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