I’m trying to remember this leader (I think he was Greek) that played a huge role in his society and nearly perfected it. He decided that in order to preserve things as they were and so nobody alters the work he had done he said no decisions would be made until his return. His people (but except for one person he told) didn’t know he was leaving to never come back and he might have completed a suicide attempt in a boat that was sailing…

This is all hazy i remember reading about it as a teen.

Tl:Dr a leader attempting to preserve his societal structure and prevent changes tells people he is leaving and will discuss things when he returns. He never intended to return and hoped that his society ran the way it did indefinitely.