Live Deliciously or Die Trying

The first is "Yellow Bird", a poem from Qin China dated around 621 BC, preserved in the Book of Odes. Written by members of the Ziju clan after the death of Qin ruler Lord Mu, it's theme is the deaths of 177 retainers and slaves who were sacrificed to accompany him, and specifically mourning for three of these victims, notable court ministers and Ziju clan members. Each stanza memorializes one of these men, and ends with

"Heaven, you annihilate our best men. If this one could be ransomed, for his life, a hundred."

It's rare enough to get a primary source detailing retainer sacrifice like this, let alone one which refers to individual victims, written by their own surviving clan members. And it's extra fascinating to get a look into views on human sacrifice from the time it was happening, and be able to see that although retainer sacrifice as a custom isn't condemned, it's already understood as a potential form of conspicuous consumption, and the death of the three Ziju ministers seen as an unjustifiable waste of irreplaceable resources and a loss to the clan and the nation.

Here's a translation of the poem and brief rundown of its historical and cultural significance.

The second is the last letter of Johannes Junius, a burgomaster and victim of the witch hunting craze in Bamberg, Germany. It was written in 1628 from prison, and smuggled out to Junius' daughter Veronica before he died. It details his arrest, torture, and coerced confession, and maintains his innocence, as well as the innocence of the people who accused him and those he, in turn, accused.

I have been writing this letter for many days. My hands are badly lamed, I have in fact been very badly injured... Now dear child, here you have all my confession and my trial, for which I must die. And they are sheer lies and inventions, so help me God. For I was forced to say all this through fear of the torture that was threatened beyond what I had already endured. For they never leave off with the torture till one confesses something; no matter how pious he really is, he must be a witch. Nobody escapes, even if he is a count. And if God does not provide the means to bring things back into the clear light of day, all our kin will be burnt. For each must first confess out loud things he does not know to be the truth about other people, just as I had to do. Now God in Heaven knows that I cannot do and do not know the slightest thing [about the activities with which he was charged]. Therefore I die innocent and as a martyr. Child, I know you are as pious as I am, such that you already have much pain and if I were to counsel you, you should take as much money and letters as you have and go on a pilgrimage for around half a year, or if you can get out of the diocese for a time, I suggest you do so until it becomes clear what turn things will take. Many honourable men and women in Bamberg go to church and do their other business, have no knowledge of evil, have a good conscience, just as I have had until now, as you know… and nonetheless are taken to the witch's house.

The witch mania in Germany was particularly virulent, in great part due to the political and religious structures in place, which allowed many different courts and authorities to handle local cases rather than submitting them to one higher court. Combined with the need for the accused to name accomplices, this resulted in massive amounts of arrests and executions, and victims who were increasingly highly placed and unbelievable as witches. (The unrealistic numbers and characters accused eventually helped end the craze, as no one could still believe entire communities and their most pious neighbors were truly in league with the devil.) Junius, a burgomaster and respected citizen, was one of these. Having a voluntary first hand account from a condemned witch is unique enough, let alone from a male victim— one that plainly asserts the victim's innocence, reveals the reality of inevitable forced confession, and the hopelessness of an environment where everyone can be accused and upon accusation is certain to be condemned is exceptionally so. Furthermore, the personal detail in this letter, a parting word from a father to his child, is truly pathetic, and a counterpoint of real humanity in a subject almost entirely dominated by cold, manufactured court documentation.