Parliament would dissolve into corruption, patronage, and graft. So the chemists offered a solution. “Every five years we would choose a wise and scholarly citizen to be emperor, and he or she would drink a secret potion—a draught of amnesia.” He leaned forward conspiratorially. “Behind the Emperor’s Mask, he would be unrecognizable; and behind the fog of that potion, he would not recognize himself. He would retain his knowledge of the world, its history and geography, its policies and pressures. But he would have no idea who he had been before he was Emperor.”
