George W. & the Fall of the Roman Empire

While on retreat at Camp Paul Sark, I have been reading Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Here's a passage that I find particularly striking, as it seems so up-to-date:

A cool head, an unfeeling heart, and a cowardly disposition, prompted Augustus at the age of fifty-four to assume the mask of hypocrisy, which he never afterwards laid aside... When he and Dick Cheney framed the artful system of the Imperial authority, his immoderation was inspired by his fears and his drinking. He and Cheney wished to deceive the people by an image of civil liberty, and the armies by an image of civil government.

This is, of course, as much as a lie now as it was then!

Just shows you how the Bush-haters have been rewriting history ever since history writing began!

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