Severus corrected many of the problems facing Rome and at the time his reign could be viewed as a success. But he stripped the Senate of authority and allowed corruption and indiscipline to flourish in the army, whose power undermined the stability of the Empire. Gibbon says of Severus: ‘Posterity, who experienced the fatal effects of his maxims, justly considered him the principal author of the decline of the Roman Empire.’
[ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ]
Many thanks are owed –
To Jo Fletcher, Gillian Redfearn, Charlie Panayiotou, Jon Wood, Genevieve Pegg and all at Orion and Gollancz.
To St John Donald and Ariella Feiner, and especially Simon Trewin for his ‘evil plan.’
To Robert Low for suggesting the name of the ‘Onager’ (and giving me an idea that led to that of the ‘Surijin’).
To Tomoko Abe and members of the Livejournal group Linguaphiles, for help with Japanese names.
To Maisie Tomlinson and Andrew Sturdy for advice about boats and navigation.
And to RJ Ellory, Ronni Phillips, Anne Perry, Jared Shurin, Roz Kaveney, Camille Lofters, for being generally wonderful.
A Gollancz eBook
Copyright © Sophia McDougall 2011
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First published in Great Britain in 2011 by
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This eBook first published in 2011 by Gollancz.
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