History shows that almost all tyrants
have been demagogues who gained the favor of the people by their
accusation of the notables. At any rate this was the manner in which
the tyrannies arose in the days when cities had increased in power.
Others which were older originated in the ambition of kings wanting to
overstep the limits of their hereditary power and become despots.
Others again grew out of the class which were chosen to be chief
magistrates; for in ancient times the people who elected them gave the
magistrates, whether civil or religious, a long tenure. Others arose
out of the custom which oligarchies had of making some individual
supreme over the highest offices. In any of these ways an ambitious
man had no difficulty, if he desired, in creating a tyranny, since
he had the power in his hands already, either as king or as one of the
officers of state. Thus Pheidon at Argos and several others were
originally kings, and ended by becoming tyrants; Phalaris, on the
other hand, and the Ionian tyrants, acquired the tyranny by holding
great offices. Whereas Panaetius at Leontini, Cypselus at Corinth,
Peisistratus at Athens, Dionysius at Syracuse, and several others
who afterwards became tyrants, were at first demagogues.
And so, as I was saying, royalty ranks with aristocracy, for it is
based upon merit, whether of the individual or of his family, or on
benefits conferred, or on these claims with power added to them.
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