The tyrant’s happiness as a parody of true happiness (Plato, "Republic", IX; Xenophon, "Hiero", IX-XI)

Abstract

This article presents a comparison between book IX of Republic and Xenophon’s Hiero. At first sight, these texts seem to reach opposite outcomes: for Plato, the tyrant is necessarily the unhappiest of all men because of his lack of friendship (to others and to himself), whereas for Xenophon, the tyrant can in fact have authentic friends and be happy, provided that he carries out a clear set of political measures. But upon closer scrutiny, we can see that both texts have in fact many points of contact. The crucial fact to take into account is that the measures that Semonides proposes to Hiero do not provide him with the friends and the happiness he longs for. The cause is that Hiero ignores the true source (the akrasia) of his lack of friends in his life, and Semonides does not help him to acknowledge the origin of his unhappiness. If we adopt this reading, we can establish a fruitful comparison between Hiero and book IX of Republic, since in both texts the tyrant falls short of true friendship and true happiness, because of his irredeemable lack of self-restraint.