My favorite is, “they were just paying their taxes”.
“they were just paying their taxes”....exactly!!
Here is a modern history text that we teach our kids with
“”The pyramids were built by farmers during the season when the Nile flooded their fields, so there was no farm work....Unlike slaves, who might be forced to work for someone else for their entire lives, conscripted farmers worked on a pyramid for a set time, then returned to their farms. “”