§ 63. Avarice, after the descripcion of seint Augustin, is likerousnesse in
herte to have erthely thinges. / Som other folk seyn, that Avarice is, for
to purchacen manye erthely thinges, and nothing yeve to hem that han nede.
/ And understond, that Avarice ne stant nat only in lond ne catel, but
somtyme in science [618] and in glorie, and in every manere of outrageous
thing is Avarice and Coveitise. / And the difference bitwixe Avarice and
Coveitise is this. Coveitise is for to coveite swiche thinges as thou hast
nat; and Avarice is for to withholde and kepe swiche thinges as thou hast,
with-oute rightful nede. / Soothly, this Avarice is a sinne that is ful
dampnable; for al holy writ curseth it, and speketh agayns that vyce; for
it dooth wrong to Iesu Crist. /745 For it bireveth him the love that men to
him owen, and turneth it bakward agayns alle resoun; / and maketh that the
avaricious man hath more hope in his catel than in Iesu Crist, and dooth
more observance in kepinge of his tresor than he dooth to service of Iesu
Crist. / And therfore seith seint Paul _ad Ephesios, quinto_, that ‘an
avaricious man is in the thraldom of ydolatrie.’ /
743. E. vnderstoond. 748. E. Hl. _om._ in _after_ is; Pt. hath more
hope in his thraldome; Ln. is thral. _No_ MS. _has the precise reading
given; but it is clear that_ in _has been dropped_.
§ 64. What difference is bitwixe an ydolastre and an avaricious man, but
that an ydolastre, per aventure, ne hath but o mawmet or two, and the
avaricious man hath manye? For certes, every florin in his cofre is his
mawmet. / And certes, the sinne of Mawmetrye is the firste thing that God
deffended in the ten comaundments, as bereth witnesse _Exodi, capitulo
xx_º: /750 ‘Thou shall have no false goddes bifore me, ne thou shall make
to thee no grave thing.’ Thus is an avaricious man, that loveth his tresor
biforn god, an ydolastre, / thurgh this cursed sinne of Avarice. Of
Coveitise comen thise harde lordshipes, thurgh whiche men been distreyned
by tailages, custumes, and cariages, more than hir duetee or resoun is. And
eek they taken of hir bonde-men amerciments, whiche mighten more resonably
ben cleped extorcions than amerciments. / Of whiche amerciments and
raunsoninge of bondemen, somme lordes stywardes seyn, that it is rightful;
for-as-muche as a cherl hath no temporel thing that it ne is his lordes, as
they seyn. / But certes, thise lordshipes doon wrong, that bireven hir
bonde-folk thinges that they nevere yave hem: _Augustinus de Civitate,
libro nono_. / Sooth is, that the condicioun of thraldom and the firste
cause of thraldom is for sinne; _Genesis, quinto_. /755