Tyranny, corruption and sex in a decadent civilization. No, this is not a post about a regime of an oil-rich country nowadays; it is about Byzantium in the sixth century.
I just finished reading a vigorous translation by G. A. Williamson of The Secret History of Procopius.
Procopius worked as a legal advisor of Belisarius, the incumbent General that extended Bizantium domains to the West. The Emperor Justinian and his wife ruled the Eastern Romans at the time.