Every dictator is an enemy of freedom, an opponent of law.

The line frames dictatorship as inherently incompatible with a free civic order: a dictator’s power depends on overriding shared rules and concentrating authority in one will. By pairing “freedom” with “law,” the sentiment reflects a classical Greek assumption that liberty is secured not by the absence of restraint but by government through stable, publicly binding norms rather than arbitrary command. The aphoristic structure also works as a warning to citizens: tolerating a single ruler above the law erodes both legal protections and political autonomy. Even without a verified Demosthenic locus, the idea aligns with Athenian democratic rhetoric that cast “tyranny” (and extra-legal rule) as the antithesis of lawful self-government.