116 CHANDRAGUPTA AND BINDUSAEA on paper, for it enabled him not only, in the words of Plutarch, to " overrun and subdue all India," but also to expel the Macedonian garrisons, and to repel the invasion of Seleukos. The details recorded concerning the civil adminis- tration of Chandragupta's empire, if not so copious as we might desire, are yet sufficient to enable us to realize the system of government, which, although of course based upon the personal autocracy of the sovereign, was something better than a merely arbitrary tyranny. The administration of the capital city, Pataliputra, was regarded as a matter of the highest importance, and was provided for by the formation of a Municipal Commission, consisting of thirty members, divided, like the War Office Commission of equal numbers, into six boards or committees of five members each. These boards may be regarded as an official development of the ordinary non-official panchayat, or committee of five members, by which every caste and trade in India has been accustomed to regulate its internal affairs from time immemorial. The first Municipal Board, which was entrusted with the superintendence of everything relating to the in- dustrial arts, was doubtless responsible for fixing the rates of wages, and must have been prepared to enforce the use of pure and sound materials, as well as the per- formance of a fair day's work for fair wages, as deter- mined by the authorities. Artisans were regarded as being in a special manner devoted to the royal service, and capital punishment was Inflicted on any person who
