The Tyrant Within

Cicero sums up the life of Dionysius saying:

He became the tyrant of Syracuse at the age of twenty-five and remained in power for thirty-eight years. It was a superb and immensely wealthy city, and he held it down in slavery. It is true that he lived a temperate enough life, as we are told by reliable writers, and that he was an efficient and hardworking administrator. But his character was evil and malevolent: and for this reason it is impossible for anyone with a clear eye for the truth to avoid regarding him as a supremely unhappy man. For even at a time when he believed that nothing in the world was beyond his powers he failed to get what he wanted.

Cicero has an excellent eye for focusing on the mood of a person over their success and historical circumstances. Small wonder the Stoics were heavily studied by the reformers, particularly Calvin. It is as if they are calling out to us saying, "Yes your exterior life is like such and such ... but how is it going on the inside?"

I previously wrote on Cicero's observation that the tyrant's "stuff" did not make him happy. There is also something to be said for his double-mindedness. Like the earlier case, there is an shocking story to tell.

Here is the story:

As for his official appearances, he did not dare to appear on the public platform, but used to climb up a high tower whenever he wanted to address his subjects. He was very fond of playing ball-games, and the story goes that once, when he was about to take off his tunic for a game, he handed his sword to a youth whom he loved dearly. One of his friends said as a joke, 'Here at least is someone you're prepared to trust your life to!' And the young man smiled.

But Dionysius ordered both of them to be executed, the man who had made the remark because he had pointed out a way in which the king could be assassinated, and the youth because, by smiling, he had implied approval of what the other had said.

This action caused Dionysius greater sorrow than anything else that happened throughout his entire life: because he had ordered the death of a person whom he deeply loved. The story illustrates the contradictory nature of a tyrant's urges. You can only satisfy one at the expense of another.

Cicero draws out the great difficulty in finding a personal identity. If a person -looking to find a personal identity- follows their urges ... they end up being one person at one moment, a different person at another moment, and a different person in a different moment.

The path of our physical desires is not a straight path.

James mentions in his letter that the double-minded man is unstable in all he does. If a person asks for wisdom - and doubts God will grant it - he is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. Similarly it is James who cries out to us, 'Cleanse your hands, you sinners! Purify your hearts, you double-minded!'

Such is the life of a person who is ruled by his desires and fails to rule his desires ... even if he rules a kingdom.