inktopia

Go, soul, the body’s guest,

Upon a thankless errand;

Fear not to touch the best;

The truth shall be thy warrant.

Go, since I needs must die,

And give the world the lie.

Say to the court, it glows

And shines like rotten wood;

Say to the church, it shows

What’s good, and doth no good.

If church and court reply,

Then give them both the lie.

Tell potentates they live

Acting by others’ action;

Not loved unless they give,

Not strong but by a faction.

If potentates reply,

Give potentates the lie.

Tell men of high condition,

That manage the estate,

Their purpose is ambition,

Their practice only hate.

And if they once reply,

Then give them all the lie.

Tell them that brave it most,

They beg for more by spending,

Who in their greatest cost,

Seek nothing but commending.

And if they make reply,

Then give them all the lie.

Tell zeal it wants devotion;

Tell love it is but lust;

Tell time it is but motion;

Tell flesh it is but dust.

And wish them not reply,

For thou must give the lie.

Tell age it daily wasteth;

Tell honor how it alters;

Tell beauty how she blasteth;

Tell favor how it falters.

And as they shall reply,

Give everyone the lie.

Tell wit how much it wrangles

in tickle points of niceness;

Tell wisdom she entangles

Herself in overwiseness.

And when they do reply,

Straight give them both the lie.

Tell physic of her boldness;

Tell skill it is pretension:

Tell charity of coldness;

Tell law it is contention.

And as they do reply,

So give them still the lie.

Tell fortune of her blindness;

Tell nature of decay;

Tell friendship of unkindness;

Tell justice of delay.

And if they will reply,

Then give them all the lie.

Tell arts they have no soundness,

But vary by esteeming;

Tell schools they want profoundness,

And stand too much on seeming.

If arts and schools reply,

Give arts and schools the lie.

Tell faith its fled the city;

Tell how the country erreth;

Tell manhood shakes off pity;

Tell virtue least preferreth.

And if they do reply,

Spare not to give the lie.

So when thou hast, as I

Commanded thee, done blabbing,

Although to give the lie

Deserves no less than stabbing,

Stab at thee he that will,

No stab thy soul can kill.

– Sir Walter Ralegh

To “give the Lie” – to accuse someone of lying.

"Tell Ea-nasir: Nanni sends the following message:

When you came, you said to me as follows :

“I will give Gimil-Sin (when he comes) fine quality copper ingots.”

You left then but you did not do what you promised me.

You put ingots which were not good before my messenger (Sit-Sin) and said:

“If you want to take them, take them; if you do not want to take them, go away!”

What do you take me for, that you treat somebody like me with such contempt?

I have sent as messengers gentlemen like ourselves to collect the bag with my money (deposited with you) but you have treated me with contempt by sending them back to me empty-handed several times, and that through enemy territory.

Is there anyone among the merchants who trade with Telmun who has treated me in this way? You alone treat my messenger with contempt!

On account of that one (trifling) mina of silver which I owe(?) you, you feel free to speak in such a way, while I have given to the palace on your behalf 1,080 pounds of copper, and umi-abum has likewise given 1,080 pounds of copper, apart from what we both have had written on a sealed tablet to be kept in the temple of Samas.

How have you treated me for that copper?

You have withheld my money bag from me in enemy territory;

it is now up to you to restore (my money) to me in full.

Take cognisance that (from now on) I will not accept here any copper from you that is not of fine quality.

I shall (from now on) select and take the ingots individually in my own yard, and I shall exercise against you my right of rejection because you have treated me with contempt.”

The complaint letter to Ea-nasir has generally been known as the oldest preserved complaint letter in human record. It resides in the British museum today and it has been preserved purely because Ea-nasir himself seem to have found complaints like these to be funny. So much so, that he collected them in one of the rooms of his house. This collection of course has allowed for two observations. 1) People of ancient Babylon acted in much the same way as today. And 2), Ea-nasir was a truly abysmal merchant, more perhaps a scammer, so bad in fact that his name would go down in history, still known for his bad copper 4000 years later.