Republic (Book IX) by Plato
This post is part of my journey through the classic texts of Western civilization.
"the real tyrant is a real slave to all coaxings and slaveries of the beast; he must flatter the most worthless of mankind, and never can satisfy his own desires in the least; no, he stands in direst need of most things, and turns out to be truly a pauper, if one knows how to estimate the soul as a whole; all his life laden with fear he is full of spasms and pains, if his condition indeed is like the city he rules—and he is like it, isn't he?"
Continuing the discussion from Book VIII, Plato proceeds to describe the individual man correlating to the constitution of tyranny. The tyrannic man is the son of a democratic man. Whereas his democratic father had some sense of moderation due his oligarchic father's influence, the tyrannic man has none. His desires take over him, corrupting him to the max; all sense of moderation is gone.
The man soon runs out of money living such a decadent lifestyle, that he is forced to start borrowing money, which turns into robbery and murder. The desires that used to creep up during sleep when the rational part of the mind was at rest now control him even when awake. Soon he finds himself friendless and living in constant fear of his enemies, those who hate him. This, of course, is just like the political tyrant himself, who must live in constant fear of retaliation for the crimes and injustices he has committed against his subjects.
So is justice worth pursuing over injustice? You will recall from Book II that this was the original question that set Socrates off on the whole dialogue. After seeing the condition of the tyrant, how could any reasonable man conclude that such a life was better than the aristocratic man, whose soul was balanced and at peace? The just man is a happier man.
The end of the book concludes with a profound image of the difference between the souls of the just and unjust man. Imagine a man with three creatures inside of him: a multi-headed monster, a lion, and a human. The unjust man feeds the beast, causing it to grow bigger and stronger. In turn, the human is starved and weak, dragged around wherever the monster or the lion take him. The three creatures are not friends but are instead at enmity with each other. On the contrary, the just man feeds the human, strengthening him that he may master the monster and make an ally of the lion. The human cares for both the creatures, befriending them that all of them may be nourished.
The image hearkens us back to Book IV, with the just man having the rational part of his soul rule over the other parts. It is the unjust man, the tyrannical soul, that is a slave to his desires. Plato has spoken the truth.