Power, Impotence and Ambiguity in Xenophon’s Hiero

This article reads Xenophon’s Hiero as an ancient theoretical representation of tyranny, a system of power that produces an ambiguous and unstable dynamic between tyrant and subject. The Hiero characterises the tyrant’s relationship with his subjects as caught between two impulses towards fear and love, which correspond with the basic positions of Hiero and Simonides in the dialogue. Simonides’ advice to Hiero is best interpreted as an imaginative flight from this dynamic of power that tyranny in truth cannot escape. Indeed, Simonides’ position in the dialogue as a wise man becomes inherently problematic and ambiguous in Hiero’s presence. These various ambiguities are represented as innate to tyranny because it is a system of power. Against the weight of this system both tyrant and subject are impotent.