Literature
Cicero speaks of domination obtained by violence and ruse, the subjects being unwilling or even forced to accept it and there being no recourse open to a superior who might pronounce judgment upon the usurper. In this case he that kills the tyrant for the liberation of the country is praised and rewarded.
— St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary to the Sentences
Both the philosophers and theologians agree, that the prince who seizes the state with force and arms, and with no legal right, no public, civic approval, may be killed by anyone and deprived of his life
— Juan de Mariana, De rege et regis institutione
Music
Bodies burnt to the bone
Reduced to coals
The oppressors pay
Reduced to coals
The oppressors pay
— Cannibal Corpse, "Firestorm Vengeance"
Theatre
If you do sweare to put a Tyrant downe,
You sleepe in peace, the Tyrant being slaine
You sleepe in peace, the Tyrant being slaine
Sic semper tyrannisnote
— Allegedly said by Brutus while killing Julius Caesar
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
