3 ms·
> they shall accept no gifts from them, neither a horse nor an ox, nor a cow, nor a pig, nor a sheep, nor a piglet, nor a lamb, nor anything other than bottles
by AnotherGoodName 6y ago
> they shall accept no gifts from them, neither a horse nor an ox, nor a cow, nor a pig, nor a sheep, nor a piglet, nor a lamb, nor anything other than bottles of wine, vegetables, fruit, chickens and eggs.
Remarkably similar to most corporate anti-corruption policies of today. I've generally seen wording "No gifts over $50". So a bottle of wine is fine as a gesture but anything that's expensive enough that it likely influences decision making isn't allowed.
- foobarian 6y agoI find it fascinating how much further that society went toward looking like a corporation. It's almost as if everyone born was an employee by default, and the referenced "freemen" were the exception, being non-employees. And this document could be an acquisition contract where the acquired CEO tried to keep his company intact under the new owner (hence the words about not allowing the new owner to reassign people to different jobs).
- phone8675309 6y ago> It's almost as if everyone born was an employee by default, and the referenced "freemen" were the exception, being non-employees. I don't know if you're joking, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudalism was a thing shortly after this text
- foobarian 6y agoI'm not joking, and I know basics of history and feudalism, but I always found the definitions too abstract to grasp intuitively. Sure there is always the evil feudal lord oppressing the poor peasants. It's too hard for me to grok how that society worked, so I find it helpful to find modern structures that are close to isomorphic to feudalism for better intuitive understanding. "Ah it's like a company but each piece of land and everyone on it is automatically in it." That's a lot easier to see.