“…even if you do got a two-piece, custom-made pool cue.”
The figures are eloquent. Of 109 sovereigns, 65 were assassinated, 12 died in convent or prison, 3 died of hunger, 18 were castrated or had their eyes put out, their noses or hands cut off, and the rest were poisoned, suffocated, strangled, stabbed, thrown down from the top of a column or ignominiously hunted down. In 1058 years there were 65 revolutions of palace, street or barracks and 65 dethronements.
— René Guerdan, Byzantium: Its Triumphs and Tragedies
There’s something to be said for the peaceful transfer of power, isn’t there?
