The Complete Aristotle (eng.)

person which they
deemed an insult, have either killed or attempted to kill officers
of state and royal princes by whom they have been injured. Thus, at
Mytilene, Megacles and his friends attacked and slew the
Penthilidae, as they were going about and striking people with
clubs. At a later date Smerdis, who had been beaten and torn away
from his wife by Penthilus, slew him. In the conspiracy against
Archelaus, Decamnichus stimulated the fury of the assassins and led
the attack; he was enraged because Archelaus had delivered him to
Euripides to be scourged; for the poet had been irritated at some
remark made by Decamnichus on the foulness of his breath. Many
other examples might be cited of murders and conspiracies which
have arisen from similar causes.
    Fear is another motive which, as we have said, has caused
conspiracies as well in monarchies as in more popular forms of
government. Thus Artapanes conspired against Xerxes and slew him,
fearing that he would be accused of hanging Darius against his
orders-he having been under the impression that Xerxes would forget
what he had said in the middle of a meal, and that the offense
would be forgiven.
    Another motive is contempt, as in the case of Sardanapalus, whom
some one saw carding wool with his women, if the storytellers say
truly; and the tale may be true, if not of him, of some one else.
Dion attacked the younger Dionysius because he despised him, and
saw that he was equally despised by his own subjects, and that he
was always drunk. Even the friends of a tyrant will sometimes
attack him out of contempt; for the confidence which he reposes in
them breeds contempt, and they think that they will not be found
out. The expectation of success is likewise a sort of contempt; the
assailants are ready to strike, and think nothing of the danger,
because they seem to have the power in their hands. Thus generals
of armies attack monarchs; as, for example, Cyrus attacked
Astyages, despising the effeminacy of his life, and believing that
his power was worn out. Thus again, Seuthes the Thracian conspired
against Amadocus, whose general he was.
    And sometimes men are actuated by more than one motive, like
Mithridates, who conspired against Ariobarzanes, partly out of
contempt and partly from the love of gain.
    Bold natures, placed by their sovereigns in a high military
position, are most likely to make the attempt in the expectation of
success; for courage is emboldened by power, and the union of the
two inspires them with the hope of an easy victory.
    Attempts of which the motive is ambition arise in a different
way as well as in those already mentioned. There are men who will
not risk their lives in the hope of gains and honors however great,
but who nevertheless regard the killing of a tyrant simply as an
extraordinary action which will make them famous and honorable in
the world; they wish to acquire, not a kingdom, but a name. It is
rare, however, to find such men; he who would kill a tyrant must be
prepared to lose his life if he fail. He must have the resolution
of Dion, who, when he made war upon Dionysius, took with him very
few troops, saying ‘that whatever measure of success he might
attain would be enough for him, even if he were to die the moment
he landed; such a death would be welcome to him.’ this is a temper
to which few can attain.
    Once more, tyrannies, like all other governments, are destroyed
from without by some opposite and more powerful form of government.
That such a government will have the will to attack them is clear;
for the two are opposed in principle; and all men, if they can, do
what they will. Democracy is antagonistic to tyranny, on the
principle of Hesiod, ‘Potter hates Potter,’ because they are nearly
akin, for the extreme form of democracy is tyranny; and royalty and
aristocracy are both alike opposed to tyranny, because they are
constitutions of a different type. And therefore the Lacedaemonians
put down most of the tyrannies, and so did the Syracusans during
the time when they were well governed.
    Again, tyrannies are destroyed from within, when the reigning
family are divided among themselves, as that of Gelo was, and more
recently that of Dionysius; in the case of Gelo because
Thrasybulus, the brother of Hiero, flattered the son of Gelo and
led him into excesses in order that he might rule in his name.
Whereupon the family got together a party to get rid of Thrasybulus
and save the tyranny; but those of the people who conspired