man, as if he were a beggar, who has it in his power to satisfy by
just and honest means his every need?[19] Surely it would be more
appropriate to call that man a wretched starveling beggar rather, who
through lack of means is driven to live by ugly shifts and base
contrivances.

[19] i.e. "to expend compassion on a man who, etc., were surely a
pathetic fallacy." Al. "Is not the man who has it in his power,
etc., far above being pitied?"

Now it is your tyrant who is perpetually driven to iniquitous
spoilation of temples and human beings, through chronic need of money
wherewith to meet inevitable expenses, since he is forced to feed and
support an army (even in times of peace) no less than if there were
actual war, or else he signs his own death-warrant.[20]

[20] "A daily, hourly constraint is laid upon him to support an army
as in war time, or--write his epitaph!"



V

But there is yet another sore affliction to which the tyrant is
liable, Sinmonides, which I will name to you. It is this. Tyrants no
less than ordinary mortals can distinguish merit. The orderly,[1] the
wise, the just and upright, they freely recognise; but instead of
admiring them, they are afraid of them--the courageous, lest they
should venture something for the sake of freedom; the wise, lest they
invent some subtle mischief;[2] the just and upright, lest the