1 h 43 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if absolute power leaves you unable to trust a friend or enjoy an ordinary pleasure?
In Xenophon's short dialogue Hiero, the poet Simonides visits Hiero, ruler of Syracuse in Sicily. He asks which life brings more happiness: that of a private citizen or that of a tyrant. Hiero knows both. His answer opens a bleak view of power from the ruler's side.
For Hiero, fear reaches into ordinary comforts, friendship, and honor. Simonides presses him: why do so many people want power if it brings such misery? Their conversation explores the gap between being feared and being loved, then turns toward practical ways a ruler might use power to earn goodwill.
What you’ll discover
- Pleasure under pressure See why Hiero finds less joy in the comforts others expect a ruler to enjoy.
- Friendship without trust Consider the ruler's need for friends when fear makes trust so difficult.
- The limits of honor Ask what praise is worth when the people offering it fear your power.
- A poet pushes back Follow Simonides as he challenges Hiero's account of power and its burdens.
- Power turned toward goodwill Explore practical proposals for ruling well rather than relying on fear.
Who will love it
For readers who enjoy ancient Greek thought, questions about power and happiness, and lively talk between two sharp minds. Also for anyone curious how a ruler might govern well and be loved.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A ruler enjoys the senses less than you think
- Love given from fear is not love
- Constant war and fear spoil everything
- Tyrants fear the good and trust the bad
- Rule by rewards can win real love
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Hiero
by Xenophon
A poet asks a tyrant to name the pleasures he has lost since he took the throne, and the answer is a long list.
Medium levelUnder 2 hours to readEnglish
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In short
Can a man with total power be happy? In Hiero, the soldier and writer Xenophon stages a conversation between the poet Simonides and the tyrant Hiero, who has lived both as a private citizen and as a ruler.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A ruler enjoys the senses less than you think
Hiero starts with the plain pleasures. Simonides expects a tyrant to enjoy sights, sounds, food and love far more than ordinary people. Hiero says the opposite is true, because the senses of a ruler work through the same channels as everyone else's.
He gives scenes. A citizen may travel to great festivals, but a tyrant cannot leave home safely, so the sights must be bought at a high price. His ears hear praise, but he knows it may be flattery from people who hate him. His table is always full, so he never feels the keen pleasure of a rare feast.
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What is Hiero about?
It is a conversation between the poet Simonides and the tyrant Hiero. Hiero explains why absolute power brings fear and little joy, and Simonides then shows how a ruler can win his people's love by governing well.
Who are Hiero and Simonides?
Hiero is a ruler who once lived as a private citizen, and the dialogue sets him in Syracuse. Simonides is a poet, called wise by Hiero, who questions him and finally advises him.
Who wrote Hiero and when?
Xenophon, the Athenian soldier and writer who died in 355 BC, wrote it. It is a Greek dialogue from the fourth century BC, set among real figures but shaped as a thought experiment about rule.
The author
Xenophon
430 BC–353 BC · Ancient Greek historian and philosopher
Greek philosopher, historian, and soldier.
More by Xenophon
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