Note 42 — Chapter IV · XENOPHON.
Reading edition
Xen. Hieron, vii. 5-13. Ὁ δὲ τύραννος, ὡς ὑπὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων κατακεκριμένος δι’ ἀδικίαν ἀποθνήσκειν — καὶ νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν διάγει.… Ἀλλ’ εἴπερ τῳ ἄλλῳ λυσιτελεῖ ἀπάγξασθαι, ἴσθι ὅτι τυράννῳ ἔγωγε εὑρίσκω μάλιστα τοῦτο λυσιτελοῦν ποιῆσαι. Μόνῳ γὰρ αὑτῷ οὔτε ἔχειν, οὔτε καταθέσθαι τὰ κακὰ λυσιτελεῖ.
Solon in his poems makes the remark, that for the man who once usurps the sceptre no retreat is possible. See my ‘History of Greece,’ chap. xi. p. 132 seq.
The impressive contrast here drawn by Hieron (c. vi.) between his condition as a despot and the past enjoyments of private life and citizenship which he has lost, reminds one of the still more sorrowful contrast in the Atys of Catullus, v. 58-70.