Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Sic Gloria Transit

I was supposed to get caught up on my serious reading this weekend.

But it didn't happen.

Instead I got addicted to one of my son's PC games: Medieval Total War.

It's a game where you assume the role of some faction and fight and bribe and trade your way to the top of the cut throat world of the Middle Ages.

I was the Italian City states -- Venice, Genoa -- and I was doing pretty well at first, building a rich commercial empire that had my coffers stuffed with florins.

But then, instead of granting my subjects a tax break, I desired the glory of military conquest and embarked on an invasion of Hungary.

That was, as it turns out, a bad idea.

I will spare you the details, but in the end I was bankrupt and ended up under the rule of the Papal States.

The lesson is clear: either don't be so quick to go to war or stick to less bloody PC games.

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