SCIENCE OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA 



and has caused its death, he shall pay one-fourth of its price 

 to the owner of the ox or the ass. 



226. If a barber-surgeon, without consent of the owner 

 of a slave, has branded the slave with an indelible mark, one 

 shall cut off the hands of that barber. 



227. If any one deceive the surgeon-barber and make him 

 brand a slave with an indelible mark, one shall kill that man 

 and bury him in his house. The barber shall swear, "I did 

 not mark him wittingly," and he shall be guiltless. 



ESTIMATES OF BABYLONIAN SCIENCE 



Before turning from the Oriental world it is perhaps 

 worth while to attempt to estimate somewhat specifi- 

 cally the world - influence of the name, Babylonian 

 science. Perhaps we cannot better gain an idea as to 

 the estimate put upon that science by the classical world 

 than through a somewhat extended quotation from a 

 classical author. Diodorus Siculus, who, as already 

 noted, lived at about the time of Augustus, and who, 

 therefore, scanned in perspective the entire sweep of 

 classical Greek history, has left us a striking summary 

 which is doubly valuable because of its comparisons of 

 Babylonian with Greek influence. Having viewed the 

 science of Babylonia in the light of the interpretations 

 made possible by the recent study of original docu- 

 ments, we are prepared to draw our own conclusions 

 from the statements of the Greek historian. Here is 

 his estimate in the words of the quaint translation 

 made by Philemon Holland in the year 1 700 : 23 



" They being the most ancient Babylonians, hold the 

 same station and dignity in the Common-wealth as the 

 Egyptian Priests do in Egypt: For being deputed to 

 Divine Offices, they spend all their Time in the study 



77 



