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1312b]
[1]
if some state with an opposite constitution is
stronger (for the wish to destroy it will clearly be present in such a
neighbor because of the opposition of principle, and all men do what they wish
if they have the power)—and the constitutions opposed to
tyranny are, on the one hand democracy, which is opposed to it as (in
Hesiod's phrase
1) ‘potter to potter,’
because the final form of democracy is tyranny, and on the other hand royalty
and aristocracy are opposed to tyranny because of the opposite nature of their
constitutional structure (owing to which the Spartans put down a very
great many tyrannies, and so did the Syracusans at the period when they were
governed well.) But one
way is from within itself, when the partners in it fall into discord, as the
tyranny of the family of Gelo
2
was destroyed, and in modern times
3 that of the family of Dionysius
4—Gelo's, when Thrasybulus the
brother of Hiero paid court to the son of Gelo and urged him into indulgences in
order that he himself might rule, and the son's connections banded together a
body of confederates in order that the tyranny might not be put down entirely
but only Thrasybulus, but their confederates seizing the opportunity expelled
them all; Dionysius was put down by
Dion, his relative, who got the people on to his side and
expelled him, but was afterwards killed. There are two causes that chiefly lead men to attack
tyranny, hatred and contempt; the former, hatred,
[20]
attaches to tyrants always, but it is their being despised that
causes their downfall in many cases. A proof of this is that most of those that
have won tyrannies have also kept their offices to the end, but those that have
inherited them almost all lose them at once; for they live a life of indulgence,
and so become despicable and also give many opportunities to their attackers.
And also anger must be counted
as an element in the hatred felt for them, for in a way it occasions the same
actions. And often it is even more active than hatred, since angry men attack
more vigorously because passion does not employ calculation (and
insolence most frequently causes men to be led by their angry tempers, which was
the cause of the fall of the tyranny of the Pisistratidae and many
others), but hatred calculates more; for anger brings with it an
element of pain, making calculation difficult, but enmity is not accompanied by
pain. And to speak summarily, all the things that we have mentioned as causing
the down fall of unmixed and extreme oligarchy and of the last form of democracy
must be counted as destructive of tyranny as well, since extreme oligarchy and
democracy are in reality divided
5
tyrannies. Royal government on the
other hand is very seldom destroyed by external causes, so that it is
long-lasting; but in most cases its destruction arises out of itself. And it is
destroyed in two ways,