[25]
What, for instance, shall we think of the elder Dionysius? 1 With what tormenting fears he used to be
racked! For through fear of the barber's razor he
used to have his hair singed off with a glowing coal. In
what state of mind do we fancy Alexander of Pherae
lived? We read in history that he dearly loved his
wife Thebe; and yet, whenever he went from the
banquet-hall to her in her chamber, he used to order
a barbarian—one, too, tattooed like a Thracian, as
the records state—to go before him with a drawn
sword; and he used to send ahead some of his bodyguard to pry into the lady's caskets and to search and
see whether some weapon were not concealed in her
wardrobe. Unhappy man! To think a barbarian, a
branded slave, more faithful than his own wife! Nor
was he mistaken. For he was murdered by her own
hand, because she suspected him of infidelity.
And indeed no power is strong enough to be lasting, if it labours under the weight of fear.
1 The wretchedness of fear.
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