o 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