him. The explanation is, _the army_.
Give to the single tyrant one or two hundred thousand desperadoes,
well banded together, and completely armed, under a compact between
them by which he says, "Help me to control, to domineer over, and to
plunder the industrial classes of society, and I will give you a
large share of the spoil," and the work is very easy. The
governments that have existed in the world have generally been
formed on this plan. They have been simply vast armies authorized to
collect their own pay by the systematic plunder of the millions
whose peaceful industry feeds and clothes the world. The remedy
which mankind is now beginning to discover and apply is equally
simple. The millions who do the work are learning to keep the arms
in their own hands, and to forbid the banding together of masses of
troops for the purpose of exalting pride and cruelty to a position
of absolute and irresponsible power.

In Nero's case, so great was the awe which the terrible power of the
Roman legions inspired, that even the Senate bowed humbly before it,
and joined in the general adulation of the hated tyrant. They
decreed oblations and public thanksgivings; they erected new temples
to express their gratitude to the gods for so signal a deliverance;
they instituted new games and festivities to express the general
joy, and erected statues and monuments in honor of those who had
contributed to the discovery of the plot. The knife or dagger which
Milichus had produced as the one by which Nero was to have been
slain, was preserved as a sacred relic. A suitable inscription was
placed upon it, and it was deposited, with all solemnity, in one of
the temples of the city, there to remain a memorial of the event for
all future generations. In a word, the tyrant's escape from death
called forth all the outward manifestations of joy which could have
been deserved by the greatest public benefactor.

And yet, notwithstanding all this, such was the estimate which
public sentiment really entertained of the true character of Nero,
that it was considered extremely doubtful at the time, and has, in
fact, been so considered ever since, whether there ever was any
conspiracy at all. It was very extensively believed that the whole
pretended discovery of the plot was an ingenious device on the part
of Nero, to furnish him with plausible pretexts for destroying a
great number of men who were personally obnoxious to him. And were
it not almost im