Meaning:
A person with great power, such as a king, is constantly apprehensive.
Background:
Shakespeare's Henry IV. Part II, 1597.
KING HENRY IV:
And in the visitation of the winds,
Who take the ruffian billows by the top,
Curling their monstrous heads and hanging them
With deafening clamour in the slippery clouds,
That, with the hurly, death itself awakes?
Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude,
And in the calmest and most stillest night,
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a king? Then happy low, lie down!
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.
In this piece Henry is bemoaning his position as king in that he, unlike even
the most humble cabin-boy, cannot find a moments [sic] peace and repose.
- www.phrases.org.uk
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Ages before Henry, the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius obviously slept well as
he urged
At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: "I have
to go to work. ... "
I understand the emperor perfectly as he also said
The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.
One hour on the mat, you sleep at night like a log. No better sleeping pill. :-)))
