QUOTATION: The Rule of Bad Men

It is by divine permission that wicked men receive power to rule as a punishment for sin, as the Lord says by the Prophet Hosea (13:11): “I will give you a king in my wrath” and it is said in Job (34:30) that he “makes a man that is a hypocrite to reign for the sins of the people.” Sin must therefore be done away with in order that the scourge of tyrants may cease."

--St. Thomas Aquinas, On Kingship to the King of Cyprus