[6,40] καίτοι πάντα ὅσα δεινὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις παραμυθίαν ἔχει τὸ τυχὸν ἂν παύσασθαι αὐτῶν. καὶ γὰρ ὅστις ὑπὸ δεσμῶν ἔχεται, προσδοκᾷ ποτε λυθῆναι, καὶ τῷ τὴν πατρίδα φεύγοντι οὐκ ἀδύνατον κατελθεῖν, καὶ τῷ νοσοῦντι μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς ἔστιν ἐλπίζειν τὴν ὑγίειαν· τῷ δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν ἀπαλλαγῆναι τοῦ πράγματος, ἀλλ´ οὐδ´ εὔξασθαι γοῦν, εἰ μή τι ἕτερον. ὅσοις δὲ ἀνιᾶσθαι συμβέβηκε τῶν φίλων τινὸς ἀποθανόντος, σαφῶς ἐπίστανται ὅτι παύσονταί ποτε λυπούμενοι τῷ χρόνῳ· τῷ δὲ τοὐναντίον ἐπιτείνεται μᾶλλον τὰ χαλεπά. (6,41) οὐ ῥᾴδιον μὲν γὰρ ἄνδρα γηρᾶσαι τύραννον, χαλεπὸν δὲ τυράννου γῆρας, οὐχ οἷον ἵππου φασίν. οἵ τε γὰρ πεπονθότες κακῶς πλείους οἵ τε καταφρονοῦντες· αὐτὸς δὲ τῷ σώματι βοηθεῖν ἀδύνατος αὑτῷ. πάντα μὲν οὖν τὰ δεινὰ πέφυκε μᾶλλον ἐκπλήττειν τοὺς προσδεχομένους ἢ λυπεῖν τοὺς πειραθέντας, καὶ πενία καὶ φυγὴ καὶ δεσμοὶ καὶ ἀτιμία. τοῦ θανάτου δὲ εἴ τις ἀφέλοι τὸ δέος, οὐδὲν ὑπολείπεται δυσχερές· (6,42) οὐ γὰρ μόνον αὐτὸς οὐκ ἐνοχλεῖ τοὺς παθόντας, ἀλλ´ οὐδὲν ἔτι λυποῦνται. ὁ δὲ φόβος οὕτω χαλεπός ἐστιν ὥστε πολλοὶ ἤδη προέλαβον τὸ ἔργον· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐν νηὶ χειμαζόμενοι οὐ περιέμειναν καταδῦναι τὴν ναῦν, ἀλλὰ πρότερον αὑτοὺς ἀπέσφαξαν, οἱ δὲ πολεμίων περιειληφότων, σαφῶς εἰδότες ὅτι οὐδὲν πείσονται δεινότερον. (6,43) τοῦτο δὴ τὸ χαλεπὸν ἀεὶ πάρεστι τοῖς μονάρχοις, ὁμοίως μὲν ἡμέρας, ὁμοίως δὲ νυκτός. καὶ τοῖς μὲν καταδικασθεῖσιν ἡμέρα ῥητὴ πρόκειται, ἐν ᾗ δεῖ ἀποθνήσκειν, τοῖς δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ἄδηλον, εἴτε μετ´ ὀλίγον εἴτε ἤδη, καὶ οὐδεὶς καιρός, οὐδὲ ὁ βραχύτατος, ἀπήλλακται τούτου τοῦ δέους, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐσθίοντα ἀνάγκη δεδιέναι καὶ θύοντα τοῖς θεοῖς καὶ συμπίνειν τούτῳ τῷ φόβῳ καὶ συγκαθεύδειν. (6,44) εἰ δέ ποτε ἐπέλθοι παίζειν τοῖς τοιούτοις, καὶ πρὸς ἀφροδισίοις {οὗτος} γιγνόμενος, ἐὰν καὶ πάνυ τύχῃ ἐρῶν, μέμνηται τοῦ θανάτου, ὡς τυχὸν ὑπ´ αὐτῶν τῶν ἐρωμένων ἀπολούμενος, (6,45) ὥστε μοι δοκεῖ τότε μόνον χαίρειν, ἐπειδὰν πληγῇ, ἀνὴρ τύραννος, ὡς τοῦ μεγίστου κακοῦ ἀπηλλαγμένος. τὸ δὲ πάντων ἀτοπώτατον, οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλοι ἴσασιν ἐν ταῖς ἀνιάτοις γιγνόμενοι συμφοραῖς, ὥστε οὐ πολὺν χρόνον κακοπαθοῦσιν, οἷς ἂν μὴ ἀδύνατον ᾖ τὸ ἀποθνήσκειν· οἱ δὲ τύραννοι τὰ μέγιστα κακὰ ἔχοντες ἐν τοῖς μεγίστοις νομίζουσιν ἀγαθοῖς εἶναι, οἶμαι τῇ δόξῃ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων ἐξηπατημένοι τῶν ἀπείρων τοῦ πράγματος. (6,46) καὶ ταύτην ὁ θεὸς αὐτοῖς τὴν ἄγνοιαν συνέζευξεν, ἵνα παραμένωσι κολαζόμενοι. δοκεῖ δὲ τοῖς μὲν εὖ πράττουσι τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὁ μὲν βίος ἀμείνων, ὁ δὲ θάνατος διὰ τοῦτο λυπηρότερος· (6,47) οἱ δὲ αὖ κακῶς ζῶντες τὸν βίον δοκοῦσι δυσχερέστερον φέρειν, τὸν δὲ θάνατον ἥδιον προσδέχεσθαι. τοῖς δέ γε τυράννοις ἀμφότερα ταῦτα χαλεπώτερα ἢ τοῖς ἄλλοις· ζῶσι μὲν γὰρ πολὺ ἀηδέστερον τῶν πάνυ ἐπιθυμούντων τεθνάναι, τὸν δὲ θάνατον οὕτω δεδοίκασιν ὡς ἥδιστα διάγοντες ἐν τῷ βίῳ. (6,48) πεφυκότος δὲ τοῦ τὰ μὲν ἡδέα μᾶλλον εὐφραίνειν, ὅταν ᾖ σπάνια, τοῖς δὲ συνεχῶς χρωμένοις εἰς ἀηδίαν περιίστασθαι, τὰ δὲ κακὰ χαλεπώτερα εἶναι μηδέποτε ἀπαλλαττόμενα, σχεδὸν ἀμφότερα τοῖς τυράννοις καὶ τὰ ἡδέα καὶ τὰ λυπηρὰ ἀεὶ πάρεστιν, ὡς λυπούμενον μὲν μηδέποτε παύεσθαι σχεδόν, ἡδόμενον δὲ μηδέποτε αἰσθάνεσθαι. (6,49) δέδοικε δὲ ἀεί ποτε τῶν μὲν πλουσίων τὴν δύναμιν, τῶν δὲ ἀπόρων τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τοῦ πλούτου. μόνοις δὲ τοῖς μονάρχοις τῶν μὲν εὖ παθόντων οὐδεὶς οἶδε χάριν· οὐδέποτε γὰρ ἡγοῦνται τῶν ἱκανῶν τυγχάνειν· οἱ δὲ μὴ τυγχάνοντες ὧν βούλονται πάντων μάλιστα μισοῦσιν αὐτούς.

