Another mark of a tyrant
is that he likes foreigners better than citizens, and lives with
them and invites them to his table; for the one are enemies, but the
Others enter into no rivalry with him.
Such are the notes of the tyrant and the arts by which he
preserves his power; there is no wickedness too great for him. All
that we have said may be summed up under three heads, which answer
to the three aims of the tyrant. These are, (1) the humiliation of his
subjects; he knows that a mean-spirited man will not conspire
against anybody; (2) the creation of mistrust among them; for a tyrant
is not overthrown until men begin to have confidence in one another;
and this is the reason why tyrants are at war with the good; they
are under the idea that their power is endangered by them, not only
because they would not be ruled despotically but also because they are
loyal to one another, and to other men, and do not inform against
one another or against other men; (3) the tyrant desires that his
subjects shall be incapable of action, for no one attempts what is
impossible, and they will not attempt to overthrow a tyranny, if
they are powerless. Under these three heads the whole policy of a
tyrant may be summed up, and to one or other of them all his ideas may
be referred: (1) he sows distrust among his subjects; (2) he takes
away their power; (3) he humbles them.
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