On Certain Abuses in Language [pp. 248-272]

THE PRlNCE TON RE PIE W.
such a case, be very convenient to apply the name to him, but
it would be very difficult. The dominion of such a ruler might
be tyrannical in the vulgar sense, or it might not. In the latter
case the name would be so certain to be misunderstood that
there would be some injustice in using it. Even in the former
case, where the name would be deserved in both senses, its force
would be lost. When it was meant in the strict sense, it would
be taken in the vulgar sense. It would be understood as a vague
term of reproach, true or false, while what was really meant by
it would be a distinct and undoubted matter of fact. In short,
a word which it would be very useful to have the power of using
in its strict sense has come to be practically lost, because it has
got to be vulgarly used in a vague way without any thought of
its proper meaning.
Still I do not think that the practical evil of the vague usg
of the word tyrant is at all so great as the evil is in some
other like cases of abuse. And perhaps the vague use has
become so familiar that there is no hope of recalling the
word to its strict sense. But there is another word which I
think we might save, another Greek name, the bearers of which
were in their own nature the exact opposite to the tyrants, tho
some members of the class are said to have sometimes grown
into tyrants. Not long ago I saw, in a very polite paper, the
writers in which might be expected to understand the Greek
tongue, something about " demagogues declaiming in pothouses." I believe that this way of speaking was meant to
be smart. Perhaps it was not specially meant to be learned,
because the word demagfogpe has so utterly passed away from
its original Greek meaning, it has so utterly ceased to suggest
any thought of its Greek meaning, that it no longer has a
learned sound. When people talk about demagogues declaiming in pot-houses, it is clear that they have not the least thought
of a real Athenian or Syracusan demagogue before their eyes.
Now the real meaning of the word demagogue makes it the
noblest name that a political community can bestow on its
noblest members; it is the leader of the people. It is the
right name for the first man in any free state, whomever you
may deem that man to be. It never was an official title, because the kind of power which it expresses is a. purely personal
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