ce of any
injury done to them, always wait for calamities to overtake their
masters. Deceived, they leave their masters and become effective
instruments in the hands of foes.[343] I have been insulted by thee and
pulled down from my place. How wilt thou trust me again? How shall I (on
my part) continue to dwell with thee? Thinking me to be competent thou
tookest me, and having examined me thou hadst placed me in office.
Violating the compact then made (between us) thou hast insulted me. If
one speaks of a certain person before others as possessed of righteous
behaviour, one should not, if desirous of maintaining one's consistency,
afterwards describe the same person as wicked. I who have thus been
disregarded by thee cannot any longer enjoy thy confidence. On my part,
when I shall see thee withdraw thy confidence from me, I shalt be filled
with alarm and anxiety. Thyself suspicious and myself in alarm, our
enemies will be on the look-out for opportunities for injuring us. Thy
subjects will, as a consequence, become anxious and discontented. Such a
state of things has many faults. The wise do not regard that situation
happy in which there is honour first and dishonour afterwards. It is
difficult to reunite the two that have been separated, as, indeed, it is
difficult to separate the two that are united. If persons reunited after
separation approach one another again, their behaviour cannot be
affectionate. No servant is to be seen who is moved (in what he does) by
only the desire of benefiting his master. Service proceeds from the
motive of doing good to the master as also one's own self. All acts are
undertaken from selfish motives. Unselfish acts or motives are very rare.
Those kings whose hearts are restless and unquiet cannot acquire a true
knowledge of men. Only one in a hundred can be found who is either able
or fearless. The prosperity of men, as also their fall, comes of itself.
Prosperity and adversity, and greatness, all proceed from weakness of
understanding.'"[344]

"'Bhishma continued, "Having said these conciliatory words fraught with
virtue, pleasure, and profit, and having gratified the king, the jackal
retired to the forest. Without listening to the entreaties of the king of
beasts, the intelligent jackal cast off his body by sitting in praya and
proceeded to heaven (as the reward of his good deeds on earth)."'"

SECTION CXII

"'Yudhishthira said, "What acts should be done by a king, and what are