way, as has been said above; and since they are rightly considered lords, not only of their chattels but also of their bodies: it is to be wondered at why, when the lord of the goods and of the guilty man has committed no offence against the law, he should be deprived of his possession. For it would seem just that the decree of the king should punish an excess in the person of the one who committed it, but that the movable goods, together with the estates themselves, should go to the use of the lords.
M. What troubles thee troubles me also; but I think it superfluous to delay long over these things, since they are foreign to the matters undertaken. But to satisfy thee: know that it is so on account of the law of the king alone; nor is there, indeed, anyone who may presume to act counter to a royal decree, which is made for the good of the peace. But if the chattels of their servants who were condemned by law came to the lords,—perchance because the fervid thirst of human cupidity had a place in their midst,—some would revel, on account of a small gain, in the slaughter of their servants even when innocent: therefore the king himself, to whom, even by God, the general care of his subjects is entrusted, decreed this to be so, in order that thus the guilty, satisfying the law, may be punished in the body, and that, their movable goods being retained by himself, they may not be exposed to their domestic enemies—that is, to their lords. But, as we have said, the law of the king alone, made at the voice of necessity for the good of the peace, is the principal solution of this question.
D. I see that it does not happen without reason. Now, if it please thee, continue. But there remains something in the foregoing which I should wish, if it please thee, to have more thoroughly explained. For thou did'st say that the movable goods of fugitives and those mutilated by law, in consequence of a summons are brought to the exchequer and are written in the yearly roll in the proper place: thou hast not said, however, what ought to be done with the chattels of robbers and thieves; whether, namely, they pertain to the king, or to whom they ought by right to go.
M. The condition is different of robbers, who are also
