Steadiness,
cleverness, self-restraint, intelligence, health, patience, bravery, and
attention to the requirements of time and place,--these eight qualities
lead to the increase of wealth, be it small or be it much. A little fire,
fed with clarified butter, may blaze forth into a conflagration. A single
seed may produce a thousand trees. A king, therefore, even when he hears
that his income and expenditure are great, should not disregard the
smaller items. A foe, whether he happens to be a child, a young man, or
an aged one, succeeds in staying a person who is heedless. An
insignificant foe, when he becomes powerful, may exterminate a king. A
king, therefore, who is conversant with the requirements of time is the
foremost of all rulers. A foe, strong or weak, guided by malice, may very
soon destroy the fame of a king, obstruct the acquisition of religious
merit by him; and deprive him of even his energy. Therefore, a king that
is of regulated mind should never be heedless when he has a foe. If a
king possessed of intelligence desire affluence and victory, he should,
after surveying his expenditure, income, savings, and administration,
make either peace or war. For this reason the king should seek the aid of
an intelligent minister. Blazing intelligence weakens even a mighty
person; by intelligence may power that is growing be protected; a growing
foe is weakened by the aid of intelligence; therefore, every act that is
undertaken conformably to the dictates of intelligence is deserving of
praise.
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