Oppression Of Tyrants In Xenophon's Hiero By Simonides

Xenophon, one of Socrates students, was a Greek general and soldier, as well as an active politician. He was also a widely acclaimed historian who has written many books. One of his more popular works is Xenophon’s Hiero, which is a dialogue between Hiero, a tyrant, and Simonides, a wise poet. The dialogue is a response to assumptions that the tyrant’s life is more pleasant than the life of private men. Hiero as someone who has lived both lives gives many reasons to break this misconception and prove the unhappiness state that he lives in because of his position as a tyrant. And in response Simonides argues that there are some ways that the tyrant can redeem himself and get the love and attention that he craves and tries to advice him and show him these ways.
In general, tyrants are sovereign rulers who rule over unwilling subjects by force. They have control over almost everything and everyone in the state, meaning there is no consideration for law. Tyrants always think of themselves

Since it is a one man territory, he has the power to make and break laws all by himself. He has control over almost everything that involves his state and people. Hiero himself is aware of this issue and knows that he is the most powerful and wealthiest man of that state, but he reasons this by saying, unlike private men, a tyrant’s expenses are much larger than those of private men. “Now for the tyrant a multiplicity of possessions is less adequate for his necessary expenditures than for the private man” (Ch.4, 9). Hiero goes on to say that tyrants need all these money to guard their lives and assure their safety. Tyrants are always in doubt of everything and everyone around them, they can never be sure of people’s intentions because they do not trust anyone, not even their own families, and they have no friends. For this reason they need to have as many guards as they can get to protect them from any harm that might come their