them in the
enjoyment of the same. As payment for their duties they were each
granted land with a house and garden, they were assigned the use of
certain sheep and cattle with which to stock their land, and in addition
they received a regular salary. They were in a sense personal retainers
of the king and were liable to be sent at any moment on a special
mission to carry out the king's commands. Disobedience was severely
punished; for, if such an officer, when detailed for a special mission,
did not go but hired a substitute, he was liable to be put to death and
the substitute he had hired could take his office. Sometimes an officer
was sent for long periods some distance from his home to take charge
of a garrison, and when this was done his home duties were performed by
another man, who temporarily occupied his house and land, but gave it
back to the officer on his return. If such an officer had a son old
enough to perform his duty in his father's absence, he was allowed to
do so and to till his father's lands; but if the son was too young,
the substitute who took the officer's place had to pay one-third of
the produce of the land to the child's mother for his education. Before
departing on his journey to the garrison it was the officer's duty to
arrange for the proper cultivation of his land and the discharge of his
local duties during his absence. If he omitted to do so and left
his land and duties neglected for more than a year, and another had
meanwhile taken his place, on his return he could not reclaim his land
and office. It will be obvious, therefore, that his position was a
specially favoured one and much sought after, and these regulations
ensured that the duties attaching to the office were not neglected.

In the course of his garrison duty or when on special service, these
officers ran some risk of being captured by the enemy, and in that event
regulations were drawn up for their ransom. If the captured officer was
wealthy and could pay for his own ransom, he was bound to do so, but
if he had not the necessary means his ransom was to be paid out of the
local temple treasury, and, when the funds in the temple treasury
did not suffice, he was to be ransomed by the state. It was specially
enacted that his land and garden and house were in no case to be sold
in order to pay for his ransom. These were inalienably attached to the
office which he held, and he was not allowed to sell them or the sheep
and cattle w