In the following short chapter on tyranny in relation to other types of monarchy Aristotle harks back to certain previous discussions (III xiv–xvii). That which is technically the rule of a tyrant need not necessarily be without law, and such rule has obvious resemblances to kingship. Discussion of tyranny, he claims, is therefore justified.
1295a1 It remained for us to say something about tyranny, not because there is much to say, but so that it might take its place in our inquiry; for even to it we assign a place of a sort in a list of constitutions. We defined kingship in an earlier part of this work and discussed whether, in the most usual sense of the word ‘kingship’, it was or was not a good thing for states, and also who is to be appointed king, and how and from what source. When dealing with kingship we also defined two forms of tyranny, because the power exercised by a tyrant in both cases in some sense overlaps with kingship too, both forms of rule being according to law. (For example, among certain non-Greeks, sole rulers with absolute personal power are elected to that office; and among ancient Greeks of long ago there arose sole rulers of this type, called aisumnētai.) In certain respects these two forms of tyranny differ from each other; but they were king-like because they were according to law, and because the sole rule was over willing subjects; yet they were tyrannical, because rule was exercised as by a master, according to the personal decisions of the tyrants.
1295a17 There is a third type of tyranny, thought to be the most extreme because it is the exact converse of absolute kingship. Any sole ruler, who is not required to give an account of himself, and who rules over subjects all equal or superior to himself to suit his own interest and not theirs, can only be exercising a tyranny of this third kind. Hence it is endured unwillingly, for no one willingly submits to such rule if he is a free man. These then are the kinds of tyranny, and the number of them; and they arise for the reasons given.