Note 152 — Chapter I · Introduction

On tyrants as plunderers cp. Hdt. V. 92: “(Cypselus) deprived many people of their property.” So Ephorus, F.H.G. III. p. 392, “He banished the Bacchiads and confiscated their possessions.” Cp. Plato, Phaedo, 82a; Rep. VIII. end. The spoils of victory however are quite a different thing from the litigious confiscations of fifth and fourth century demagogues. The way the early tyrants used their wealth is sufficient proof that it was not mainly plunder. There is nothing of the condottiere about the typical early tyrant. Cp. H. Sieveking, Kapitalist. Entwick. i. d. ital. Städt. d. Mittelalt. in Viertelj. f. Soc. u. Wirts. VII. pp. 64 f.