described; prizes for excellence of arms, or skill in tactics, or
for discipline and so forth, or for skill in horsemanship; prizes
for prowess (16) in the field of battle, bravery in war; prizes for
uprightness (17) in fulfilment of engagements, contracts, covenants.
If so, I say it is to be expected that these several matters, thanks to
emulous ambition, will one and all be vigorously cultivated. Vigorously!
why, yes, upon my soul, and what a rush there would be! How in the
pursuit of honour they would tear along where duty called: with what
promptitude pour in their money contributions (18) at a time of crisis.

 (15) See "Revenues," iii. 3; A. Zurborg, "de. Xen. Lib. qui {Poroi}
    inscribitur," p. 42.

 (16) Cf. "Hell." III. iv. 16; IV. ii. 5 foll.

 (17) "In reward for justice in, etc." See "Revenues," l.c.; and for
    the evil in question, Thuc. i. 77; Plat. "Rep." 556.

 (18) {eispheroien}, techn. of the war-tax at Athens. See "Revenues,"
    iii. 7 foll.; iv. 34 foll.; Thuc. iii. 19; Boeckh, "P. E. A." pp.
    470, 539. Cf. Aristot. "Pol." v. 11. 10, in illustration of the
    tyrant's usual method of raising money.

And that which of all arts is the most remunerative, albeit the least
accustomed hitherto to be conducted on the principle of competition
(19)--I mean agriculture--itself would make enormous strides, if some
one were to offer prizes in the same way, "by farms and villages," to
those who should perform the works of tillage in the fairest fashion.
Whilst to those members of the state who should devote themselves
with might and main to this pursuit, a thousand blessings would be the
result. The revenues would be increased; and self-restraint be found
far more than now, in close attendance on industrious habits. (20) Nay
further, crimes and villainies take root and spring less freely among
busy workers.

 (19) Al. "and what will be the most repaying... being a department
    of things least wont," etc.

 (20) Or, "soundness of soul much more be found allied with
    occupation."

Once more, if commerce (21) is of any value to the state, then let the
merchant who devotes himself to commerce on the grandest scale receive
some high distinction, and his honours will draw on other traders in his
wake.

 (21) Cf. "Revenues," l.c.

Or were it made apparent that the genius who discovers a new source of
revenue, which will not be vexatious, will be honoured, by the state,
a field of exploration will at once be opened, which will not long
continue unproductive. (22)

 (22) Lit. "that too is an inquiry which will not long lie fallow."

And to speak compendiously, if it were obvious in each department
that the introducer of any salutary measure whatsoever will not remain
unhonoured, that in itself will stimulate a host of pople who will make
it their business to discover some good thing or other for the state.
Wherever matters of advantage to the state excite deep interest, of
necessity discoveries are made more freely and more promptly perfected.
But if you are afraid, O mighty prince, that through the multitude
of prizes offered (23) under many heads, expenses also must be much
increased, consider that no articles of commerce can be got more cheaply
than those which people purchase in exchange for prizes. Note in the
public contests (choral, equestrian, or gymnastic) (24) how small the
prizes are and yet what vast expenditure of wealth and toil, and painful
supervision these elicit. (25)

 (23) Reading {protithemenon} with Cobet.

 (24) Lit. "hippic, gymnic, and choregic contests."

 (25) e.g. "in the choral dances (1) money on the part of the choragoi;
    (2) pains on the part of the choreutai; (3) supervising care on
    the part of the choro-didaskoi, and so mutatis mutandis of the
    hippic and gymnic."



X

And Hiero replied: Thus far you reason prettily, methinks, Simonides;
but about these mercenary troops have you aught to say? Can you suggest
a means to avoid the hatred of which they are the cause? Or will you
tell me that a ruler who has won the affection of his subjects has no
need for body-guards?

Nay, in good sooth (replied Simonides), distinctly he will need them
none the less. I know it is with certain human beings as with horses,
some trick of the blood they have, some inborn tendency; the more their
wants are satisfied, the more their wantonness will out. Well then, to
sober and chastise wild spirits, there is nothing like the terror of
your men-at-arms. (1) And as to gentler natures, (2) I do not know by
what means you could bestow so many benefits upon them as by means of
mercenaries.

 (1) Lit. "spear-bearers"; the title given to the body-guard of kings
    and tyrants.

 (2) Lit. "the beautiful and good," the {kalois kagathois}. See "Econ."
    vi. 11 foll.

Let me explain: You keep them, I presume, in the first instance, for
yourself, as guards of your own person. But for masters, owners of
estates and others, to be done to death with violence by their own
slaves is no unheard-of thing. Supposing, then, the first and foremost
duty laid on mercenary troops were this: they are the body-guards of the
whole public, and bound as such to come to the assistance of all members
of the state alike, in case they shall detect some mischief brewing (3)
(and miscreants do spring up in the hearts of states, as we all know);
I say then, if these mercenary troops were under orders to act as
guardians of the citizens, (4) the latter would recognise to whom they
were indebted.

