Whoever runs away in battle, renders himself highly guilty, and all the merit which he might have acquired before, falls to the share of another who stood firm in the field of battle.[126] A king who, with the laudable qualities before described, exerts himself in the maintenance of his laws, the distribution of justice, and the welfare of the cultivators, shares the recompense of all the good actions which the inhabitants of the country have performed.[127] The exercise of justice is imposed as a necessity upon a king; in order that, if a son, brother, uncle, brother-in-law, preceptor, or any other friend, commit a crime, he may immediately, according to the established code of laws, order their chastisement, terrify, reprimand, or subject them to retaliation. In the Hindu Institutes which are called _Smriti_, it is said to be established that, after the worship of the Supreme God, they ought to venerate the subordinate divinities, and perform the prescribed rites. To eat flesh, and to put to death some animals, is therein not prohibited, excepting the cow; he who kills, or even hurts, this animal, shall never enjoy the sight of heaven; and they say that he only who can restore to life, may put to death, an animal; this is necessary: who destroys a living being must vivify it again; if he be not able to do this, he ought to forbear from that act, because he shall not escape punishment for it. According to their learned interpreters, the killing of certain animals which is permitted in their sacred books, signifies the eradicating and destroying of such blameable qualities as are proper to these animals. In ancient times, it was the custom among the Brahmans and the wise among them, when they had become householders and begotten a son, to withdraw from society, and when they had established their sons, to separate from them, and having retired into a desert, to devote themselves to the worship of God; and when the sons had children in their house, their father and mother did not visit each other in the desert, but lived separate from each other, at the distance of several farsangs. The religious austerity of this people is very great; thus they practise perpetual standing upon their legs, hanging themselves up, abstaining from conversation, keeping silence, cutting themselves asunder, leaping down from a rock, and such like. Women used to burn themselves alive with their dead husbands: this is according to the _Smriti_,[128] which is ascribed to Brahma, and believed to be eternal truth.