Note 010
In a free conversation with his countryman
Adrian IV., John of Salisbury accuses the avarice of the
pope and clergy:
Provinciarum diripiunt spolia, ac si
thesauros Croesi studeant reparare. Sed recte cum eis agit
Altissimus, quoniam et ipsi aliis et saepe vilissimis
hominibus dati sunt in direptionem
(de Nugis Curialium, l. vi. c. 24, p. 387.)
In the next page, he blames the rashness
and infidelity of the Romans, whom their bishops vainly
strove to conciliate by gifts, instead of virtues. It is
pity that this miscellaneous writer has not given us less
morality and erudition, and more pictures of himself and the
times.
The History Of The Decline And
Fall Of The Roman Empire
—Fall In The East
—Chapter 69