Roman envoys to Attila’s court in 449 greatly offended the Huns when they said that, although Attila was a man, Theodosius II was a god; this was a self-evident statement in Roman eyes, even though the envoys were doubtless overwhelmingly Christian.

The gods were gone, but imperial status remained unchanged –divinus remained a technical term meaning ‘imperial’. The emperor’s position was all the more central in that the Roman empire was regarded as, by definition, always victorious, a belief that survived even the disasters of the fifth century.

There is a common medieval literary trope, and some actual cases, of enemies being invited to a meal to make peace, and then being killed while eating and drinking; it may have been a sensible strategy, for people’s guards were down, but it was very dishonourable indeed.

To survive, Byzantine society and politics folded itself around the state.

The drops are really just a Band-Aid. The only way to fix the problem is to clear out all of the plants.

The helicopter and the aerial drops that we've been doing have made a difference.

I'm trying to make a decision on bail, and your comments are not helpful to me,

We may not be as deep as we were last season but we have some athletic kids that should fill our holes, ... Injuries could be a problem but you can say that about any team.