Treatise of Religion

This is Fulke Greville's fierce, witty assault on religious hypocrisy, written in 114 stanzas of pointed verse. Greville, a contemporary of Shakespeare and confidant to Queen Elizabeth I, was no stranger to the corridors of power, and this poem shows exactly what he thought of how that power cloaked itself in piety. The poem attacks the gap between religious profession and lived corruption, between sermon and sin. It is sharp enough to draw blood, funny enough to land as satire, and serious enough to have gotten Greville into serious trouble. Greville wrote as someone who understood that the truly dangerous enemies of truth often dress in clerical robes. The poem skewers those who use faith as a political weapon, who preach poverty while accumulating wealth, who pronounce damnation while committing the sins they condemn. Written in the volatile aftermath of England's religious upheavals, it speaks to something timeless: the rage at holy words weaponized for unholy gain. This is poetry as counter-punch, verse as corrective to the false prophets of his age and ours.