they may acquire, but engage in this as they would in any other noble
action, that they may be illustrious and distinguished, and destroy a
tyrant, not to succeed in his tyranny, but to acquire renown. No doubt
but the number of those who act upon this principle is small, for we
must suppose they regard their own safety as nothing in case they should
not succeed, and must embrace the opinion of Dion (which few can do)
when he made war upon Dionysius with a very few troops; for he said,
that let the advantage he made be ever so little it would satisfy him to
have gained it; and that, should it be his lot to die the moment he had
gained footing in his country, he should think his death sufficiently
glorious. A tyranny also is exposed to the same destruction as all other
states are, from too powerful neighbours: for it is evident, that an
opposition of principles will make them desirous of subverting it;
and what they desire, all who can, do: and there is a principle of
opposition in one state to another, as a democracy against a tyranny, as
says Hesiod, "a potter against a potter;" for the extreme of a democracy
is a tyranny; a kingly power against an aristocracy, from their
different forms of government--for which reason the Lacedaemonians
destroyed many tyrannies; as did the Syracusians during the prosperity
of their state. Nor are they only destroyed from without, but also
from within, when those who have no share in the power bring about a
revolution, as happened to Gelon, and lately to Dionysius; to the first,
by means of Thrasybulus, the brother of Hiero, who nattered Gelon's
son, and induced him to lead a life of pleasure, that he himself might
govern; but the family joined together and endeavoured to support the
tyranny and expel Thrasybulus; but those whom they made of their party
seized the opportunity and expelled the whole family. Dion made war
against his relation Dionysius, and being assisted by the people, first
expelled and then killed him. As there are two causes which chiefly
induce men to conspire against tyrants, hatred and contempt, one of
these, namely hatred, seems inseparable from them. Contempt also is
often the cause of their destruction: for though, for instance, those
who raised themselves to the supreme power generally preserved it; but
those who received it from them have, to speak truth, almost immediately
all of them lost it; for, falling into an effeminate way of life, they
soon grew despic