Hiero

A tyrant can command a city—but cannot safely leave home to see its greatest spectacles. When the poet Simonides asks Hiero whether power brings more pleasure, the ruler’s answer is startling: less.

In ancient Syracuse, Simonides visits Hiero, a ruler who has known life both as an ordinary citizen and as a tyrant. Their conversation begins with everyday pleasures—what people see, hear, eat and drink—then turns to the privileges everyone assumes power must bring. Hiero argues that he cannot travel freely, and that praise from those around him may be only flattery, while their silence conceals hostility. The man others envy is hemmed in by fear, even when surrounded by every sign of greatness. If the tyrant’s life is so constrained, why do able men still long for his sceptre?

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