From "I Claudius" by Robert Graves: Sejanus: There'll be no trial. I have no need of a trial to prove your guilt. Gallus: A song sung by every small-town corrupt policeman, which is what you are and what you should have stayed. I have watched your career with fascination, Sejanus. It's been a revelation it's been to me! I've never fully realised before how a small mind, allied to unlimited ambition and without scruple, can destroy a country full of clever men. I've seen how frail is the structure of a civilisation before the onslaught of a gust of really bad breath! Yes... But I suppose you are not really the destroyer. No, we must look elsewhere for that. You are merely the putrefaction that spreads after death - the outward and visible sign of its presence! You're a lesson in history to me, Sejanus, proving that, above all, Mankind needs its sense of smell. For a good nose on Russia and Putin read Masha Gessen.
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