“Your administration was notable for crisis, and cool-headed management of same. Quite a performance for a mere chit of a girl.”
“I was apprenticed for the role,” she said without heat. “And I had history as a guide. Let the looters and the profiteers run rampant in greater Egypt, and there’s riot. Watch it play out a few dozens of times, and the lesson’s taken without having to suffer it oneself.” She looked at him from under the lowering brow of the great wig with its burden of crown. “If one has the Great Library at one’s disposal and still manages to be a fool, then one doesn’t deserve to rule.”
***
The first speaker is Julius Caesar. This is a lightly edited excerpt from Cleopatra’s Ironclads, my 2012 National Novel Writing Month project.
Weekend Writing Warriors offers eight-sentence excerpts from a variety of writers; see the other excerpts here.
E. P. Beaumont 
And the looters still run rampant in Egypt, but they have no history as their guide. The Library though is a most wondrous place where I could have spent many an hour.
I would have loved to spend time in The Library. I do love the snarkiness of her last line. It sounds like something I would blurt out. Great snippet.
Indeed not…I agree with her. Nice excerpt. 😊 Well done.
That’s a terrific last line!
Love the last line! And it takes great courage to write real people from history–kudos to you!
I like the reference to the Library! Excellent excerpt!
“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
She can certainly hold her own with him! Nicely done!
I like the reference to history and libraries, and it is so true too. Good snippet.