Dionysius I of Syracuse

So, Damocles, since this life delights you, do you wish to taste it yourself and make trial of my fortune?

Dionysius I (or Dionysius the Elder; c. 432 BC – 367 BC) was a tyrant of Syracuse, who conquered several cities in Sicily and southern Italy, opposed Carthage's influence and made Syracuse the most powerful of the Western Greek colonies.

• Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.
  • Frag. 6, as quoted in Handy-book of Literary Curiosities (1892) by William Shepard Walsh, p. 1009.

• So, Damocles, since this life delights you, do you wish to taste it yourself and make trial of my fortune?
  • As quoted by Cicero, in Tusculan disputations 5.61 as translated by Gavin Betts

• I would like somebody to be hated more than I am.
  • Clive Foss, The Tyrants: 2500 Years of Absolute Power and Corruption, London: Quercus Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1905204965, p. 11

• Notes on the Sword of Damocles

Wikipedia has an article about:

Dionysius I of Syracuse

Anecdotes from The Story of the Greeks (1896) by H. A. Guerber:

• The Tyrant of Syracuse
• The Story of Damon and Pythias
• The Sword of Damocles