BABYLON AND PERSIA

BABYLON THE GREAT. 253prepare and sow his fields, build his house and barn,what are his relations towards his landlord in suchand such a circumstance." The most imiDortant isthe tablet which instructs a man as to his privatelife and his duties towards his relatives. Beginningwith simple rules, it ends with what might almost becalled criminal laws.21. After mentioning (§ i) what time a child shallbe declared a freeman, i. e., of age, and describing(§ 2) the ceremony which accompanies the declara¬tion, §§ 3 and 4 speak of the first act of thechild when he became aman, which consisted i.npaying, tribute, double the usual sum ; §§ 5 and6 state that " the child is henceforth answerablefor his actions and will bear the consequences of hissins."The paragraph on the nursing and educationof the child are hopelessly injured ;one line, how¬ever, stands out clear and significant : " He (thefather) makes him (the child) learn inscriptions."Then comes another line : " He makes him take atuife." This was the " chief wife," who seems tohave been chosen and asked from her parents bythe father, as a last act of parental authority. Thisunion was indissoluble, as can be inferred from thelines : " Henceforth, the husband cannot remove herwho possesses his heart." The bride, who was toremain the head of the household for life, was to bea free-born maiden, and brought a dowry, which, onthe death of the husband, returned to her and to herchildren, or, if there were no children, to her parents,i.e., the sourcewhence it originally came.22. Then follows the second part of the tablet,