If the gipsy of a boyard or his children stole some such trifle as a chicken or an egg twice or three times, he was to be pardoned, but if he stole anything more considerable he should be punished as a thief. If he committed a theft to ward off starvation, he was pardoned, and also if he stole from the enemy. A treasure discovered by means of sorcery became the property of the prince. Besides the very severe punishments directed against other forms of murder, poisoning, which must therefore have been frequent, has two clauses provided for it. One is that, in addition to the punishment of a murderer, his children shall be declared infamous. If a man gave another a box on the ear, and was stabbed in return, no punishment was inflicted, even if death ensued; and the whole code of honour is of a like savage nature. Doctors are to be believed in matters of hygiene before barbers or sorcerers. Bigamy was punished by the culprit being whipped through the town, riding naked on a donkey. If a person to whom the training of young girls was confided corrupted and betrayed them to licentious men, hot lead was to be poured down his (or her) throat until it reached his heart (_sic_), 'for it was from thence that the seductive counsels had proceeded.' A slave or paid serf who committed rape was not put to death as were others, but he was burned alive. Torture was evidently quite common, for judges are forbidden to torture innocent persons even by order of the prince. Nobility clearly gave immunity to crime--at least it mitigated the punishment; for 'neither nobles nor boyards nor their sons could be condemned to the galleys nor to the mines, but they might be banished for a longer or shorter period; they might not be hung, nor impaled, nor dragged through the streets like ordinary malefactors, but they should be decapitated.'