ating it unmercifully, or if
the beast broke its leg while in his charge, he had to restore another
ox to the owner in place of the one he had hired. For lesser damages to
the beast the hirer had to pay compensation on a fixed scale. Thus, if
the ox had its eye knocked out during the period of its hire, the man
who hired it had to pay to the owner half its value; while for a broken
horn, the loss of the tail, or a torn muzzle, he paid a quarter of the
value of the beast.

Fines were also levied for carelessness in looking after cattle, though
in cases of damage or injury, where carelessness could not be proved,
the owner of a beast was not held responsible. A bull might go wild at
any time and gore a man, however careful and conscientious the owner
might be, and in these circumstances the injured man could not bring an
action against the owner. But if a bull had already gored a man, and,
although it was known to be vicious, the owner had not blunted its horns
or shut it up, in the event of its goring and killing a free man, he had
to pay half a mana of silver. One-third of a mana was the price paid for
a slave who was killed. A landed proprietor who might hire farmers to
cultivate his fields inflicted severe fines for acts of dishonesty with
regard to the cattle, provender, or seed-corn committed to their charge.
If a man stole the provender for the cattle he had to make it good, and
he was also liable to the punishment of having his hands cut off. In
the event of his being convicted of letting out the oxen for hire, or
stealing the seed-corn so that he did not produce a crop, he had to pay
very heavy compensation, and, if he could not pay, he was liable to be
torn to pieces by the oxen in the field he should have cultivated.

In a dry land like Babylonia, where little rain falls and that in only
one season of the year, the irrigation of his fields forms one of the
most important duties of the agriculturist. The farmer leads the water
to his fields along small irrigation-canals or channels above the level
of the soil, their sides being formed of banks of earth. It is clear
that similar methods were employed by the early Babylonians. One such
channel might supply the fields of several farmers, and it was the duty
of each man through whose land the channel flowed to keep its banks on
his land in repair. If he omitted to strengthen his bank or dyke, and
the water forced a breach and flooded his neighbour's field, he had to