On the Peace (111-115)

Look at the one-man-rule which is established in various states and observe how many there are who aspire to it and are ready to undergo anything whatsoever to obtain it. And yet what that is dire and difficult is not its portion?[*] Is it not true that when men obtain unlimited power they find themselves at once in the coil of so many troubles

that they are compelled to make war upon all their citizens, to hate those from whom they have suffered no wrong whatsoever, to suspect their own friends and daily companions, to entrust the safety of their persons to hirelings whom they have never even seen, to fear no less those who guard their lives than those who plot against them, and to be so suspicious towards all men as not to feel secure even in the company of their nearest kin?[*]

And naturally so; for they know well that those who held despotic power before them have been put out of the way, some by their parents,[*] some by their sons,[*] some by their brothers,[*] and some by their wives[*] and, furthermore, that the lineage of these rulers has been blotted out from the sight of men.[*] Nevertheless they willingly submit themselves to such a multitude of calamities.[*] And when men who are of the foremost rank and of the greatest reputation are enamored of so many evils, is it any wonder that the rest of the world covets other evils of the same kind?

But I do not fail to realize that while you accept readily what I say about the rule of despots, yet you hear with intolerance what I say about the empire of the sea. For you have fallen into a most shameful and careless way of thinking, since what you see clearly in the case of others, this you are blind to in your own case. And yet it is not the least important sign of whether men are possessed of intelligence if they are seen to recognize the same course of conduct in all cases that are comparable.[*]

But you have never given this a thought; on the contrary, while you consider the power of a despot to be harsh and harmful not only to others but to those who hold it, you look upon the empire of the sea as the greatest good in the world, when in fact it differs neither in what it does nor in what it suffers from one-man-rule. And you think that the affairs of the Thebans are in a bad way because they oppress their neighbors,[*] but, although you yourselves are treating your allies no better than the Thebans treat the Boeotians, you believe that your own actions leave nothing to be desired.