engaged in fight with their persecutors, and willingly slay them even if they should lose their own lives for it.  If you suppose them to be too few to be capable of winning a victory over their enemies, you must know that united together and followed by their friends, they would, no doubt, try their utmost to destroy those enemies.  What Duryodhana thinks is not exactly known, nor what he may do.  When the mind of the other side is not known, what opinion can be formed by you as to what is best to be done?  Therefore, let a person, virtuous and honest and of respectable birth, and wary,—­an able ambassador, set out to beseech them mildly for inducing them to give half the kingdom to Yudhishthira.  Having listened to the speech of Krishna, marked by prudence and a regard for virtue and showing a pacific and impartial spirit, his elder brother then addressed the assembly bestowing high encomiums on the words of the younger brother.’”

SECTION II

“Baladeva said, ’You have all listened to the speech of him who is the elder brother of Gada, characterised as it is by a sense of virtue and prudence, and salutary alike to Yudhishthira and king Duryodhana.  These valiant sons of Kunti are ready to give up half their kingdom, and they make this sacrifice for the sake of Duryodhana.  The sons of Dhritarashtra, therefore, should give up half of the kingdom, and should rejoice and be exceedingly happy with us that the quarrel can be so satisfactorily settled.  These mighty persons having obtained the kingdom would, no doubt, be pacified and happy, provided the opposite party behave well.  For them to be pacified will redound to the welfare of men.  And I should be well-pleased if somebody from here, with the view of pacifying both the Kurus and the Pandavas, should undertake a journey and ascertain what is the mind of Duryodhana and explain the views of Yudhishthira.  Let him respectfully salute Bhishma the heroic scion of Kuru’s race, and the magnanimous son of Vichitravirya, and Drona along with his son, and Vidura and Kripa, and the king of Gandhara, along with the Suta’s son.  Let him also pay his respects to all the other sons of Dhritarashtra, to all who are renowned for strength and learning, devoted to their proper duties, heroic, and conversant with signs of the times.  When all these persons are gathered together and when also the elderly citizens are assembled, let him speak words full of humility and likely to serve the interests of Yudhishthira, At all events, let them not be provoked, for they have taken possession of the kingdom with a strong hand.  When Yudhishthira had his throne, he forgot himself by being engaged in gambling and was dispossessed by them of his kingdom.  This valiant Kuru, this descendant of Ajamida, Yudhishthira, though not skilled in dice and though dissuaded by all his friends, challenged the son of the king of Gandhara, an adept at dice, to the match.  There