Page:Nihongi by Aston volume 2.djvu/227

220 is not permitted to pollute the earth by dispersed interments in various places.

When a man dies, there have been cases of people sacrificing themselves by strangulation, or of strangling others by way of sacrifice, or of compelling the dead man's horse to be sacrificed, or of burying valuables in the grave in honour of the dead, or of cutting off the hair, and stabbing the thighs and pronouncing an eulogy on the dead (while in this condition). Let all such old customs be entirely discontinued.

A certain book says:—'No gold or silver, no silk brocades, and no coloured stuffs are to be buried.' Again it is said:—'From the Ministers of all ranks down to the common people, it is not allowed to use gold or silver.'

Should there be any cases of this decree being disregarded and these prohibitions infringed, the relations shall surely receive punishment.

Again, there are many cases of persons who, having seen, say that they have not seen, or who, having not seen, say that they have seen, or who, having heard, say that they have not heard, or who, having not heard, say that they have heard, being deliberate liars, and devoid of truth in words and in sight.

Again, there have been many cases in which slaves, both male and femme, false to their masters in their poverty, betake themselves of their own accord to influential houses in quest of a livelihood, which influential houses forcibly detain and purchase them, and do not send them to their original owners.

Again, there have been very many cases in which wives or concubines, when dismissed by their husbands, have, after the lapse of years, married other husbands, as ordinary morality allows. Then their former husbands, after three or four years, have made greedy demands on the second husband's property, seeking their own gain.

Again, there have been very many cases in which men, relying on their power, have rudely demanded people's daughters in marriage. In the interval, however, before going to his house, the girl has, of her own accord, married another, and the rude suitor has angrily made demands of the property of both families for his own gain.

Again, there have been numerous cases of this kind. Sometimes a wife who has lost her husband marries another