16. The Benefits of Ancient Tyranny
Economically, commoners tended to be better off under tyrants. The strongmen usually encouraged activities such as commerce and crafts and manufactures. Such activities were previously viewed by nobles as socially gauche, and even threatening insofar as they destabilized the social order by making jumped up commoners as rich as or richer than their social betters. A tyranny was thus often a predicate for democracy, because it removed from its path the barrier of a strongly entrenched nobility. Tyrants had an interest in weakening aristocrats who had monopolized power for centuries. So they adopted populist policies that appealed to commoners, whose support was necessary for the tyrant’s continued hold on power. Only after the aristocracy had been weakened, and its stranglehold on power broken, would there be an opening for democracy.
