Published by Justin Lewis-Anthony on 29 May 2008
Commonplace (19)
A Good Emperor?
Edward Gibbon on the emperor Septimius Severus:
“He promised only to betray, he flattered only to ruin; and however he might occasionally bind himself by oaths and treaties, his conscience, obsequious to his interest, always released him from the inconvenient obligation.”
Quoted in ‘Yes, I am a walking advert for reform’ by the Earl of Onslow, The Guardian, 26 November 2003
