Tractatus de imposturis et ceremoniis Iudaeorum nostri temporis

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In all past centuries, most learned Pascharius, the singular prudence of certain pious men in teaching, their admirable skill in detecting sins, and their wonderful diligence in bringing the same before everyone, and the vehement, divinely-supported courage used to rebuke them without fear—if those things were useful then, how much more must we judge them to be sought after, admitted, and preserved for this aging century and these deplorable human morals? For when the cohort of all crimes and infamies—and truly and primarily that insatiable and furious lust for possession, which overturns all divine and human laws—has so invaded and occupied the minds of men that, having cast aside Evangelical doctrine and stripped away piety and Christian charity, everyone pursues their own affairs and deceitfully converts the property of others to their own advantage, caring only for this: that they may acquire inexhaustible riches, estates, magnificent houses, and finally, immense wealth, whether by right or wrong. Hence, the neighbor is fleeced of his resources, the guest is plundered, and the orphan and widow are impiously abandoned. What more? That there is a cessation of all duties of Christian charity? No one deems it shameful to break faith and desert their posts as long as some hope of gain shines forth. The magistrate, either because he labors under the same vice or because he is corrupted by money, in many cities of the Christian world, alas, falls silent, and good laws remain dormant and all but obsolete. Where this happens, it is no wonder that the tyrannical and clearly barbarian saying of Tarquin is almost on everyone's lips: the sweet odor of profit from anything whatsoever. And certainly, the most monstrous usurers, who wickedly fatten themselves on the blood and innermost marrow of the poor, are allowed everything with impunity, so great is the...