'shares must in that case be equal; and the first- CHAP. born shall have no right of deduction. 6 211. Should the eldest or youngest of several brothers be deprived of his share by a civil death on his entrance into the fourth order, or should any one ' of them die, his vested interest in a share shall not wholly be lost; 212. But, if he leave neither son, nor wife, nor daughter, nor father, nor mother, his uterine brothers and sisters, and such brothers as were re-united after a separation, shall assemble and divide his share equally. 213. Any eldest brother, who from avarice shall ' defraud his younger brother, shall forfeit the honours of his primogeniture, be deprived of his own share, ' and pay a fine to the king. 214. All those brothers, who are addicted to any 'vice, lose their title to the inheritance: the first'born shall not appropriate it to himself, but shall give shares to the youngest, if they be not vicious. 215. If, among undivided brethren living with their father, there be a common exertion for common gain, the father shall never make an unequal di'vision among them, when they divide their families. 216. A son, born after a division in the lifetime of his father, shall alone inherit the patrimony, or 'shall have a share of it with the divided brethren, if they return and unite themselves with him. IX. 217. Or a son, dying childless and leaving no widow, the father and mother shall take the estate; and, the mother also being dead, the paternal grandfather and grandmother shall take the heritage, on failure of brothers and nephews. 218. When all the debts and wealth have been 219. · Apparel, 220. Thus have the laws of inheritance, and the 'rule for the conduct of sons (whether the son of 'the wife or others) been expounded to you in order learn at present the law concerning games ' of chance. 221. GAMING, either with inanimate or with animated things, let the king exclude wholly from his realm: both those modes of play cause destruction to princes. 222. Such play with dice and the like, or by matches between rams and cocks, amounts to open theft; theft; and the king must ever be vigilant in sup- CHAP. pressing both modes of play: 223. Gaming with lifeless things is known among men by the name of dyúta; but samáhwaya signifies a match between living creatures. 224. Let the king punish corporally at discretion 'both the gamester and the keeper of a gaminghouse, whether they play with inanimate or animated things; and men of the servile class, who wear the string and other marks of the twice-born. 225. Gamesters, publick dancers and singers, revilers of scripture, open hereticks, men who perform not the duties of their several classes, and sellers of spirituous liquor, let him instantly banish from the town: 226. Those wretches, lurking like unseen thieves in the dominion of a prince, continually harass his good subjects with their vitious conduct. 227. Even in a former creation was this vice of gaming found a great provoker of enmity: let no 'sensible man, therefore, addict himself to play even for his amusement: 228. On the man addicted to it, either privately or openly, let punishment be inflicted at the dis'cretion of the king. 229. A MAN of the military, commercial, or servile class, who cannot pay a fine, shall discharge the • debt 2T2 IX. CHAP. debt by his labour: a priest shall discharge it by little and little. IX. 6 230. For women, children, persons of crazy intellect, the old, the poor, and the infirm, the king 'shall order punishment with a small whip, a twig, < or a rope. 6 231. THOSE ministers, who are employed in publick affairs, and, inflamed by the blaze of wealth, mar the business of any person concerned, let the king strip of all their property. 232. Such, as forge royal edicts, cause dissentions among the great ministers, or kill women, priests, or children, let the king put to death; and such, as adhere to his enemies. 233. Whatever business has at any time been 'transacted conformably to law, let him consider as finally settled, and refuse to unravel; 234. But whatever business has been concluded illegally by his ministers or by a judge, let the king himself re-examine; and let him fine them each a thousand panas. 6 235. The slayer of a priest, a soldier or mèr'chant drinking arak, or a priest drinking arak, mead, 6 or rum, he, who steals the gold of a priest, and he, 'who violates the bed of his natural or spiritual 6 father, are all to be considered respectively as offenders in the highest degree, except those, whose crimes are not fit to be named: 236.' On 6 IX. 236. On such of those four, as have not actually CHAP. performed an expiation, let the king legally inflict corporal punishment, together with a fine. 237. For violating the paternal bed, let the mark of a female part be impressed on the forehead with hot iron; for drinking spirits, a vintner's flag; for stealing sacred gold, a dog's foot; for murdering a priest, the figure of a headless corpse: 238. With none to eat with them, with none to 'sacrifice with them, with none to read with them, 'with none to be allied by marriage to them, abject ' and excluded from all social duties, let them wander over this earth: 239. Branded with indelible marks, they shall be deserted by their paternal and maternal relations, 'treated by none with affection, received by none ' with respect such is the ordinance of MENU. 240. Criminals of all the classes, having performed an expiation, as ordained by law, shall not be marked on the forehead, but condemned to pay the highest ' fine : 241. For crimes by a priest, who had a good cha‹racter before his offence, the middle fine shall be set on him; or, if his crime was premeditated, he shall be banished from the realm, taking with him his ' effects and his family; 242. But men of the other classes, who have com'mitted those crimes, though without premeditation, 'shall |