Can killing a tyrant’s son and heir end tyranny?
By Charles Ochen Okwir
15th Nov 2010
In my article “A warning from ancient fiction: tyrants beware” in August, I wondered whether Lucian of Samosata [in his essay The Tyrannicide] wasn’t actually centuries ahead of his time; prescribing as he did, the killing of the tyrant’s son and heir as a means of stopping his family from ruling oppressed people in perpetuity.
Lucian said: “…I slew the son who had the strength to resist me, and left my sword to deal with the aged father…I have freed you not from tyranny alone, but from the fear of tyranny. By removing the heir of iniquity [the tyrant’s son] I have made your salvation sure”.
When Ghanian-born American Prof. George Ayitteh recently published his list of the world’s “worst of the worst dictators” [our “beloved” Museveni included] in the influential Foreign Policy magazine, I thought it was time revisit Lucian’s essay; just in case some of the world’s “worst of the worst dictators” pick any lessons from it. So let’s catch up with Lucian’s fictional works.
“Bear with me gentlemen, for a little longer, while I dwell in some detail upon those evils of tyranny with which you are only too familiar”, Lucian continued. Having killed the tyrant’s son and heir, Lucian told his “countrymen” that he would now leave them to enjoy contemplating the suffering from which they have escaped; thanks to his murderous accomplishment!
“…Ours was not the common experience: we had not [just] one tyranny, [or] one servitude to endure, but two…it was reserved for us to have two tyrants at once, and to groan beneath double oppression”, Lucian said.
Now that the tyrant’s son and heir was no more, his Ministers turned their attention to the defence of the grieving tyrant himself. “…His crimes were involuntary…and resulted from no tyrannical disposition in himself [the old tyrant] but from the instigation of his son. Paternal affection had clearly become a mania”, they argued in defence of the ailing tyrant.
Typical opportunists! They will say anything, however silly, as long as it helps secure their positions! Implicit in the Ministers’ defence of their boss was a suggestion that the grieving tyrant was only a Minister in the tyrannical regime; that his dead son was the real tyrant!
That it was for the dead son that the power of the tyranny was upheld; it was for him that the fruits of tyranny had been gathered; that it was for him, and through him, that the ailing tyrant created and maintained a garrison of elite forces within the national army. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?
For the dead son, the Ministers said, political opponents were oppressed, others banished into exile, and many more who meditated resistance butchered. “…Our situation became unbearable: for when the promptings of authoritarian rule draw inspiration from family passions, then inequity knows no further bounds. Our servitude was doomed to unending succession from tyrant to tyrant; to be the heritage of the oppressor”, Lucian philosophically said.
It was quite disheartening for Lucian to realise that some of the oppressed people had resigned to counting the days; leaving it all to fate. “…The end will be here soon; he will die, and we shall be free”, they said quietly in their hearts.
To contend against a succession of tyrants seemed like a hopeless task to these people. That was not an option for Lucian of Samosata. It was luxury that the nation could ill afford, Lucian argued.
“…We have no such hope. There stood the heir of tyranny before our own eyes. I have reckoned the difficulties of my undertaking but I will not shrink. I will face the danger. Not alone, but with my sword for company; my trusted ally and partner in tyrannicide”, he said to himself.
Lucian said he had seen what the end would be like with the tyrant’s son and heir alive. So he resolved to purchase the freedom of the nation with blood. “…I broke down all resistance and went to the fountainhead; the wellspring of tyranny, the very source of all our calamities. Within his stronghold, I slew him with many wounds as he fought in vain for his life”, Lucian imaginatively reminisces.
From then on, Lucian says, “…tyranny was destroyed. We were free men. There remained the aged father, alone, unarmed, and desolate; his guards scattered, his strong protector slain. He was no longer an adversary for a brave man. My work is done, my aim achieved, all is as I would have it”, Lucian boastfully said to himself.
Not contented with his bravado, Lucian rubbed it in further asked: “…How shall this remnant of tyranny be punished? He is unworthy of the hand that shed that other blood [meaning the son’s]. The glory of a noble enterprise shall not be so defiled. It would be too much happiness for him [the ailing tyrant] to die and never know the worst; let him see it all and feel the pain. END. Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
Charles Okwir is a London based Ugandan Lawyer and Journalist
