Rich as Croesus

    [publius] anybody who's on the toilet at 2 in the morning and
              announces "A GREAT CIVILIZATION DIES TONIGHT" should be,
              at a minimum, isolated from human society as a
              harm-prevention measure
    [thrig]   if only it was the Croesus empire switcharoo
    [publius] oracles!

So, spoilers, some rich chad or the other once got an oracle along the lines of "the loser will lose their empire" to which said chad (not the hanging chad that denied Al Gore the presidency, mind) said "great!" thinking it would, naturally, be the other empire the loser. Alas that such stories tend to not come through when you really need them.