Chapter 133

“Bhishma said, ‘The king should, by drawing wealth from his own kingdomas also from the kingdoms of his foes, fill his treasury. From thetreasury springs his religious merit, O son of Kunti, and it is inconsequence of the treasury that the roots of his kingdom extend. Forthese reasons the treasury must be filled; and when filled; it should becarefully protected (by putting a stop to all useless expenditure), andeven sought to be increased. This is the eternal practice. The treasurycannot be filled by (acting with) purity and righteousness, nor by(acting with) heartless cruelty. It should be filled by adopting a middlecourse. How can a weak king have a treasury? How again can a king who hasno treasury have strength? How can a weak man have kingdom? Whence againcan one without a kingdom obtain prosperity? For a person of high rank,adversity is like death. For this reason the king should always increasehis treasury, and army, and allies and friends. All men disregard a kingwith an empty treasury. Without being gratified with the little that sucha king can give, his servants never express any alacrity in his business.In consequence of his affluence, the king succeeds in obtaining greathonours. Indeed, affluence conceals his very sins, like robes concealingsuch parts of a feminine form as should not be exposed to the view. Thosewith whom the king has formerly quarrelled become filled with grief atthe sight of his new affluence. Like dogs they once more take serviceunder him, and though they wait only for an opportunity to slay him, hetakes to them as if nothing has happened. How, O Bharata, can such a kingobtain happiness? The king should always exert for acquiring greatness.He should never bend down in humility.[401] Exertion is manliness. Heshould rather break at an unfavourable opportunity than bend before anyone. He should rather repair to the forest and live therewith the wildanimals. But he should not still live in the midst of ministers andofficers who have like robbers broken through all restraints. Even therobbers of the forest may furnish a large number of soldiers for theaccomplishment of the fiercest of deeds. O Bharata! If the kingtransgresses all wholesome restraints, all people become filled withalarm. The very robbers who know not what compassion is, dread such aking.[402] For this reason, the king: should always establish rules andrestraints for gladdening the hearts of his people. Rules in respect ofeven very trivial matters are hailed with delight by the people. Thereare men who think that this world is nothing and the future also is amyth. He that is an atheist of this type, though his heart is agitated bysecret fears, should never be trusted. If the robbers of the forest,while observing other virtues, commit depredations in respect only ofproperty, those depredations may be regarded as harmless. The lives ofthousands of creatures are protected in consequence of robbers observingsuch restraints. Slaying an enemy who is flying away from battle,ravishment of wives, ingratitude, plundering the property of a Brahmana,depriving a person of the whole of his property, violation of maidens,continued occupation of villages and towns as their lawful lords, andadulterous congress with other people’s wives–these are regarded aswicked acts among even robbers, and robbers should always abstain fromthem. It is again certain that those kings who strive (by making peace)to inspire confidence upon themselves in the hearts of the robbers,succeed, after watching all their ins and outs, in exterminating them.For this reason, in dealing with robbers, it is necessary that theyshould not be exterminated outright.[403] They should be sought to bebrought under the king’s way. The king should never behave with crueltytowards them, thinking that he is more powerful than they. Those kingsthat do not exterminate them outright have no fear of extermination tothemselves. They, however, that do exterminate them have always to livein fear in consequence of that act.'”