and wrath and pride, the king should, acting with heedfulness, continually watch for the laches of his foes.  His own mildness, the severity of his punishments, his inactivity and heedlessness, O chief of the gods, and the deceitful contrivances well applied (by his foes), ruin a foolish ruler.  That king who can conquer these four faults and counteract the deceitful contrivances of his enemies succeeds, without doubt, in smiting them all.  When only one minister (without needing any help) is competent to accomplish a secret object (of the king), the king should consult with that one minister only in respect of such object.  Many ministers, if consulted, endeavour to throw the burden of the task upon one another’s shoulders and even give publicity to that object which should be kept secret.  If consultation with one be not proper, then only should the king consult with many.  When foes are unseen, divine chastisement should be invoked upon them; when seen, the army, consisting of four kinds of forces, should be moved.[312] The king should first use the arts of producing disunion, as also those of conciliation.  When the time for each particular means comes, that particular means should be applied.  At times, the king should even prostrate himself before a powerful foe.  It is again desirable that acting heedfully himself, he should seek to compass the victor’s destruction when the latter becomes heedless.  By prostrating one’s self, by gift of tribute, by uttering sweet words, one should humble one’s self before a more powerful king.  One should (when the occasion for such acts comes) never do anything that may arouse the suspicions of one’s powerful foe.  The weaker ruler should, under such circumstances, carefully avoid every act that may awaken suspicion.  A victorious king, again, should not trust his vanquished foes, for they that are vanquished always remain wakeful.  There is nothing, O best of duties, that is more difficult of accomplishment than the acquisition of prosperity, O ruler of the immortals, by persons of a restless disposition.  The very existence of persons of restless disposition is fraught with danger.  Kings should, therefore, with close attention, ascertain their friends and foes.  If a king becomes mild, he is disregarded.  If he becomes fierce, he inspires people with dread.  Therefore, do not be fierce.  Do, not, again, be mild.  But be both fierce and mild.  As a rapid current ceaselessly cats away the high bank and causes large landslips, even so heedlessness and error cause a kingdom to be ruined.  Never attack many foes at the same time.  By applying the arts of conciliation, or gift, or production of disunion, O Purandara, they should be ground one by one.  As regards the remnant, (being few in number,) the victor may behave peacefully towards them.  An intelligent king, even if competent for it, should not begin to crush all (his foes) at once.[313] When a king happens to have a large army consisting of sixfold forces[314] and teeming with horse, elephants,