O Bharata! If the king
transgresses all wholesome restraints, all people become filled with
alarm. The very robbers who know not what compassion is, dread such a
king.[402] For this reason, the king: should always establish rules and
restraints for gladdening the hearts of his people. Rules in respect of
even very trivial matters are hailed with delight by the people. There
are men who think that this world is nothing and the future also is a
myth. He that is an atheist of this type, though his heart is agitated by
secret fears, should never be trusted. If the robbers of the forest,
while observing other virtues, commit depredations in respect only of
property, those depredations may be regarded as harmless. The lives of
thousands of creatures are protected in consequence of robbers observing
such restraints. Slaying an enemy who is flying away from battle,
ravishment of wives, ingratitude, plundering the property of a Brahmana,
depriving a person of the whole of his property, violation of maidens,
continued occupation of villages and towns as their lawful lords, and
adulterous congress with other people's wives--these are regarded as
wicked acts among even robbers, and robbers should always abstain from
them. It is again certain that those kings who strive (by making peace)
to inspire confidence upon themselves in the hearts of the robbers,
succeed, after watching all their ins and outs, in exterminating them.
For this reason, in dealing with robbers, it is necessary that they
should not be exterminated outright.
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