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Does the passing of the centuries change people's beliefs, actions & attitudes?

The wonderful Gutenburg library recently "shelved" a copy of an 1839 book containing satirical & political songs going back to the 1200's. Note also that English religion was a Catholic until 1536 when HenryVIII ordered English language bibles be in every church in England.
[gutenberg.org]
The following I reproduce for your endearment. I particularly wish to draw your attention to the last four lines of the English translation:

"The rich give to the rich, that they may receive again, and gifts mutually meet one another: that law is most in use, which they have caused to be written, “If you give to me, I will give to you.”"

Page 14:

It was during these religious dissensions that arose up, or at least became strong, that powerful spirit of opposition to the papal tyranny, which produced during the whole of this century so much satirical poetry; much of it attributed, perhaps with little reason, to Walter Mapes. The following song is supposed to have been written during the interdict. In the fourth line the lion is said to designate King John, and the asses the Bishops, and at the end the King is represented by Jupiter, whilst the Pope receives the contemptuous designation of Pluto.

SONG ON THE TIMES.
[MS. Harl. 978, fol. 108, ro. Reign of Hen. III.]

Invectio contra avaritiam.

Utar contra vitia carmine rebelli;

Mel proponunt alii, fel supponunt melli,

Pectus subest ferreum deauratæ pelli,

Et leonis spolium induunt aselli.

Disputat cum animo facies rebellis,

Mel ab ore defluit, mens est plena fellis;

Non est totum melleum quod est instar mellis;

Facies est alia pectoris quam pellis.

Vitium est in opere, virtus est in ore,

Picem tegunt animi niveo colore:

[15]
Membra dolent singula capitis dolore,

Et radici consonat pomum in sapore.

Roma mundi caput est, sed nil capit mundum:

Quod pendet a capite totum est inmundum;

Transit enim vitium primum in secundum,

Et de fundo redolet quod est juxta fundum.

Roma capit singulos et res singulorum;

Romanorum curia non est nisi forum.

Ibi sunt venalia jura senatorum,

Et solvit contraria copia nummorum.

Hic in consistorio si quis causam regat

Suam, vel alterius, hoc in primis legat,—

Nisi det pecuniam Roma totum negat,

Qui plus dat pecuniæ melius allegat.

Romani capitulum habent in decretis,

Ut petentes audiant manibus repletis:

Dabis, aut non dabitur, petunt quia petis;

Qua mensura seminas, et eadem metis.

[16]
Munus et petitio currunt passu pari,

Opereris munere si vis operari:

Tullium ne timeas si velit causari,

Nummus eloquentia gaudet singulari.

Nummis in hac curia non est qui non vacet;

Crux placet, rotunditas, et albedo placet,

Et cum totum placeat, et Romanis placet,

Ubi nummus loquitur, et lex omnis tacet.

Si quo grandi munere bene pascas manum,

Frustra quis objiciet vel Justinianum,

Vel sanctorum canones, quia tanquam vanum

Transferunt has paleas, et inbursant granum.

Solam avaritiam Roma novit parca,

Parcit danti munera, parco non est parca:

Nummus est pro numine, et pro Marco marca,

Et est minus celebris ara, quam sit arca.

Cum ad papam veneris, habe pro constanti,

Non est locus pauperi, soli favet danti;

[17]
Vel si munus præstitum non est aliquanti,

Respondet hic tibi sic, Non est michi tanti.

Papa, si rem tangimus, nomen habet a re,

Quicquid habent alii, solus vult papare;

Vel si verbum Gallicum vis apocopare,—

Paez, Paez, dit li mot, si vis impetrare.

Papa quærit, chartula quærit, bulla quærit,

Porta quærit, cardinalis quærit, cursor quærit,

Omnes quærunt: et si quod des uni deerit,

Totum jus falsum est, tota causa perit.

Das istis, das aliis, addis dona datis,

Et cum satis dederis, quærunt ultra satis.

O vos bursæ turgidæ, Romam veniatis;

Romæ viget physica bursis constipatis.

Prædantur marsupium singuli paulatim;

Magna, major, maxima, præda fit gradatim.

Quid irem per singula? colligam summatim,—

Omnes bursam strangulant, et expirat statim.

[18]
Bursa tamen Tityi jecur imitatur,

Fugit res, ut redeat, perit, ut nascatur,

Et hoc pacto loculum Roma deprædatur,

Ut cum totum dederit, totus impleatur.

Redeunt a curia capite cornuto:

Ima tenet Jupiter, cœlum tenet Pluto,

Et accedit dignitas animali bruto,

Tanquam gemma stercori et pictura luto.

Divites divitibus dant, ut sumant ibi,

Et occurrunt munera relative sibi:

Lex est ista celebris, quam fecerunt scribi,

Si tu michi dederis, ego dabo tibi. Finit.

