A vineyard excommunicated,
Which a less rigid monk had planted near,
So that it bore nothing.
In 1120 a bishop of Laon excommunicated the caterpillars in his diocese;
And, the following year, St. Bernard excommunicated the flies in the Monastery of Foigny;
And in 1510 the ecclesiastical court pronounced the dread sentence against the rats of Autun, Macon, and Lyons.
These examples are sufficient precedents.
It will be well for the council, however, not to publish the bull either just before or just after a rain;
For nothing can kill this pestilent heresy when the ground is wet.
Which a less rigid monk had planted near,
So that it bore nothing.
In 1120 a bishop of Laon excommunicated the caterpillars in his diocese;
And, the following year, St. Bernard excommunicated the flies in the Monastery of Foigny;
And in 1510 the ecclesiastical court pronounced the dread sentence against the rats of Autun, Macon, and Lyons.
These examples are sufficient precedents.
It will be well for the council, however, not to publish the bull either just before or just after a rain;
For nothing can kill this pestilent heresy when the ground is wet.