owardice hath been the cause of thy sin,
thine avarice hath rendered thee stupid, and thy gluttony hath been
thine enemy. Thinkest thou that thou wilt never find another peasant
like unto me? If he hath a complaint to make thinkest thou that he will
not stand, if he is a lazy man, at the door of his house? He whom thou
forcest to speak will not remain silent. He whom thou forcest to wake up
will not remain asleep. The faces which thou makest keen will not remain
stupid. The mouth which thou openest will not remain closed. He whom
thou makest intelligent will not remain ignorant. He whom thou
instructest will not remain a fool. These are they who destroy evils.
These are the officials, the lords of what is good. These are the
crafts-folk who make what existeth. These are they who put on their
bodies again the heads that have been cut off."

This peasant came the eighth time to lay his complaint [before Rensi],
and said, "O my lord steward, a man falleth because of covetousness. The
avaricious man hath no aim, for his aim is frustrated. Thy heart is
avaricious, which befitteth thee not. Thou plunderest, and thy plunder
is no use to thee. And yet formerly thou didst permit a man to enjoy
that to which he had good right! Thy daily bread is in thy house, thy
belly is filled, grain overfloweth [in thy granaries], and the overflow
perisheth and is wasted. The officials who have been appointed to
suppress acts of injustice have been rapacious robbers, and the
officials who have been appointed to stamp out falsehood have become
hiding-places for those who work iniquity. It is not fear of thee that
hath driven me to make my complaint to thee, for thou dost not
understand my mind (or heart). The man who is silent and who turneth
back in order to bring his miserable state [before thee] is not afraid
to place it before thee, and his brother doth not bring [gifts] from the
interior of [his quarter]. Thy estates are in the fields, thy food is on
[thy] territory, and thy bread is in the storehouse, yet the officials
make gifts to thee and thou seizest them. Art thou not then a robber?
Will not the men who plunder hasten with thee to the divisions of the
fields? Perform the truth for the Lord of Truth, who possesseth the real
truth. Thou writing reed, thou roll of papyrus, thou palette, thou
Thoth, thou art remote from acts of justice. O Good One, thou art still
goodness. O Good One, thou art truly good. Truth endureth for ever. It
goet