Liber III, Pars II — Quot sunt illa, ad quae reducuntur cautelae tyrannicae: et quod reges cavere debent ne efficiantur tyranni, quia opera regia sunt optima, tyrannica vero pessima. Cap. XI.

Liber III, Pars II — Quot sunt illa, ad quae reducuntur cautelae tyrannicae: et quod reges cavere debent ne efficiantur tyranni, quia opera regia sunt optima, tyrannica vero pessima. Cap. XI.

All the tyrannical precautions we listed in the previous chapter can be reduced to four by the philosopher, for tyrants aim at four things. First, to keep their subjects ignorant. Second, to make them cowardly. Third, to prevent them from trusting each other. Fourth, to keep them so impoverished and afflicted that they cannot rise up against them. These four precautions can be summarized: for as far as the present situation is concerned, any attempt to invade or plot against a tyrant seems to stem from one of these four. First, this can happen out of magnanimity, as the insurgent may have such a noble heart that they consider nothing too great. Second, due to their industriousness and cleverness, they may believe they can find many ways and schemes to eliminate the tyrant. Third, this can happen through power, if a person rising up trusts in other citizens and believes they will be helped by them, thus attacking the tyrant due to the civil power. Fourth, this can occur from excessive idleness, if the citizens are too wealthy and spend too much time in idleness. For this reason, it is clear that tyranny must be avoided by kings, since the worst of evils must be avoided, and the best must be pursued. Therefore, tyrants seek to eliminate these four things: to destroy the excellent, so that their subjects are not magnanimous; to destroy the wise, to hinder schools and learning, so that those in the kingdom remain ignorant and uninformed; to prevent associations; to stir up citizens against each other so that they do not trust one another; to impoverish them; to occupy them in war and other activities, so that they do not have time for idleness. These, then, are the tyrannical precautions. However, no one is entirely a tyrant, for evil destroys itself, and if it were whole, it would be unbearable as it is said. In ethics, it is rare or perhaps never found that someone is entirely a king without tyrannizing in some way; for he would be like a demigod if he participated in no tyranny. Therefore, those in power participate in royal precautions and some of the cunning of tyrants; and the dominion is better the more it approaches the kingdom and is further from tyranny. We wanted to describe the actions of both types of rulers and outline both sets of precautions: because the opposite of good governance is tyranny, showing that tyranny is the worst. From this, it is clear that tyranny must be avoided by kings, because what is worst in itself is what must be most avoided, and what is best must be pursued most earnestly.