The tyrant now Trusts not to men: nightly within his chamber The watch-dog guards his couch, the only friend He now dare trust. Joanna BaillieEthwald. Pt. II. Act V. Sc. 3.
Th oppressive, sturdy, man-destroying villains, Who ravagd kingdoms, and laid empires waste, And in a cruel wantonness of power, Thinnd states of half their people, and gave up To want the rest. BlairThe Grave. L. 9.
Tyranny Absolves all faith; and who invades our rights, Howeer his own commence, can never be But an usurper. Henry BrookeGustavus Vasa. Act IV. Sc. 1.
Thinkst thou there is no tyranny but that Of blood and chains? The despotism of vice The weakness and the wickedness of luxury The negligencethe apathythe evils Of sensual slothproduce ten thousand tyrants, Whose delegated cruelty surpasses The worst acts of one energetic master, However harsh and hard in his own bearing. ByronSardanapalus. Act I. Sc. 2.
Tyranny Is far the worst of treasons. Dost thou deem None rebels except subjects? The prince who Neglects or violates his trust is more A brigand than the robber-chief. ByronThe Two Foscari. Act II. Sc. 1.
There is nothing more hostile to a city than a tyrant, under whom in the first and chiefest place, there are not laws in common, but one man, keeping the law himself to himself, has the sway, and this is no longer equal. EuripidesSuppliants. 429. Oxford trans. (Revised by Buckley.)
Il nappartient, quaux tyrans dêtre toujours en crainte. None but tyrants have any business to be afraid. Hardouin de Péréfixe. Attributed to Henry IV.
Men are still men. The despots wickedness Comes of ill teaching, and of powers excess, Comes of the purple he from childhood wears, Slaves would be tyrants if the chance were theirs. Victor HugoThe Vanished City.
For what is he they follow? truly, gentlemen, A bloody tyrant, and a homicide: One raisd in blood, and one in blood establishd; One that made means to come by what he hath, And slaughterd those that were the means to help him; A base foul stone, made precious by the foil Of Englands chair, where he is falsely set; One that hath ever been Gods enemy. Richard III. Act V. Sc. 3. L. 245.