Status Updates From Pepper, Wine (and Wool): As...

довів мене до сліз: Had they been Dutch or German or English, they would be quoted as admirable examples of the Protestant ethic. Being only Italians, they are quoted as despicable examples of «avidity» and «absence of scruples in trade».

довершено: Pepper is a potent aphrodisiac. Deprived of pepper, Europeans could hardly make up for all the human loss suffered at the hands of warlords, local and alien. Population shrank, marshes and forests waxed, towns waned. Abandoning hope of a good life in this world, people put all their hopes in a future life and the vision of pie in the sky somehow helped them to stand the deprivation of pepper on the earth.