[6,40] "Still, all human ills admit of this one consolation," continued Diogenes — "they may possibly come to an end. The prisoner in chains expects some time to be set free; it is not impossible for the exile to return to his home; and he who is sick can hope until the end comes for recovery. But the tyrant may not escape his condition; no, he cannot even so much as pray except it be for something else. (p273) Anyone who has suffered the loss of a friend by death believes in his heart that time will eventually heal his grief; but tyrants, on the contrary, find their troubles growing worse and worse; 41 since it is not easy for a tyrant to reach old age, and a tyrant's old age is grievous, unlike that of the horse in the proverb. For his victims as well as those who despise him have multiplied, and he, owing to his own infirmities, cannot defend himself. "Now all calamities are naturally more alarming in anticipation than they are grievous in experience, as is true of hunger, exile, imprisonment, or loss of civil rights; 42 but if the fear of death were removed, then no further distress remains. For death in itself is so far from troubling those who have experienced it, that they have no further grief at all. Fear of it, however, is so intense that many have anticipated the event. People on a storm-tossed ship have not waited for it to go down but have taken their own lives first; others have done the same when surrounded by the enemy, although they well knew that nothing worse than death awaited them. 43 This is the evil plight that despots are ever in, both by day and by night. For condemned criminals a stated day is set on which they must die, but tyrants are uncertain whether death will come soon or the hour has already struck. No moment, not even the most fleeting, is free from this dread, but whether eating or sacrificing to the gods the tyrant must live in this fear. 44 And if ever it occurs to such a ruler to seek diversion, (p275) even in the enjoyments of love, no matter how intense the passion, his mind dwells on death, imagining that perhaps he will be slain by the very object of his love, and with this fear he must quaff his wine and with it must lay himself down to sleep. 45 And so, in my opinion, the tyrant is happy only at the moment when he is struck down, since it is then that he is freed from his greatest evil. "But the most absurd thing of all is this: Other men realize that their condition is hopeless and so do not suffer long when death is possible for them; but tyrants, though suffering from the greatest evils, imagine that they are surrounded by the greatest blessings, presumably because they are deceived by the opinions of others who have not had experience of ruling. 46 God has inflicted tyrants with this ignorance that they may hold out under their punishment. Again, to the prosperous life seems more worth living and death correspondingly more bitter, 47 while those in adversity seem to find life harder to endure and to welcome death more gladly. But for tyrants both are harder than for others, since in life they have far less happiness than those who eagerly long to die, and yet they fear death as if they were getting the greatest enjoyment out of life. 48 And if things pleasurable naturally afford greater delight when they are rare but become repulsive to those who have the continuous enjoyment of them, and if evils that never cease are naturally harder to bear; then we may almost say that both these — the pleasurable and the painful — are always with the tyrant in such a way that he rarely (p277) finds relief from pain and is never conscious of pleasure. 49 Besides, he continually dreads the power of the rich and the craving of the poor for riches. Again, despots are the only persons who receive no thanks for the favours they bestow; since people never think they get enough, while those who fail to get what they want hate them above all others.