in all affairs of the kingdom.  One who is bereft of energy and who has been abandoned by friends can never work with perseverance.  Such a man, if employed, fails in almost every business.  A minister possessed of little learning, even if blessed with high birth and attentive to virtue, profit, and pleasure, becomes incompetent in choosing proper courses of action.  Similarly, a person of low descent, even if possessed of great learning, always errs, like a blind man without a guide, in all acts requiring dexterity and foresight.  A person, again, who is of infirm purposes, even if possessed of intelligence and learning, and even if conversant with means, cannot long act with success.  A man of wicked heart and possessed of no learning may set his hand to work but he fails to ascertain what the results will be of his work.  A king should never repose trust on a minister that is not devoted to him.  He should, therefore, never disclose his counsels to a minister that is not devoted to him.  Such a wicked minister, combining with the other ministers of the king, may ruin his master, like a fire consuming a tree by entering its entrails through the holes in its body with the aid of the wind.  Giving way to wrath, a master may one day pull down a servant from his office or reprove him, from rage, in harsh words, and restore him to power again.  None but a servant devoted to the master can bear and forgive such treatment.  Ministers also become sometime highly offended with their royal masters.  That one, however, amongst them, who subdues his wrath from desire of doing good to his master,—­that person who is a sharer with the king of his weal and woe,—­should be consulted by the king in all his affairs.  A person who is of crooked heart, even if he be devoted to his master and possessed of wisdom and adorned with. numerous virtues, should never be consulted by the king.  One who is allied with foes and who does not regard the interests of the king’s subjects, should be known as an enemy.  The king should never consult with him.  One who is possessed of no learning, who is not pure, who is stained with pride, who pays court to the king’s enemies, who indulges in brag, who is unfriendly, wrathful, and covetous should not be consulted by the king.  One who is a stranger, even if he be devoted to the king and possessed of great learning, may be honoured by the king and gratified with assignment of the means of sustenance, but the king should never consult him in his affairs.  A person whose sire was unjustly banished by royal edict should not be consulted by the king even if the king may have subsequently bestowed honours upon him and assigned to him the means of sustenance.  A well-wisher whose property was once confiscated for a slight transgression, even if he be possessed of every accomplishment should not still be consulted by the king.  A person possessed of wisdom, intelligence, and learning, who is born within the kingdom, who is pure and righteous in all his