High-level meeting
The king was bound to it
The reputation of the country
is attacked, and defended
with the greatest philosopher:
are the unbelievers inferior?
Should we convert them
with cannons and forced labour
and be rewarded for that?
Or are we robbing and killing
civilized people to damnation
of ourselves, an indelible debt?
The opinions remain
divided, the king is powerless
He cannot make a decision
The sages split up
Praying, they purify their souls
from what they didn't say
Poem 2403 Amsterdam, 2019-09-09 Valladolid in 1550 Meeting under the leadership of Charles V, about the atrocities against the Aztecs in Mexico The settlers defend themselves with arguments from Aristotle (384-322), the moralists put his definition of civilization against that In 1511 Antonio de Montesinos made the same accusations against the Spanish settlers in Hispaniola Collection:Half The Work Keyword:Colonialism