Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/455

shouldst employ spies in thy own kingdom and in the kingdoms of others. Thy spies in foreign kingdoms should be apt deceivers and persons in the garb of ascetics. Thy spies should be placed in gardens, places of amusement, temples and other holy place, drinking places, streets, and with the (eighteen) thirtas (viz, the minister, the chief priest, the heir-presumptive, the commander-in-chief, the gate-keepers of the court, persons of the inner apartments, the jailer, the chief purveyor, the head of the treasury, the general executant of orders, the chief of the town police, the chief architect, the chief justice, the president of the council, the chief of the punitive department, the commander of the fort, the chief of the arsenal, the chief of the frontier guards, and the keeper of the forests), and in places of sacrifices, near wells, on mountains and rivers, in forests, and in all places where people congregate. In speech thou shouldst ever be humble, but let thy heart be ever sharp as the razor. And when thou art engaged in doing even a very cruel and terrible act, thou shouldst talk with smiles on thy lips. If desirous of prosperity, thou shouldst adopt all arts,—humility, oath, conciliation, worshipping the feet of others by lowering thy head, inspiring hope, and the like. A person conversant with the rules of policy is like a tree decked with flowers but bearing no fruits; or, if bearing fruits, these must be at a great height not so easily attainable from the ground; and if any of these fruits seem to be ripe, care must be taken to make them appear as raw. Conducting himself in such a way, he shall never fade. Virtue, wealth, and pleasure have both their evil and good effects closely knit together. While extracting the effects that are good, those that are evil should be avoided. Those that practice virtue (incessantly) are made unhappy for want of wealth and the neglect of pleasure. Those again in pursuit of wealth and the neglect of pleasure. Those again in pursuit of wealth are made unhappy for the neglect of the two others. And so those who pursue pleasure suffer for their inattention to virtue and wealth. Therefore shouldst thou pursue virtue, wealth, and pleasure, in such a way that thou mayst not have to suffer therefrom. With humiliation and attention, without jealousy and solicitous of