[2422] "Much herein, brahmin, is King Brahmadatta's [fault] — in that I[4] [have been pierced by a thorn] on the road:
#1 M.: māniyaṃ. 2 Yu.: sarasamappito. 3 Yu.: maggheyya. 4 M.: sohaṃ. [Variant-reading notes of the Siam Raṭṭha edition; M. = Burmese edition, Yu. = European edition. Notes 1–3 refer to words on the preceding page.]
the folk of the countryside, left unprotected, are crushed by unrighteous taxation.
For by night the robbers devour them, by day the tax-gatherers (tuṇḍiyā) devour them:
in the realm of a crooked king, unrighteous people abound.
When such peril has arisen,[1] dear sir,[2] people, hard-pressed by fear,
make for themselves hiding-places, having gathered thorn-brush in the forest."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.