“A tyrant
must always be provoking war… But all this lays him open to unpopularity… So
won’t some of the bolder characters among those who helped him to power, and
now hold positions of influence, begin to speak freely to him and to each
other, and blame him for what is happening?...Then, if he is to retain power,
he must root them out, all of them, till there’s not a man of any consequence
left, whether friend or foe…So he must keep a sharp eye out for men of courage
or vision or intelligence or wealth; for, whether he likes it or not, it is his
happy fate to be their constant enemy and to intrigue until he has purged them
from the state… Then… people will find out soon enough what sort of a beast
they’ve bred and groomed for greatness. He’ll be too strong for them to turn
out” (Plato, Republic, Book VIII,
567a – 569a)
“The tyrant
is also very ready to make war; for this keeps his subjects occupied and in continued
need of a leader…[It is] characteristic of a tyrant’s policy…[that] the flatterer
too is held in honor…those who keep him company in an obsequious spirit, which
is the function of flattery. This makes tyranny favor the baser sort, in the
sense that a tyrant loves to be flattered, and no man of free spirit will oblige
him. Respectable men…refrain from flattery, and base men are useful for base
deeds…Anyone who shows a rival pride and a spirit of freedom destroys the
master-like character of the tyranny. Thus the tyrant hates such people as
destroyers of his rule…All these and their like are marks of tyranny and ways
of maintaining it; and they are utterly depraved” (Aristotle, The Politics, Book V, Chapter XI)
“Justice
being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies? For what are
robberies themselves, but little kingdoms?...Indeed, that was an apt and true
reply which was given to Alexander the Great by a pirate who had been seized.
For when that king had asked the man what he meant by keeping hostile
possession of the sea, he answered with bold pride, ‘What you mean by seizing
the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber,
while you who does it with a great fleet are styled emperor’” (St. Augustine, The City of God, Book IV, Chapter 4)
“Since the
power granted to a king is so great, it easily degenerates into tyranny, unless
he to whom this power is given be a very virtuous man… [A king] should not
accumulate chariots and horses, nor wives, nor immense wealth: because through
craving for such things princes become tyrants and forsake justice” (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II.105.1)
“God permits tyrants to get into power to punish the sins of the subjects… But the name of wicked kings straightway vanishes or, if they have been excessive in their wickedness, they are remembered with execration. Thus Solomon says (Prov 10:7): ‘The memory of the just is with praises, and the name of the wicked shall rot,’ either because it vanishes or it remains with stench…Such men rarely repent; but puffed up by the wind of pride, deservedly abandoned by God for their sins, and besmirched by the flattery of men, they can rarely make worthy satisfaction… The malice of their impenitence is increased by the fact that they consider everything licit which they can do unresisted and with impunity. Hence they not only make no effort to repair the evil they have done but, taking their customary way of acting as their authority, they hand on their boldness in sinning to posterity. Consequently they are held guilty before God, not only for their own sins, but also for the crimes of those to whom they gave the occasion of sin. Their sin is made greater also from the dignity of the office they have assumed” (St. Thomas Aquinas, De Regno, Book I, Chapters 11-12)
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