"Rome has grown so much since its humble beginnings that it is now overwhelmed by its own greatness...The state is suffering from two opposite vices, greed and excesses; two plagues which, in the past, have been the ruin of every great empire."
Livy
“Thus, it should be understood that when pro-US figures use the term, 'rules-based international order,' they are not referring to anything analogous to the rule of law. Quite the opposite, they are using Orwellian language to describe a system in which essentially no rules can be established and/or observed, given that the dominant state has the prerogative to violate and/or rewrite “rules” at its whim.” Aaron Good, American Exception