Just so, one man alone,
However brave he be,
Is scorned by foes, who soon
Proceed to injury."
Having listened to this view likewise, the king said to Live-Long: "My worthy sir, pray express your opinion also." And Live-Long said: "O King, from among the six possibilities, I recommend alliance. Pray adopt that. For the saying goes:
Though deft and brilliant, what good end
Can you attain without a friend?
The fire that seems immortal will
Die when the fanning wind is still.
"Therefore you should stay at home and seek some competent ally, to make a counterweight against the enemy. But if you leave home and travel, no one will give you so much as a friendly word. For the proverb says:
The wind is friend to forest-fire
And causes it to flame the higher;
The same wind blows a candle out.
Who cares what poor folk are about?
"Nor is it even essential that the ally be powerful; the alliance even of feeble folk makes for defense. You know the saying:
However weak, a bamboo stem
From others takes, and gives to them
Strength to resist uprooting: so
Weak kings unite against a foe.
"And how much more so, if you have alliance with the truly great! For the poet says:
