Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

Hiero, who succeeded Gelo as despot, used to say that not one of the persons who spoke frankly to him chose the wrong time.

He felt that those who divulged a secret committed a serious offence also against those to whom they divulged it; for we hate, not only those who divulge such things, but also those who hear what we do not wish them to hear.

On being reviled by someone for his offensive breath, he blamed his wife for never having told him about this; but she said, I supposed that all men smelled so. [*](Cf. Moralia 90 B, and Lucian, Hermotimus, 34. Aristotle tells the same story of Gelon according to Stobaeus, Florilegium, v. 83.)

In answer to Xenophanes of Colophon, who had said that he could hardly maintain two servants, Hiero said, But Homer, whom you disparage, maintains more than ten thousand, although he is dead.

He caused Epieharmus the comic poet to be punished because he made an indecent remark in the presence of his wife.