"For in every city these two opposite parties [people vs aristocracy] are to be
found, arising from the desire of the populace to avoid oppression of the
great, and the desire of the great to command and oppress the people....For
when the nobility see that they are unable to resist the people, they unite in
exalting one of their number and creating him prince, so as to be able to carry
out their own designs under the shadow of his authority."
Machiavelli, The Prince, Ch. IX
