Alderman Term Analysis

I cannot stand these forecasters
Who, knowing nothing, claim that they
Can tell the future, making us
Believe that they alone have access to
God’s secrets. They carry on like theologians,
Debating what has and will occur,
But, as for the present, which is
What matters most to us, the one who seems
The wisest is the greatest fool.

BARRILDO: There’s such
A lot of books these days, everyone thinks
He’s an expert.

LEONELO, Which is why I think
They know far less. It’s not condensed
Enough, you see. Instead of summaries,
It’s all long-winded stuff, all froth
That only leads to more confusion.
[…]
As well as this,
There are those so-called experts who
Have published pure rubbish in
The guise of wisdom, and those who,
Driven by envy, publish in the name
Of someone else they hate, merely to harm
His reputation.

ALDERMAN: You speak
Unjustly. To speak of us like that
Is to deny us honour.

COMMANDER: You believe
You have honour? You’ll be claiming next
You are knights of Calatrava!

ALDERMAN. There are doubtless some who wear the Cross
You place upon their breast whose blood
Is far less pure than ours.

COMMANDER: You think
My blood makes yours more impure?

ALDERMAN: Bad deeds have never cleansed, my lord.
They merely stain.

JUAN ROJO: So what do you think
The town should do?

ALDERMAN. The town should die,
Or kill these tyrants. We are many, they
Are few.

BARRILDO: Take arms against our overlord?

ESTEBAN. In the eyes of God the King alone
Is our lord, not men like these,
No better than wild animals.
If God is on our side, why should we be
Afraid?