lucre, must a king let go perpetrators of violence, who cause terror to all creatures.

348. Twice-born men may take up arms when (they are) hindered (in the fulfilment of) their duties, when destruction (threatens) the twice-born castes (varna) in (evil) times.

349. In their own defence, in a strife for the fees of officiating priests, and in order to protect women and Brâhmanas; he who (under such circumstances) kills in the cause of right, commits no sin.

350. One may slay without hesitation an assassin who approaches (with murderous intent), whether (he be one's) teacher, a child or an aged man, or a Brâhmana deeply versed in the Vedas.

351. By killing an assassin the slayer incurs no guilt, whether (he does it) publicly or secretly; in that case fury recoils upon fury.

352. Men who commit adultery with the wives of others, the king shall cause to be marked by punishments which cause terror, and afterwards banish.

353. For by (adultery) is caused a mixture of the castes (varna) among men; thence (follows) sin, which cuts up even the roots and causes the destruction of everything.

354. A man formerly accused of (such) offences, who secretly converses with another man's wife, shall pay the first (or lowest) amercement.

355. But a man, not before accused, who (thus) speaks with (a woman) for some (reasonable) cause, shall not incur any guilt, since in him there is no transgression.

371. If a wife, proud of the greatness of her relatives or (her own) excellence, violates the duty which she owes to her lord, the king shall cause her to be devoured by dogs in a place frequented by many.

372. Let him cause the male offender to be burnt on a red-hot bed; they shall put logs under it, (until) the sinner is burned (to death).

381. No greater crime is known on earth than slaying a Brâhmana; a king, therefore, must not even conceive in his mind the thought of killing a Brâhmana.

*

386. That king in whose town lives no thief, no adulterer, no defamer, no man guilty of violence, and no committer of assaults, attains the world of Sakra (Indra).

387. The suppression of those five in his dominions secures to a king paramount sovereignty among his peers and fame in the world.

388. A sacrificer who forsakes an officiating priest, and an officiating priest who forsakes a sacrificer, (each being) able to perform his work and not contaminated (by grievous crimes) must each be fined one hundred (panas).

389. Neither a mother, nor a father, nor a wife, nor a son shall be cast off; he who casts them off; unless guilty of a crime causing loss of caste, shall be fined by the king six hundred (panas).

390. If twice-born men dispute among each other concerning the duty of the orders, a king who desires his own welfare should not (hastily) decide (what is) the law.

391. Having shown them due honour, he should with (the assistance of) Brahmanas, first soothe them by gentle (speech) and afterwards teach them their duty.

392. A Brâhmana who does not invite his next neighbour and his neighbour next but one, (though) both (be) worthy (of the honour), to a festival at which twenty Brâhmanas are entertained, is liable to a fine of one mâsha.

393. A Srotriya who does not entertain a virtuous Srotriya at auspicious festive rites, shall be made to pay him twice (the value of) the meal and a mâsha of gold (as a fine to the king).

394. A blind man, an idiot, (a cripple) who moves with the help of a board, a man full seventy years old, and he who confers benefits on Srotriyas, shall not be compelled by any (king) to pay a tax.

395. Let the king always treat kindly a Srotriya, a sick or distressed man, an infant, and an aged or an indigent man, a man of high birth, and an honourable man (Ayra).

396. A washerman shall wash (the clothes of his employers) gently on a smooth board of Salmaliwood; he shall not return the clothes (of one person) for those (of another), nor allow anybody (but the owner) to wear them.

397. A weaver (who has received) ten palas (of thread), shall return (cloth weighing) one pala more; he who acts differently shall be compelled to pay a fine of twelve (panas).

398. Let the king take one-twentieth of that (amount) which men, well acquainted with the settlement of tolls and duties (and)

skilful in (estimating the value of) all kinds of merchandise, may fix as the value for each saleable commodity.

399. Let the king confiscate the whole property of (a trader) who out of greed exports goods of which the king has a monopoly or (the export of which is) forbidden.

400. He who avoids a custom-house (or a toll), he who buys or sells at an improper time, or he who makes a false statement in enumerating (his goods), shall be fined eight times (the amount of duty) which he tried to evade.

401. Let (the king) fix (the rates for) the purchase and sale of all marketable goods, having (duly) considered whence they come, whither they go, how long they have been kept, the (probable) profit and the (probable) outlay.

