a guide, in all acts requiring dexterity and foresight. A person,
again, who is of infirm purposes, even if possessed of intelligence and
learning, and even if conversant with means, cannot long act with
success. A man of wicked heart and possessed of no learning may set his
hand to work but he fails to ascertain what the results will be of his
work. A king should never repose trust on a minister that is not devoted
to him. He should, therefore, never disclose his counsels to a minister
that is not devoted to him. Such a wicked minister, combining with the
other ministers of the king, may ruin his master, like a fire consuming a
tree by entering its entrails through the holes in its body with the aid
of the wind. Giving way to wrath, a master may one day pull down a
servant from his office or reprove him, from rage, in harsh words, and
restore him to power again. None but a servant devoted to the master can
bear and forgive such treatment. Ministers also become sometime highly
offended with their royal masters. That one, however, amongst them, who
subdues his wrath from desire of doing good to his master,--that person
who is a sharer with the king of his weal and woe,--should be consulted
by the king in all his affairs. A person who is of crooked heart, even if
he be devoted to his master and possessed of wisdom and adorned with
numerous virtues, should never be consulted by the king. One who is
allied with foes and who does not regard the interests of the king's
subjects, should be known as an enemy. The king should never consult with
him. One who is possessed of no learning, who is not pure, who is stained
with pride, who pays court to the king's enemies, who indulges in brag,
who is unfriendly, wrathful, and covetous should not be consulted by the
king. One who is a stranger, even if he be devoted to the king and
possessed of great learning, may be honoured by the king and gratified
with assignment of the means of sustenance, but the king should never
consult him in his affairs. A person whose sire was unjustly banished by
royal edict should not be consulted by the king even if the king may have
subsequently bestowed honours upon him and assigned to him the means of
sustenance. A well-wisher whose property was once confiscated for a
slight transgression, even if he be possessed of every accomplishment
should not still be consulted by the king. A person possessed of wisdom,
intelligence, and learning, who is born within