“ Stupidity in a tyrant always renders him incapable of benevolent action ”
Étienne de La Boétie, Discourse on Voluntary Servitude (1576). copy citation
| Author | Étienne de La Boétie |
|---|---|
| Source | Discourse on Voluntary Servitude |
| Topic | stupidity action |
| Date | 1576 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Harry Kurz |
| Weblink | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Discourse_on_Voluntary_Servitude |
Context
“Who was ever more easily managed, more naive, or, to speak quite frankly, a greater simpleton, than Claudius the Emperor? Who was ever more wrapped up in his wife than he in Messalina, [49] whom he delivered finally into the hands of the executioner? Stupidity in a tyrant always renders him incapable of benevolent action; but in some mysterious way by dint of acting cruelly even towards those who are his closest associates, he seems to manifest what little intelligence he may have.
Quite generally known is the striking phrase of that other tyrant who, gazing at the throat of his wife, a woman he dearly loved and without whom it seemed he could not live, caressed her with this charming comment:”
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