127. HAVING ascertained the rates of purchase and sale, the length of the way, the expences of food and of condiments, the charges of securing the goods carried, and the neat profits of trade, let the king oblige traders to pay taxes on their saleable com

modities:

128. After full consideration, let a king so levy 'those taxes continually in his dominions, that both he and the merchant may receive a just compensation for their several acts.

129. As the leech, the suckling calf, and the bee, take their natural food by little and little, thus inust a king draw from his dominions an annual revenue. 130. Of cattle, of gems, of gold and silver, added each year to the capital stock, a fiftieth part may be taken by the king; of grain, an eighth part, a sixth, or a twelfth, according to the difference of the soil, ' and the labour necessary to cultivate it.

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131. •

He may also take a sixth part of the clear ' annual increase of trees, flesh-meat, honey, clarified butter, perfumes, medical substances, liquids, flowers, roots, and fruit,

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132. Of gathered leaves, potherbs, grass, utensils • made with leather or cane, earthen pots, and all things made of stone.

133. A king, even though dying with want, must ' not receive any tax from a Bráhmen learned in the

Védas, nor suffer such a Bráhmen, residing in his CHAP. 'territories, to be afflicted with hunger.

134. Of that king, in whose dominion a learned · Bráhmen is afflicted with hunger, the whole kingdom will in a short time be afflicted with famine.

135. The king, having ascertained his knowledge of scripture and good morals, must allot him a suitable maintenance, and protect him on all sides, as a father protects his own son:

136. By that religious duty, which such a Bráhmen performs each day, under the full protection of the sovereign, the life, wealth, and dominions of his protector shall be greatly increased.

137. 'Let the king order a mere trifle to be paid, in the name of the annual tax, by the meaner in⚫ habitants of his realm, who subsist by petty traffick:

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138. By low handicraftsmen, artificers, and servile men, who support themselves by labour, the king may cause work to be done for a day in each

⚫ month.

139. Let him not cut up his own root by taking no revenue, nor the root of other men by excess of 'covetousness; for, by cutting up his own root and theirs, he makes both himself and them wretched. 140. Let him, considering the diversity of cases, be occasionally sharp and occasionally mild, since a

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VII.

CHAP.

VII.

king, duly sharp and mild, becomes universally approved.

141. When tired of overlooking the affairs of men, let him assign the station of such an inspector to a principal minister, who well knows his duty, who is eminently learned, whose passions are subdued, and 'whose birth is exalted.

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142. Thus must he protect his people, discharging, ' with great exertion and without languor, all those duties, which the law requires him to perform.

143. That monarch, whose subjects are carried from his kingdom by ruffians, while they call aloud for protection, and he barely looks on them with his ministers, is a dead, and not a living king.

144. The highest duty of a military man is the ' defence of his people, and the king who receives 'the consideration just mentioned, is bound to discharge that duty.

145.

HAVING risen in the last watch of the night, ' his body being pure, and his mind attentive, having 'made oblations to fire, and shown due respect to • the priests, let him enter his hall decently splendid : 146. Standing there, let him gratify his subjects, before he dismiss them, with kind looks and words; and, having dismissed them all, let him take secret 'council with his principal ministers:

147. Ascending up the back of a mountain, or

VII.

going privately to a terrace, a bower, a forest, or CHAP. a lonely place, without listeners, let him consult ' with them unobserved.

148. That prince, of whose weighty secrets all as'semblies of men are ignorant, shall attain dominion over the whole earth, though at first he possess no

149. At the time of consultation, let him remove the stupid, the dumb, the blind, and the deaf, talking birds, decrepit old men, women, and infidels, the 'diseased and the maimed;

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150. Since those, who are disgraced in this life by reason of sins formerly committed, are apt to betray secret council; SO are talking birds; and so ' above all are women: them he must, for that reason, diligently remove.

151. At noon " or at midnight, when his fatigues have ceased, and his cares are dispersed, let him 'deliberate, with those ministers or alone, on virtue, lawful pleasure, and wealth;

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-152. On the means of reconciling the acquisition

' of them, when they oppose each other; on bestow

ing his daughters in marriage, and on preserving his

sons from evil by the best education;

153. On sending ambassadors and messengers; on 'the probable events of his measures; on the beha'viour of his women in the private apartment; and on the acts even of his own emissaries.

CHAP.

VII.

154. On the whole eight-fold business of kings, relating to the revenue, to their expences, to the good or bad conduct of their ministers, to legislation in 'dubious cases, to civil and criminal justice, and to expiations for crimes, let him reflect with the greatest 'attention; on his five sorts of spies, or active and ' artful youths, degraded anchorets, distressed husband• men, decayed merchants, and fictitious penitents, whom he must pay and see privately; on the good will or enmity of his neighbours, and on the state of the circumjacent countries.

155. On the conduct of that foreign prince, who has moderate strength equal to one ordinary foe, but

no match for two; on the designs of him, who is willing and able to be a conqueror; on the condi'tion of him, who is pacifick, but a match even for 'the former unallied; and on that of his natural enemy, let him sedulously meditate :

156. Those four powers, who, in one word, are 'the root or principal strength of the countries round ' him, added to eight others, who are called the 'branches, and are as many degrees of allies and op'ponents variously distinguished, are declared to be twelve chief objects of the royal consideration ;

157. And five other heads, namely, their ministers, 'their territories, their strong holds, their treasuries, and their armies, being applied to each of those twelve, there are in all, together with them, seventytwo foreign objects to be carefully investigated.

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< 158. Let