 (3) "If they become aware of anything of that sort." Is not this
    modelled on the {krupteia}? See Pater, "Plato and Platonism," ch.
    viii. "Lacedaemon," p. 186.

 (4) Or, "as their police." {toutous}, sc. "the citizens"; al. "the
    evil-doers." If so, transl. "to keep watch and ward on evil-doers;
    the citizens would soon recognise the benefit they owe them for
    that service."

But in addition to these functions, such a body might with reason be
expected to create a sense of courage and security, by which the country
labourers with their flocks and herds would greatly benefit, a benefit
not limited to your demesne, but shared by every farm throughout the
rural district.

Again, these mercenaries, if set to guard strategic points, (5) would
leave the citizens full leisure to attend to matters of more private
interest.

 (5) Or, "as garrisons of critical positions," like Phyle or Decelia
    near Athens.

And again, a further function: Can you conceive a service better
qualified to gain intelligence beforehand and to hinder the secret
sudden onslaughts of a hostile force, than a set of troopers always
under arms and fully organised? (6)

 (6) Or, "trained to act as one man." See Sturz, s.v.

Moreover, on an actual campaign, where will you find an arm of greater
service to the citizens than these wage-earning troops? (7) than whom,
it is likely, there will none be found more resolute to take the lion's
share of toil or peril, or do outpost duty, keeping watch and ward while
others sleep, brave mercenaries.

 (7) The author is perhaps thinking of some personal experiences. He
    works out his theory of a wage-earning militia for the protection
    of the state in the "Cyropaedia." See esp. VII. v. 69 foll.

And what will be the effect on the neighbour states conterminous with
yours? (8) Will not this standing army lead them to desire peace beyond
all other things? In fact, a compact force like this, so organised,
will prove most potent to preserve the interests of their friends and to
damage those of their opponents.

 (8) Or, "that lie upon your borders," as Thebes and Megara were
    "nigh-bordering" to Athens. Cf. Eur. "Rhes." 426; Soph. "Fr." 349.

And when, finally, the citizens discover it is not the habit of these
mercenaries to injure those who do no wrong, but their vocation rather
is to hinder all attempts at evil-doing; whereby they exercise a kindly
providence and bear the brunt of danger on behalf of the community,
I say it must needs be, the citizens will rejoice to pay the expenses
which the force entails. At any rate, it is for objects of far less
importance that at present guards (9) are kept in private life.

 (9) "Police or other."



XI

But, Hiero, you must not grudge to spend a portion of your private
substance for the common weal. For myself, I hold to the opinion that
the sums expended by the monarch on the state form items of disbursement
more legitimate (1) than those expended on his personal account. But let
us look into the question point by point.

 (1) {eis to deon}. Holden cf. "Anab." I. iii. 8. Aristoph. "Clouds,"
    859, {osper Periklees eis to deon apolesa}: "Like Pericles, for a
    necessary purpose, I have lost them."

First, the palace: do you imagine that a building, beautified in every
way at an enormous cost, will afford you greater pride and ornament than
a whole city ringed with walls and battlements, whose furniture consists
of temples and pillared porticoes, (2) harbours, market-places?

 (2) Reading {parastasi}, properly "pillasters" (Poll. i. 76. 10. 25) =
    "antae," hence "templum in antis" (see Vitruv. iii. 2. 2); or more
    widely the entrance of a temple or other building. (Possibly the
    author is thinking of "the Propylea").Cf. Eur. "Phoen." 415; "I.
    T." 1159. = {stathmoi}, Herod. i. 179; Hom. "Il." xiv. 167; "Od."
    vii. 89, {stathmoi d' argureoi en khalkeo estasan oudio}.

        The brazen thresholds both sides did enfold
        Silver pilasters, hung with gates of gold (Chapman).

    Al. {pastasi}, = colonnades.

Next, as to armaments: Will you present a greater terror to the foe if
you appear furnished yourself from head to foot with bright emlazonrie
and horrent arms; (3) or rather by reason of the warlike aspect of a
whole city perfectly equipped?

 (3) Or, "with armour curiously wrought a wonder and a dread." {oplois
    tois ekpaglotatois}, most magnificent, awe-inspiring, a poetical
    word which appears only in this passage in prose (Holden). L. & S.
    cf. Hom. "Il." i. 146, xxi. 589, of persons; "Od." xiv. 552, of
    things. Pind. "Pyth." iv. 140; "Isth." 7 (6), 30.

