The thief common and open are those that by such craft live, on whom one does judgment when one takes them. Of such there are many kinds on land and on sea. The hidden thief is he that steals in corners and secretly, great things or little by (their) fighting, or by treason, or by cunning.
The privy thieves are those that steal not of strangers, but of private persons. And of such there are of great and of small. The great are the sinful and dishonest reeves, provosts, beadles and constables, that steal the fines and withhold the revenue of their lords, and reckon more in deeds and in expenditure, and less in receipts and in revenue. Such are the great officials that are in the house of rich men, that make great outlays, and give liberally the goods of their lords without their knowledge and without their will.
To this sin belong the sins of the wife, that does so much by her sin that the children, that she knows well that she has by adultery, bear away the legitimacy. Such is the sin of the wife that steals the goods of her lord in order to give to her kin, or to put to sinful use; and of them of religion that are owners, for they promise to live without possession.
The others are the little thieves, that steal in the house bread, wine and other things, whatever they may be; or of their neighbours, their capons, hens, fruit of their gardens, or other things, whatever it may be. Such are those that withhold the things that they find, and know well whose they are, and will not give them up. For if thou findest and restorest not, thou stealest it. And though they know not whose they are, they shall not therefore withhold it, but they shall act by the advice of holy Church or that of their father confessors.
The thieves in fellowship are those that share in the theft, either because of partnership, or by gift, or by buying, or in other ways; afterwards those that consent, or advise, or command to do it. And those that excuse the thieves, or support them in their wickedness, or receive them into their house, or into his land, with their theft; afterwards the wicked judges that suffer them, either through gifts, or through entreaties, or for other evil cause, and will not, or dare not, do right.
THE THIRD BOUGH OF AVARICE.
The third bough of avarice is robbery, which hath many small roots. The first is in evil executors of bequests. The second is in evil lords, be he knight or other, that fleece the poor men that they should protect, by tolls, by duties on corn and cattle (read coruees), by loans, by evil customs, by lines, by threatenings, or by other customs that they seek or bethink how they may have of theirs. In this sin are the great princes or barons that by their power take cities, castles, lands, baronies, and the other rich men that rob their poor neighbours by force of lands, vines, or other things, and take on the right hand and on the left, so that nothing can escape them. The third is in robbers and evil innkeepers, that rob the pilgrims and the merchants and other wayfaring men. The fourth is in them that will not pay what they must, and that withhold wrongfully the wages of their servants, or of them that attend to their needs. The fifth is in these great prelates, that deprive and rob their underlings by too much procuring, or by some unlawful exactions, which they make in too many ways. Those are the wolves that devour the sheep. The sixth is in such reeves, provosts, beadles, or official men, whatever they may be, as commit great robberies and wrongs upon the poor, and buy great heritages. There are so many other kinds of robberies, which it would be a long business to tell, but some are continued above that that is (here) related.
THE FOURTH BOUGH OF AVARICE.
The fourth bough of avarice is false claiming; that is, running upon others wrongfully: to this sin belong all the fraud, all falsehoods, and all guile(s) that come in pleading. In this learning Dame Avarice has many scholars, both of clerks and of laymen, and especially seven kinds of folk that all study thus. The first is the false plaintiffs, that make false pleas, and seek false judges, and long time, and false witnesses, false advocates, false letters, in order to grieve others and oppress the people wrongfully, either in a Christian court or in a secular court. The second are the false fugitives that flee and [do] not what is right, and seek exceptions and respites, in order to deprive others of their own. The third is the false witnesses; these make the false marriages; these steal the heritages, (and) thus do so much evil and harm as none can amend; and all this they do through their great covetousness. The fourth is the false pleaders, that receive and sustain wittingly false causes, and plead them for hire and for gifts, which they take on the right hand and on the left, and often lose good suits by their sin, or because of ignorance or through sloth turn aside the rights and do all the wrongs on account of their covetousness, as those that are masters of guile and of dispute and of false accusation. The fifth is the false notaries that make false letters and forge the seals, make wicked libels and too many other falsehoods. The next is the false judges, that incline more to one side than another through gifts or through promises or through entreaties, or for love or for anger or for dread, and unbind suits wrongfully; and have great costs made, and take great gifts, sometimes from the one, sometimes from the other, sometimes from both, and sell their judgments, or let them come to nothing; and do poor men great harm, which they cannot amend. The last are the evil assessors, that give evil advice to the judges, and cause suits to be lost on account of the services that they give. All the persons before mentioned are bound to give up what they have had wrongfully of others, and the harm that others have had by them.