[43] Thus indeed, bhikkhus, when wealth was not provided to those without wealth, poverty grew widespread; when poverty had grown widespread, taking what is not given (adinnādāna) grew widespread; when taking what is not given had grown widespread, swords grew widespread; when swords had grown widespread, the killing of living beings (pāṇātipāta) grew widespread; when the killing of living beings had grown widespread, false speech (musāvāda) grew widespread; when false speech had grown widespread, the lifespan of those beings declined and their beauty also declined. As they declined in lifespan and declined in beauty, the children of humans whose lifespan was forty thousand years came to have a lifespan of twenty thousand years.
Bhikkhus, among the humans whose lifespan was twenty thousand years, a certain man took what others had not given, in a manner reckoned as theft. Another man reported him to the anointed khattiya king, saying, "Sire, a man named so-and-so has taken what others had not given, in a manner reckoned as theft" — thus he committed backbiting (pesuñña).
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.