Odyssey 2.229 · Book 2, lines 229–232
Then let no king be kind
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Mentor — κέκλυτε δὴ νῦν μευ, Ἰθακήσιοι, ὅττι κεν εἴπω· μή τις ἔτι πρόφρων ἀγανὸς καὶ ἤπιος ἔστω σκηπτοῦχος βασιλεύς, μηδὲ φρεσὶν αἴσιμα εἰδώς, ἀλλʼ αἰεὶ χαλεπός τʼ εἴη καὶ αἴσυλα ῥέζοι·
Hear me now, you Ithacans, whatever I shall say: let no sceptered king henceforth be eagerly kind and gentle and mild, nor knowing justice in his heart, but let him always be harsh and do wicked deeds—
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The setting
Mentor opens his rebuke to the assembly. His words are bitter irony: since a good king's gentleness has earned nothing, he mock-advises that kings should be cruel instead.
A note on this passage
Mentor begins with a savage piece of sarcasm. Let no king ever again be gentle, fair-minded, and mild; let him be harsh and lawless instead. He recommends tyranny precisely to shame the people who let a gentle king be forgotten.
The load-bearing word is σκηπτοῦχος, ‘sceptre-bearing.’ The sceptre is not decoration but the token of authority handed down from Zeus, the sign of the just judge. By wishing that its holder turn cruel, Mentor measures exactly how far Ithaca has fallen: the ideal of the righteous king is invoked only to be recommended against, because kindness in a king has been repaid with contempt.
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