lisboa

"After the earthquake, which had destroyed three-quarters of Lisbon, the sages of that country could think of  no more effective means of averting further destruction that to give the people a fine auto-da-fé, it having been decided by the University of Coimbra that the spectacle of a few individuals being ceremonially roasted over a slow fire was the infallible secret recipe for preventing the earth from quaking."
Voltaide em Candide.