THE SCENE: I like how, in the following story, the King of Sicily is pretty laid back about the idea that he is universally hated. In fact, it’s a major surprise for him when someone *isn’t* praying for his death.
THE TEXT: Valerius Maximus states that, when all the Syracusans desired the death of Dionysius, king of Sicily, a single woman, of great age, every morning entreated the gods to continue his life beyond hers. Dionysius, surprised at this solitary exception, inquired the reason. She answered, “When I was a girl, and governed by a tyrant, I wished for his removal, and presently we obtained a worse instead. Having got rid of him, a worse still succeeded and therefore, under the justifiable apprehension that your placemay be filled up by yet a worse, I pray earnestly for your longer continuance. Dionysius, hearing this, gave her no farther trouble.
– Gesta Romanorum, 13th Century AD
