Gyges

Somehow I keep returning to a topic that has interested me for many years. That of the “link” between cause and effect; or, you reap what you sow; or, more colloquially, what goes around comes around.

This is more accurately stated in what is, I believe, a Spanish proverb, “Take what you want from life,” says God. “Take it, and pay.”

It is a common human failing for people, particularly those in high office, to assume that they can control events. But then we all like to imagine that we can, and have, control over our lives. This hubris is always, always, fraught and always, always, results in unforeseen consequences, good, bad or indifferent.

Because the “effects” are not always immediately apparent, this is something we tend to ignore, forget or consider of little importance.

What follows is an old tale, from ancient Greece, that is I think as relevant today as it ever was. 

In ancient Lydia (now part of Western Turkey facing the Aegean Sea across from Greece) about 3 000 years ago there was a king called Candaules. This king was greatly in love with his wife. In fact obsessively so – he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. 

Now Candaules had had a favourite bodyguard called Gyges with whom Candaules was in the habit of sharing is inner-most thoughts. Candaules suspected that Gyges, while having to agree with him, didn’t really believe what he said about his wife. So he proposed that Gyges hide himself in their bedroom so that he could see her naked and thereby affirm that the queen was, indeed, the most beautiful woman in the world. There would be moments when Gyges could slip away undetected.

Gyges was horrified at this proposal and feared for the consequences if the queen saw him. Candaules persisted with his plan and so it eventuated. The queen, however, did see Gyges as he slipped away but made no comment. She knew, immediately, that this was the work of her husband and determined to make him pay for the outrage and her humiliation of being seen naked by another man. 

The next day she called the unsuspecting Gyges and told him what she suspected and that someone had to pay for what he did. Her proposal was that either he, Gyges, would be killed there and then, or he was to kill Candaules, marry her, and so become king himself.

Dumbfounded by being found out and by the queen’s proposal Gyges decided to live and with the queen’s connivance, killed Candaules and so became king of Lydia.

The populace was stunned and outraged at such a violent change in leadership. They agreed, however to consult the Oracle of Delphi. If she agreed then Gyges would be king.

And so it was, with the warning prediction that retribution would be visited upon the fifth generation of Gyges’ descendants. Over the years this was forgotten. The prediction was however fulfilled when the fourth descendant was killed and the Lydians defeated, when they were attacked by the Persians under Cyrus the Great.

Hubris seems always to invite Nemesis, the Goddess of retribution and undeserved good fortune and who is implacable in her pursuit of tracking every wrong back to its doer. 

Whatever course of action is started must be completed, no matter how long it takes. 

“Take what you want from Life,” says God. “Take it, and pay”. 

Indeed!