ANCIENT LAW.
IV. Where an Officer of the Army, Deserting the Service, Returns Home, or Compels Others to do so.
If a decurion should leave his command and return to his home, or should refuse to leave his home and join the army, while he is in good health, he shall pay ten solidi to the governor of the city. And if he should permit anyone else to leave the army, he shall pay five solidi to the governor of the city; and said governor shall inform us of the fact, that, under our direction, said sum may be divided among the members of the command of said decurion. If a soldier, without the permission of any of his officers, should desert the army, and return home, or should refuse to leave his home in order to be enrolled in the forces of the king, he shall pay ten solidi, and shall be publicly scourged in the market-place.
ANCIENT LAW.
V. Where a Conscription Officer Receives a Bribe to Permit Soldiers who are not Ill, to Remain at Home.
Where any conscription officer accepts anything from any person, to release him from military service, he shall be compelled to pay to the governor of the city, ninefold the amount which he accepted; and where he neglects to enroll a person in the army, who was in good health at the time, even though he accepted no bribe from him, he shall be compelled to pay five solidi to the governor of the city. The commander of a thousand men shall make diligent inquiry by his centurions, and the centurions by their decurions, and if it should be ascertained that anyone was released from the service, either through bribery, or entreaty, or, remaining at home, refused to join the army, the tiuphadus shall then notify the lieutenant-general who, in his turn, must write to the governor in whose jurisdiction the offence was committed, in order that the latter may enforce the law provided in such cases; and said governor, as soon as they are collected, shall deliver all sums received as penalties to the officers entitled to receive the same. And if said governor should receive said penalties and appropriate them, or not surrender the same, he shall restore ninefold the amount which he received; and if, through the bribery or entreaty of anyone, he should delay to pay over any of said sums, he shall be compelled, out of his own property, to pay double the amount, to those among whom they should have been divided. If, after the collection of said penalties, he should not notify the king, in order that the latter may provide for their proper distribution, and should not surrender them, he shall be compelled to pay elevenfold the amount, by way of reparation.
ANCIENT LAW.
VI. Concerning those who Appropriate Army Rations, or are Guilty of Fraud in the Distribution of the Same.
We deem it advisable that, in every province and castle, some one shall be appointed as a collector of provisions, for the use of the army; and said collector, whether he be the governor of a city, or not, shall at once deliver all provisions collected by him in his district, to those who are entitled to receive the same. If it should happen, however, that the governor of the city, or the collector, should delay to deliver them, either because through his negligence, he has not taken possession of them, or because of his unwillingness to do so, the officers of the army may lodge a complaint against him on account of his refusal to deliver said provisions to those charged with their distribution. The general of the army shall then give notice to the king, and the days which have elapsed since said provisions should have been delivered shall be computed. Said governor of the city, or collector of provisions, shall then be compelled to pay from his own property, four times the value of said provisions, for each day lost by his neglect. We hereby decree that a similar rule shall apply to all officers of the army who are charged with such duties.
ANCIENT LAW.