Extrait 1

For this occasion, I would like to hear nothing but how it is possible that so many men, so many towns, so many cities, so many nations sometimes endure a single tyrant, who has no power except that which they give him; who has no power to harm them, except that they have the power to endure him; who could not do them any harm, except when they prefer to suffer him rather than contradict him.

A great thing indeed, and yet so common that it is all the more painful and less astonishing to see a million million men serving miserably, having their necks under the yoke, not constrained by a greater force, but in no way (it seems) enchanted and charmed by the mere name of one, whose power they should neither fear, since he is alone, nor love the qualities, since he is in their place inhuman and savage.

Such is the weakness of us men that we must often obey force; we need to bide our time, for we cannot always be the strongest. Therefore, if a nation is compelled by the force of war to serve one, like the city of Athens to the thirty tyrants, we should not be astonished that it serves, but rather lament the misfortune; or better yet, neither be astonished nor lament it, but bear the hardship patiently and reserve ourselves for better times ahead.