every parish ye shall have the
constables to see that the men work; and they shall be saying every
day, 'Such an one, hast thou yet sold thyself for this day or this week
or this year? Go to now, and get thy bargain done, or it shall be the
worse for thee.' And wheresoever work is going on there shall be
constables again, and those that labour shall labour under the whip
like the Hebrews in the land of Egypt. And every man that may, will
steal as a dog snatches at a bone; and there again shall ye need more
soldiers and more constables till the land is eaten up by them; nor
shall the lords and the masters even be able to bear the burden of it;
nor will their gains be so great, since that which each man may do in a
day is not right great when all is said."

"Friend," said I, "from thine own valiancy and high heart thou
speakest, when thou sayest that they who fall under this tyranny shall
fight to the death against it. Wars indeed there shall be in the
world, great and grievous, and yet few on this score; rather shall men
fight as they have been fighting in France at the bidding of some lord
of the manor, or some king, or at last at the bidding of some usurer
and forestaller of the market. Valiant men, forsooth, shall arise in
the beginning of these evil times, but though they shall die as ye
shall, yet shall not their deaths be fruitful as yours shall be;
because ye, forsooth, are fighting against villeinage which is waning,
but they shall fight against usury which is waxing. And, moreover, I
have been telling thee how it shall be when the measure of the time is
full; and we, looking at these things from afar, can see them as they
are indeed; but they who live at the beginning of those times and
amidst them, shall not know what is doing around them; they shall
indeed feel the plague and yet not know the remedy; by little and by
little they shall fall from their better livelihood, and weak and
helpless shall they grow, and have no might to withstand the evil of
this tyranny; and then again when the times mend somewhat and they have
but a little more ease, then shall it be to them like the kingdom of
heaven, and they shall have no will to withstand any tyranny, but shall
think themselves happy that they be pinched somewhat less. Also
whereas thou sayest that there shall be for ever constables and
sergeants going to and fro to drive men to work, and that they will not
work save under the lash, thou art wrong and it sh