Then forthwith the king proceeded thus: "Give just weight I pray
you to my truthful words: desire for power is kin to nobleness, and so
is just pride of fame or family or wealth or personal appearance; no
longer having any wish to subdue the proud, or to bend others down and
so get thanks from men, it were better, then, to give to the strong and
warlike martial arms to wear, for them to follow war and by their power
to get supremacy; but when by one's own power a kingdom falls to hand,
who would not then accept the reins of empire? The wise man knows the
time to take religion, wealth, and worldly pleasure. But if he obtains
not the threefold profit, then in the end he abates his earnest efforts,
and reverencing religion, he lets go material wealth. Wealth is the one
desire of worldly men; to be rich and lose all desire for religion, this
is to gain but outside wealth. But to be poor and even thus despise
religion, what pleasure can indulgence give in such a case! But when
possessed of all the three, and when enjoyed with reason and propriety,
then religion, wealth, and pleasure make what is rightly called a great
master; permit not, then, your perfectly endowed body to lay aside its
glory, without reward; the Kakravartin, as a monarch, ruled the four
empires of the world, and shared with Sakra his royal throne, but was
unequal to the task of ruling heaven.
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