Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/68

 was fined two pieces of silver. Scribbling on the walls meant capital punishment for a man, banishment for a boy; quarrelling, on whatever pretext, was visited with confiscation of estate; drawing a sword within the precincts of the palace, exposed a man to execution or suicide; even to break into a run within one of the courtyards was a grave offence, and if a soldier of the guard acquired an evil moral reputation he was liable to be killed or exiled.