86 HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book IV.
AD - vengeance which in some shape, human or divine, would sooner or later over- take him. Moral re- The Unlimited power possessed by the king made it all the more necessary
straints on i i i i i • i • f
the king, that he should be surrounded with every species of moral restraint ; and accord- ingly the whole course of conduct which he ought to pursue is carefully pre- scribed. "Let the king, having risen at early dawn, respectfully attend to Brahmins, learned in the three Vedas and in the science of ethics." From Brahmins " who have grown old, who know the scriptures, who are pure, let him continually learn habits of modesty and composure." From Brahmins who know the three Vedas, " let him learn the triple doctrine comprised in them, together with the primeval science of criminal justice and sound policy, the subject of logic and metaphysics, and sublime theological truth ; from the people he must learn the theory of practical arts." But mere knowledge will not suffice ; and therefore "day and night must he strenuously exert himself to gain complete victory over his own organs," especially shunning the vices which proceed from love of pleasure and from wrath, and labouring to suppress " a selfish inclination which all wise men know to be the root of those two sets " of vices.
The king's Haviug becu thus instructed how to acquire the knowledge and self-com-
counseUors.
mand necessary for the discharge of his duty, the king is next told how to pro- ceed in actually administering the government. Since " even an act easy in itself is hard sometimes to be performed by a single man, especially if he have no assistant near, how much harder a kingdom with great revenues;" he must appoint a council of " seven or eight ministers, who must be sworn — men whose ancestors were servants of kings, who are versed in the holy books, who are personally brave, who are skilled in the use of weapons, and whose lineage is noble." The head or president of the council is to be a learned Brahmin; and though the king is constantly to be consulting with all its members " on peace and war, on his forces, on his revenues, on the protection of his people, and on the means of bestowing aptly the wealth which he has acquired," to the president alone as prime minister is he to give " full con- fidence" and "intrust all transactions." otiierprinci- Besidcs tlic couucil, wliose business is to deliberate, various other function-
pal func- ^ •11
tionaries. arics are necessary. In particular, there must be an ambassador, to transact " the business by which kingdoms are at variance or in amity ;" a commander- in-chief, by whom "the forces of the realm must be immediately regulated;" and "officers of criminal justice," for "the actual infliction of punishment." The ambassador being apparently regarded as the most important of all these func- tionaries, the qualities which he ought to possess, and the manner in which he ought to conduct himself, are specified. He must be "pure within and without, dexterous in business, and endued with an excellent memory ;" one " who knows countries and times, is handsome, intrepid, and eloquent." In the trans-
action of affiiirs he must be able to " comprehend the visible signs and hints.
