'
"Bhishma said, 'Thou art endued with great intelligence, O Yudhishthira!
It is even so as thou sayest. The person is very rare who is possessed of
all those good qualities. To be brief, conduct like this (viz., the
presence of all the virtues spoken of), is very difficult to be met with
even upon careful search. I shall, however, tell thee what kinds of
ministers should be appointed by thee. Four Brahmanas, learned in the
Vedas, possessed of a sense of dignity, belonging to the Snataka order,
and of pure behaviour, and eight Kshatriyas, all of whom should be
possessed of physical strength and capable of wielding weapons, and one
and twenty Vaisyas, all of whom should be possessed of wealth, and three
Sudras, everyone of whom should be humble and of pure conduct and devoted
to his daily duties, and one man of the Suta caste, possessed of a
knowledge of the Puranas and the eight cardinal virtues, should be thy
ministers. Every one of them should be fifty years of age, possessed of a
sense of dignity, free from envy, conversant with the Srutis and the
Smritis, humble, impartial, competent to readily decide in the midst of
disputants urging different courses of action, free from covetousness,
and from the seven dreadful vices called Vyasanas. The king should
consult with those eight ministers and hold the lead among them. He
should then publish in his kingdom, for the information of his subjects,
the results of such deliberation. Thou shouldst always, adopting such a
conduct, watch over thy people.
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