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[32]
As for the case of Phalaris, a decision is quite1
simple: we have no ties of fellowship with a tyrant,
but rather the bitterest feud; and it is not opposed
to Nature to rob, if one can, a man whom it is morally
right to kill;—nay, all that pestilent and abominable
race should be exterminated from human society.
And this may be done by proper measures; for, as
certain members are amputated, if they show signs
themselves of being bloodless and virtually lifeless
and thus jeopardize the health of the other parts of
the body, so those fierce and savage monsters in
human form should be cut off from what may be
called the common body of humanity.
Of this sort are all those problems in which we
have to determine what moral duty is, as it varies
with varying circumstances.
1 No duty due to a tyrant.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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