not proper therefore, that I should any longer dwell with thee.  Servants that are discontented, that have been driven from their offices, or degraded from the honours that were theirs, that have brought destitution upon themselves, or have been ruined by their enemies (through the wrath of their master). that have been weakened, that are rapacious, or enraged, or alarmed, or deceived (in respect of their employers), that have suffered confiscation, that are proud and desirous of achieving great feats but deprived of the means or earning wealth, and that burn with grief or rage in consequence of any injury done to them, always wait for calamities to overtake their masters.  Deceived, ’they leave their masters and become effective instruments in the hands of foes.[343] I have been insulted by thee and pulled down from my place.  How wilt thou trust me again?  How shall I (on my part) continue to dwell with thee?  Thinking me to be competent thou tookest me, and having examined me thou hadst placed me in office.  Violating the compact then made (between us) thou hast insulted me.  If one speaks of a certain person before others as possessed of righteous behaviour, one should not, if desirous of maintaining one’s consistency. afterwards describe the same person as wicked.  I who have thus been disregarded by thee cannot any longer enjoy thy confidence.  On my part, when I shall see thee withdraw thy confidence from me, I shalt be filled with alarm and anxiety.  Thyself suspicious and myself in alarm, our enemies will be on the look-out for opportunities for injuring us.  Thy subjects will, as a consequence, become anxious and discontented.  Such a state of things has many faults.  The wise do not regard that situation happy in which there is honour first and dishonour afterwards.  It is difficult to reunite the two that have been separated, as, indeed, it is difficult to separate the two that are united.  If persons reunited after separation approach one another again, their behaviour cannot be affectionate.  No servant is to be seen who is moved (in what he does) by only the desire of benefiting his master.  Service proceeds from the motive of doing good to the master as also one’s own self.  All acts are undertaken from selfish motives.  Unselfish acts or motives are very rare.  Those kings whose hearts are restless and unquiet cannot acquire a true knowledge of men.  Only one in a hundred can be found who is either able or fearless.  The prosperity of men, as also their fall, comes of itself.  Prosperity and adversity, and greatness, all proceed from weakness of understanding."[344]

“Bhishma continued, ’Having said these conciliatory words fraught with virtue, pleasure, and profit, and having gratified the king, the jackal retired to the forest.  Without listening to the entreaties of the king of beasts, the intelligent jackal cast off his body by sitting in praya and proceeded to heaven (as the reward of his good deeds on earth).’”