by Tisaranee Gunasekara
“His Most Extraordinary Majesty liked…the people of the court to multiply their belongings; he liked their accounts to grow and their purses to swell. I don’t remember His Magnanimous Highness’s ever demoting someone…because of corruption. Let him enjoy his corruption as long as he shows his loyalty! Thanks to his unequalled memory and also to constant reports our monarch knew exactly who had how much. But as long as his subjects behaved loyally, he kept this knowledge to himself and never made use of it. But if he sensed even the slightest shadow of disloyalty, he would immediately confiscate everything…. Thanks to that system of accountability, the King of Kings had everyone in his hand, and everyone knew it. ”