Like Thomas, Erasmus (The Education of a Christian Prince, 27-8) focuses attention on the differences between tyranny and good rule, and like Thomas he follows Aristotles claim that the foundational difference is between devotion to private interests versus devotion to the public good. Like Thomas, Erasmus highlights the moral and social corrosion that always accompanies tyranny:
“A tyrants aim is to follow whatever takes his fancy; a kings . . . is to follow what is right and honorable. For a tyrant, reward is wealth; to a king, it is the honour that follows from virtue. A tyrant governs by fear, deceit, and evil cunning; a king through wisdom, integrity, and goodwill. The tyrant wields his power for himself; the king for the state . . . .
“The tyrant guards his security with a gang of foreign attendants and with hired brigands, the king consider himself safe enough in his good will toward his subjects and their good will toward him. The citizens who are distinguished for their moral quality, judgment, and prestige are held in suspicion and distrust by the tyrant, whereas the king holds fast to them as his helpers and friends . . . . The tyrant looks upon nothing with greater suspicion than cooperation between good men and between cities, but this is something in which good princes especially rejoice. Tyrants are happy to stir up party conflicts and disputes between their subjects and carefully feed and foster such animosities as happy to arise, improperly trading on these situations to reinforce their tyranny. But a king has the one interest of fostering harmony among his subjects and of resolving straight away such dissensions as happen to grow up among them.”
In a word, The tyrant strives to be feared, the king to be loved. Unlike a tyrant, the good king takes the role of a paterfamilias who considers any benefit to a member of the family to be a benefit to all, for what is a kingdom but a large family? A prince is a man ruling men, a free man ruling other free men. He is not a beastmaster but a father of a family, as God, the Prince of all, is Father of all (34-5).
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
