Leo Strauss is known primarily for reviving classical political philosophy through careful analyses of works by ancient thinkers. As with his published writings, Strauss's seminars devoted to specific philosophers were notoriously dense, accessible o...

"On Tyranny" is Leo Strauss's classic reading of Xenophon's dialogue "Hiero", or "Tyrannicus", in which the tyrant Hiero and the poet Simonides discuss the advantages and disadvantages of exercising tyranny. Included are a translation of the dialogue...