And now for ways and means: On which principle do you expect your
revenues to flow more copiously--by keeping your own private capital (4)
employed, or by means devised to make the resources of the entire state
(5) productive?

 (4) Reading {idia}, al. {idia}, = "your capital privately employed."

 (5) Lit. "of all citizens alike," "every single member of the state."

And next to speak of that which people hold to be the flower of
institutions, a pursuit both noble in itself and best befitting a great
man--I mean the art of breeding chariot-horses (6)--which would reflect
the greater lustre on you, that you personally (7) should train and send
to the great festal gatherings (8) more chariots than any Hellene else?
or rather that your state should boast more racehorse-breeders than the
rest of states, that from Syracuse the largest number should enter to
contest the prize?

 (6) Cf. Plat. "Laws," 834 B.

 (7) Breit. cf. Pind. "Ol." i. 82; "Pyth." i. 173; ii. 101; iii. 96.

 (8) "Our solemn festivals," e.g. those held at Olympia, Delphi, the
    Isthmus, Nemea.

Which would you deem the nobler conquest--to win a victory by virtue of
a chariot, or to achieve a people's happiness, that state of which you
are the head and chief? And for my part, I hold it ill becomes a tyrant
to enter the lists with private citizens. For take the case he wins, he
will not be admired, but be envied rather, when is is thought how many
private fortunes go to swell the stream of his expenditure; while if he
loses, he will become a laughing-stock to all mankind. (9)

 (9) Or, "you will be mocked and jeered at past all precedence," as
    historically was the fate of Dionysus, 388 or 384 B.C. (?); and
    for the possible connection between that incident and this
    treatise see Lys. "Olymp."; and Prof. Jebb's remarks on the
    fragment, "Att. Or." i. p. 203 foll. Grote, "H. G." xi. 40 foll.;
    "Plato," iii. 577.

No, no! I tell you, Hiero, your battlefield, your true arena is with the
champion presidents of rival states, above whose lesser heads be it your
destiny to raise this state, of which you are the patron and supreme
head, to some unprecedented height of fortune, which if you shall
achieve, be certain you will be approved victorious in a contest the
noblest and the most stupendous in the world.

Since what follows? In the first place, you will by one swift stroke
have brought about the very thing you have set your heart on, you will
have won the affection of your subjects. Secondly, you will need no
herald to proclaim your victory; not one man only, but all mankind,
shall hymn your virtue.

Wherever you set foot you shall be gazed upon, and not by individual
citizens alone, but by a hundred states be warmly welcomed. You shall be
a marvel, not in the private circle only, but in public in the sight of
all.

It shall be open to you, so far as safety is concerned, to take your
journey where you will to see the games or other spectacles; or it shall
be open to you to bide at home, and still attain your object.

Before you shall be gathered daily an assembly, a great company of
people willing to display whatever each may happen to possess of wisdom,
worth, or beauty; (10) and another throng of persons eager to do you
service. Present, regard them each and all as sworn allies; or absent,
know that each and all have one desire, to set eyes on you.

 (10) Or, "to display their wares of wisdom, beauty, excellence."

The end will be, you shall not be loved alone, but passionately adored,
by human beings. You will not need to woo the fair but to endure the
enforcement of their loving suit.

You shall not know what fear is for yourself; you shall transfer it to
the hearts of others, fearing lest some evil overtake you. You will have
about you faithful lieges, willing subjects, nimble servitors. You shall
behold how, as a matter of free choice, they will display a providential
care for you. And if danger threatens, you will find in them not simply
fellow-warriors, but champions eager to defend you with their lives.
(11)

 (11) Not {summakhoi}, but {promakhoi}.

Worthy of many gifts you shall be deemed, and yet be never at a loss for
some well-wisher with whom to share them. You shall command a world-wide
loyalty; a whole people shall rejoice with you at your good fortunes,
a whole people battle for your interests, as if in very deed and truth
their own. Your treasure-houses shall be coextensive with the garnered
riches of your friends and lovers.

Therefore be of good cheer, Hiero; enrich your friends, and you will
thereby heap riches on yourself. Build up and aggrandise your city, for
in so doing you will gird on power like a garment, and win allies for
her. (12)

 (12) Some commentators suspect a lacuna at this point.

Esteem your fatherland as your estate, the citizens as comrades, your
friends as your own children, and your sons even as your own soul. And
study to excel them one and all in well-doing; for if you overcome your
friends by kindness, your enemies shall nevermore prevail against you.

Do all these things, and, you may rest assured, it will be yours to own
the fairest and most blessed possession known to mortal man. You shall
be fortunate and none shall envy you. (13)

 (13) Al. "It shall be yours to be happy and yet to escape envy." The
    concluding sentence is gnomic in character and metrical in form.
    See "Pol. Lac." xv. 9.





End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hiero, by Xenophon

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