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“So when they begin to lust for power and cannot attain it through themselves or their own good qualities, they ruin their estates, tempting & corrupting the people in every possible way. & hence when by their foolish thirst for reputation they have created among the masses an appetite for gifts & the habit of receiving them, democracy in its turn is abolished & changes into a rule of force & violence. For the people, having grown accustomed to feed at the expense of others, & to depend for their livelihood on the property of others, as soon as they find a leader who is enterprising but is excluded from the honours of office by his penury, institute the rule of violence; & now uniting their forces massacre, banish, & plunder, until they degenerate again into perfect savages & find once more a master & monarch.” —Polybius The Histories, ~200 BC https://t.co/nYHn2BWB12