The learned have laid it down that kings should live,
reciting every day the three Vedas, seeking to acquire wealth, and
carefully performing sacrifices with the wealth thus acquired. The gods,
through internecine quarrels, have obtained footing in heaven. When, the
very gods have won their prosperity through internecine quarrels, what
fault can there be in such quarrels? The gods, thou seest, act in this
way. The eternal precepts of the Vedas also sanction it. To learn, teach,
sacrifice, and assist at other's sacrifices,--these are our principal
duties. The wealth that kings take from others becomes the means of their
prosperity. We never see wealth that has been earned without doing some
injury to others. It is even thus that kings conquer this world. Having
conquered, they call that wealth theirs, just as sons speak of the wealth
of their sires as their own. The royal sages that have gone to heaven
have declared this to be the duty of kings. Like water flowing on every
direction from a swollen ocean, that wealth runs on every direction from
the treasuries of kings. This earth formerly belonged to king Dilipa,
Nahusha, Amvarisha, and Mandhatri. She now belongs to thee! A great
sacrifice, therefore, with profuse presents of every kind and requiring a
vast heap of the earth's produce, awaits thee. If thou dost not perform
that sacrifice, O king, then the sins of this kingdom shall all be thine.
Those subjects whose king performs a horse-sacrifice with profuse
presents, become all cleansed and sanctified by beholding the ablutions
at the end of the sacrifice.
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