day no. 16,045: bully-bane

"The tyrant hates and suspects discreet and wise men, and fears no opposition more than virtue as being conscious of his own vicious courses, and esteeming his own security to consist principally in a general corruption of all estates introduces multiplicity of taverns, gaming houses, masks, stage plays, brothel houses, and all other licentious superfluities that might effeminate and bastardize noble spirits." -- Junius Brutus, Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos

A tyrant's only move is to get better men to cuck themselves.

A tyrant cannot go toe-to-toe with a virtuous man, so he must persuade better men to emasculate themselves and spend their strength on puerile entertainments. A tyrant depends on the complicity of better men. He cannot overpower them per se, but he can tempt them, like Delilah, to forfeit their power. He has not hope of knocking them down in open battle, so he must, like Balaam, provide them with a reason to lay down. He must bastardize better men. He must lower the bar beneath his abilities in order to reign over them since he cannot rise to theirs.

Noble men then are the bane of bullies.

Because tyranny is evil, it can only corrupt and because it builds it's kingdom on a negation, it cannot stand under the weight of men who refuse to lie down. 

Psalm 106:30

Phinehas stood up.