This is NOT Over

Sat January 27, 1990 And What am I Doing?

Everybody is out doing who the heck knows what and I am reading the Hiero.

I don't know why the despot wants to speak to the poet, but we instantly get a sense of what the poet/wise man wants from the tyrant. He wants knowledge. He wants knowledge based on the tyrant's experience. Hiero was a private man and now he is in possession of a city. Simonides says this provides Hiero with a unique perspective. He knows what it is like to be a schmoe and he knows what it is like to have it all.

...and Simonides wants to know what that is like.

Interesting. I wonder why Hiero would want to tell the wise man anything?

Hiero says he wants Simonides to tell him what the private man's life is like, but seriously, why the hell would he want to know that? It might be fair to think that the tyrant becomes a tyrant to leave the ordinary life behind. Or, maybe I misunderstand tyranny.

Read a lot, then drank a lot.