402. Once in five nights, or at the close of each fortnight, let the king publicly settle the prices for the (merchants).

403. All weights and measures must be duly marked, and once in six months let him re-examine them.

404. At a ferry an (empty) cart shall be made to pay one pana, a man's (load) half a pana, an animal and a woman one quarter of a (pana), an unloaded man one-half of a quarter.

405. Carts (laden) with vessels full (of merchandise) shall be made to pay toll at a ferry according to the value (of the goods), empty vessels and men without luggage some trifle.

406. For a long passage the boat-hire must be proportioned to the places and times; know that this (rule refers) to (passages along) the banks of rivers; at sea there is no settled (freight).

407. But a woman who has been pregnant two months or more, an ascetic, a hermit in the forest, and Brâhmanas who are students of the Veda, shall not be made to pay toll at a ferry.

408. Whatever may be damaged in a boat by the fault of the boatmen, that shall be made good by the boatmen collectively, (each paying) his share.

409. This decision in suits (brought) by passengers (holds good only) in case the boatmen are culpably negligent on the water; in the case of (an accident) caused by (the will of) the gods, no fine can be (inflicted on them.)

410. (The king) should order a Vaisya to trade, to lend money, to cultivate the land, or to tend cattle, and a Sûdra to serve the twice-born castes.

411. (Some wealthy) Brâhmana shall compassionately support both a Kshatriya and a Vaisya, if they are distressed for a livelihood, employing them on work (which is suitable for) their (castes).

412. But a Brahmana who, because he is powerful, out of greed makes initiated (men of the) twice-born (castes) against their will do the work of slaves, shall be fined by the king six hundred (panas).

413. But a Sûdra, whether bought or unbought, he may compel to do servile work; for he was created by the Self-existent (Svayambhû) to be the slave of a Brâhmana.

414. A Sûdra, though emancipated by his master, is not released from servitude; since that is innate in him, who can set him free from it?

415. There are slaves of seven kinds, (viz.) he who is made a captive under a standard, he who serves for his daily food, he who is born in the house, he who is bought and he who is given, he who is inherited from ancestors, and he who is enslaved by way of punishment.

416. A wife, a son, and a slave, these three are declared to have no property; the wealth which they earn is (acquired) for him to whom they belong.

417. A Brahmana may confidently seize the goods of (his) Sûdra (slave); for, as that (slave) can have no property, his master may take possession.

418. (The king) should carefully compel Vaisyas and Sûdras to perform the work (prescribed) for them; for if these two (castes) swerved from their duties, they would throw this (whole) world into confusion.

419. Let him daily look after the completion of his undertakings, his beasts of burden, and carriages, (the collection of) his revenues and the disbursements, his mines and his treasury.

420. A king who thus brings to a conclusion all the legal business enumerated above, and removes all sin, reaches the highest state (of bliss).

CHAPTER XX

THE LEX SALICA1

TITLE I. CONCERNING SUMMONSES

1. If any one be summoned before the "Thing "by the king's law, and do not come, he shall be sentenced to 600 denars, which make 15 shillings (solidi).

2. But he who summons another, and does not come himself, shall, if a lawful impediment have not delayed him, be sentenced to 15 shillings, to be paid to him whom he summoned.

3. And he who summons another shall walk with witnesses to the home of that man, and, if he be not at home, shall bid the wife or any one of the family to make known to him that he has been summoned to court.

4. But if he be occupied in the king's service he can not summon him.

5. But if he shall be inside the hundred seeing about his own affairs, he can summon him in the manner explained above.

TITLE II. CONCERNING THEFTS OF PIGS, ETC.

1. If any one steal a sucking pig, and it be proved against him, he shall be sentenced to 120 denars, which make three shillings. 2. If any one steal a pig that can live without its mother, and it be proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 40 denars — that is, 1 shilling.

14. If any one steal 25 sheep where there were no more in that flock, and it be proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 2500 denars that is, 62 shillings.

[Reprinted from ERNEST F. HENDERSON'S "Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages," London, G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., 1912, with the consent of the publishers and The Macmillan Company. Translated from Gengler, "Germanische Rechtsdenkmäler," p. 267. The date of these laws has not been definitely ascertained. Their first reduction to writing prob ably may be placed in the second half of the 400 s. This code also has a special interest for us as one of the fountains of English law. It is the oldest written Germanic code which survives, with the possible exception of the fragments of the Visigothic code attributed to Euric.]