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τύραννος ... τυράννῳ. Both Alexander and Mardonius (or rather his master Xerxes) were really legitimate national kings, not tyrants, and H. himself calls the kings of Macedon βασιλεύς, though he styles the monarchy τυραννίς (ch. 137. 2). The opprobrious term is dramatically appropriate in the mouth of an enemy (cf. for the opposite case vii. 161 n.). Further, the tyrants of Ionia had been the natural allies of the Mede (iv. 137, &c.), and, as the ‘Holy Alliance’ and Dreikaiserbund have shown, there is a certain natural affinity between monarchies.

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