Translation.—I will use against vices rebelling song; others put forward honey, while under the honey they lay on gall; the iron breast is concealed under the gilt skin, and asses put on the lion’s spoil.—The rebelling face disputes with the soul within; honey flows from the mouth, the mind is full of gall; it is not all sweet that looks like honey; the breast has a different countenance from the skin.—While vice is in the work, virtue is in the face; they cover the pitchy blackness of the mind with a white colour; each of the members suffers by the pain of the head, and the flavour of the apple depends upon the root from whence it springs.—Rome is the head of the world; but it receives nothing clean; all that depends from the head is unclean; for the first vice passes on into the second, and that which is near the bottom smells of the bottom.—Rome receives all, and the goods of all; the court of the Romans is but a market. There are offered for sale the rights of the senators, and abundance of money dissolves all differences of opinion.—Here, in the consistory, if any body plead a cause, be it his own or another’s, let him first read this,—“Unless he give money, Rome denies every thing; he who gives most money will come off the best.”—The Romans have a chapter in the decretals, that they should listen to petitions from those who come with their hands full; thou shalt give, or nothing shall be granted thee; they ask because thou askest; by the same measure as you sow, you shall reap.—A bribe and a petition go side by side, and it is with a bribe that you must work if you wish to succeed: then you need have no fear, even of Tully, were he pleading against you; for money possesses a singular eloquence.—There is nobody in this court who does not look after money: the cross on the coin pleases them; the roundness of it, and the whiteness thereof, pleases them; and since every part of it pleases, and it is the Romans whom it pleases, where money speaks, there all law is silent.—If you only feed the hand well with some goodly bribe, it will be in vain even to quote Justinian against you, or the canons of the saints, because they would throw them away as vanity and chaff, and pocket the grain.—Penurious Rome claims acquaintance with nothing but avarice; she spares to him who brings gifts, but she spares not to him who is penurious: money stands in the place of God, and a marc for Mark, and the altar is less attended than the coffer.—When you come to the Pope, take it as a rule, that there is no place for the poor, he favours only the giver; or if there is not a bribe of some value or another forthcoming, he answers you, “I am not able.”—The Pope, if we come to the truth of the matter, has his name from the fact, that, whatever others have, he alone will suck the pap; or if you like to apocopate a French word, “pay, pay,” saith the word, if you wish to obtain anything.—The Pope begs, the brief begs, the bull begs, the gate begs, the cardinal begs, the cursor begs,—all beg! and if you have not wherewith to bribe them all, your right is wrong, and the whole cause comes to nothing.—You give to these, you give to the others, you add gifts to those already given, and when you should have given enough, they seek as much more. O, you full purses, come to Rome! at Rome there is choice medicine for costive pockets.—They all prey upon the purse by little and little; great, greater, or greatest, gradually becomes a prey to them. Why should I go through all the particulars? I will put it in a few words; they all choke the purse, and it expires immediately.—Yet the purse imitates the liver of Tityus; the substance flies in order to return; dies that it may be born: and on this condition Rome preys upon the pocket, that when it has given all, it may all be filled again.—They return from the court with mitred heads; Jupiter is placed in the Infernal Regions, Pluto holds Heaven, and dignity is given to a brute animal, as a jewel to the dung and a picture to the mud.—The rich give to the rich, that they may receive again, and gifts mutually meet one another: that law is most in use, which they have caused to be written, “If you give to me, I will give to you.”

FrayedBear 9 Sep 30
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3 comments

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2

Impaired concentration kicks in. Can't continue sorry 🤐

2

I've been around a few centuries, my beliefs have faded but my knowledge has increased.
I don't want to waste another couple of centuries reading as much as you put in your original post.

@FrayedBear You're still a Russian troll Fancy bear.

2

Not all that much, but we did lose the Latin for the most part. 😁 Got to say though that is one long ass song, In a gadda da vita of its day.😉

I'm glad that I did not have to learn Latin as I had no respect for that teacher.
The question is "are our lives so clouded with extraneous crap that we can't concentrate for a few hundred words or have our brains been so modified by drugs and contaminated food that we cannot concentrate long enough?"

@FrayedBear I do believe a lot of people do not have the attention span necessary to read articles or books or any information that is not contained in 200 whatever characters. And yes there's a lot of extraneous b that didn't exist at that point in time. Also at that point in time there was b that doesn't exist at this point in time.

@oldFloyd Example in point from Willow_Whisp above?

@FrayedBear possibilities are endless the future is not written.

@oldFloyd I have the attention span just don't want to waste my time. I got the point, catholics are dipshits, and everyone has always know, even 600 years ago, before the reformation people usually conformed in fear of death or social ills.

@Desertcactus Are today's corporations receiving taxpayer funded largesse catholic? Are Trump's billionaire buddies?

@FrayedBear Catholics are strangling society, often in disquise of "civility" and social niceties.

@Desertcactus The mormons have taken it a step farther by opening their own banks.

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