bably arose from jealousy and revenge.
It is ordained by the Shaster, that if a man commit adultery with a
woman of a superior cast, he shall be put to death; if by force he
commit adultery with a woman of an equal or inferior cast, the
magistrate shall confiscate all his possessions, cut off his genitals,
and cause him to be carried round the city, mounted on a ass. If by
fraud he commit adultery with a woman of an equal or inferior cast, the
magistrate shall take his possessions, brand him in the forehead, and
banish him the kingdom. Such are the laws of the Shaster, so far as they
regard all the superior casts, except the Bramins; but if any of the
most inferior casts commit adultery with a woman of the casts greatly
superior, he is not only to be dismembered, but tied to a hot iron
plate, and burnt to death; whereas the highest casts may commit adultery
with the very lowest, for the most trifling fine; and a Bramin, or
priest, can only suffer by having the hair of his head cut off; and,
like the clergy of Europe, while under the dominion of the Pope, he
cannot be put to death for any crime whatever. But the laws, of which he
is always the interpreter, are not so favorable to his wife; they
inflict a severe disgrace upon her, if she commit adultery with any of
the higher casts; but if with the lowest, the magistrate shall cut off
her hair, anoint her body with Ghee, and cause her to be carried through
the whole city, naked, and riding upon an ass; and shall cast her out on
the north side of the city, or cause her to be eaten by dogs. If a woman
of any of the other casts goes to a man, and entices him to have
criminal correspondence with her, the magistrate shall cut off her ears,
lips and nose, mount her upon an ass, and drown her, or throw her to the
dogs. To the commission of adultery with a dancing girl, or prostitute,
no punishment nor fine is annexed.

ANECDOTE OF CAESAR.

When Caesar had subdued all his competitors, and most of the foreign
nations which made war against him, he found that so many Romans had
been destroyed in the quarrels in which he had often engaged them, that,
to repair the loss, he promised rewards to fathers of families, and
forbade all Romans who were above twenty, and under forty years of age,
to go out of their native country. Augustus, his successor, to check the
debauchery of the Roman youth, laid heavy taxes upon such as continued
unmarried after a certain age, and encouraged with