The noose.
He couldn't stand to see a noose without being tempted to try it around his neck. Power is attracted to its own destruction.
It is not a condemnation.
If it doesn't stimulate an authentic thought of yours, it is not a condemnation. At most, it is a quote to cater to your spiritual laziness on a case-by-case basis.
Condemnations aim to stimulate the authentic narrative thought and imagination of readers.
As a modern Old of Days, I use a dose of Greek art of ambiguity and irony in the era of SMS and Twitter to open together with the readers the Black Box of Leadership and Strategy in times of great uncertainty and crisis.