Plato, Republic

[566a] banishes and slays and hints at the abolition of debts and the partition of lands¹—is it not the inevitable consequence and a decree of fate² that such a one be either slain by his enemies or become a tyrant and be transformed from a man into a wolf?” “It is quite inevitable,” he said. “He it is,” I said, “who becomes the leader of faction against the possessors of property.³” “Yes, he.” “May it not happen that he is driven into exile and, being restored in defiance of his enemies, returns a finished tyrant?” “Obviously.” “And if they are unable [566b] to expel him or bring about his death by calumniating him to the people, they plot to assassinate him by stealth.” “That is certainly wont to happen,” said he. “And thereupon those who have reached this stage devise that famous petition⁴ of the tyrant—to ask from the people a bodyguard to make their city safe⁵ for the friend of democracy.” [566c] “They do indeed,” he said. “And the people grant it, I suppose, fearing for him but unconcerned for themselves.” “Yes, indeed.” “And when he sees this, the man who has wealth and with his wealth the repute of hostility to democracy,⁶ then in the words of the oracle delivered to Croesus,“By the pebble-strewn strand of the Hermos Swift is his flight, he stays not nor blushes to show the white feather.””Hdt. 1.55 “No, for he would never get a second chance to blush.” “And he who is caught, methinks, is delivered to his death.” “Inevitably.” “And then obviously that protector does not lie prostrate, “‘mighty with far-flung limbs,’”Hom. Il. 16.776 in Homeric overthrow,⁷ but [566d] overthrowing many others towers in the car of state⁸ transformed from a protector into a perfect and finished tyrant.” “What else is likely?” he said.

“Shall we, then, portray the happiness,” said I, “of the man and the state in which such a creature arises?” “By all means let us describe it,” he said. “Then at the start and in the first days does he not smile⁹ upon all men and greet everybody he meets and deny that he is a tyrant, [566e] and promise many things in private and public, and having freed men from debts, and distributed lands to the people and his own associates, he affects a gracious and gentle manner to all?” “Necessarily,” he said. “But when, I suppose, he has come to terms with some of his exiled enemies¹⁰ and has got others destroyed and is no longer disturbed by them, in the first place he is always stirring up some war¹¹ so that the people may be in need of a leader.” “That is likely.”