Emperors may come and go, bringing more or less chaos, but the bureaucrats keep the wheels turning.
Dictators love to talk. It is remarkable how men who wield excessive sole power will be consistent in this: Given a captive audience, they all drone on for hours. And hours. The human brain can only c...
The plumber plodded along in silence, like a man who has learned to be polite to lunatics through dealing with civil engineers.
I had been right in the first place. Getting involved with politicians is complete stupidity.
All bankers assume your money is theirs to play with.
Any henchman who thinks himself the equal of his superior is dangerous.
Spies have no sense of timing.
Never lend if you need repayment; never give where you want a return.
He listened with the mild demeanour of a man who had waited eight years for his town council to draw up a specification for emergency repairs.
He had the kind of personality that makes you think a boy will grow up to be a public torturer. However,
Even the impetuous Helena Justina was an advocate of traditional family councils. However, every Roman matron knows that domestic councils were devised by our foremothers purely so the views of the ma...
As well as her benevolence toward the nation as a whole, a busy task, Salus also guards every individual. I was going to need her myself today.
Legendary. ‘Oh no!
The grander the temple, the lousier its hangers-on.
Some men are born lucky. Others are born Marcus Didius Falco.
I would rather see Rome ruled by a man who once had to ask his accountant tricky questions before his steward could pay the butcher’s bill than by some mad limb like Nero, who was brought up believing...
The land.
Their work was undercover—yet their existence unconcealed. That is how fear works.
The host with the most horrible manners. If he invites you, send a sick note. If he insists, take to your bed and die.
Mathematics is a suspicious activity. All those hypotenuse drawings must be plans for assassination attempts. Algebra is treacherous code. When did you ever meet a student of infinitesimal calculus wh...