nt from the mother's breast.
Cast aside, then, the rules and restrictions with which these old
fools would bind you. Follow your natural inclinations, and enjoy life
while you can. You possess youth, beauty, and strength. You have a
large army, ten thousand elephants, and three hundred thousand horses;
your treasury is full of gold and jewels, and would not be emptied in
a thousand years. What more would you have? Life is short, and those
who are always thinking of adding to their possessions, go on toiling
to the last, and never really enjoy them.

"'But why should I waste your time with needless arguments? I see you
are already convinced. Commit, then, the cares of government to your
ministers; spend your time with your ladies, and congenial friends
like me; enjoy drinking, music, and dancing, and trouble yourself no
more with affairs of state.'

"Having thus spoken, he prostrated himself in very humble attitude at
the feet of his master, who remained for a time silent, as if
undecided.

"The women, who had been listening with delight to all that was said,
seeing his hesitation, assembled round him, and, with sweet words and
caresses, easily persuaded him to follow his own inclination and
theirs.

"From that time the young king, given up entirely to pleasures and
amusements, left the affairs of the kingdom to his ministers; and,
while allowing them to manage as they pleased, provided they did not
trouble him, openly treated them with insolence and neglect, and even
took pleasure in hearing them ridiculed by the worthless parasites who
surrounded him, so that even the wisest of his ministers, while
lamenting the sad state of affairs, could only acknowledge their
inability to remedy it, and wait till some great public calamity, or
the invasion of the country by a neighbouring sovereign, who was
gradually extending his dominions by force or cunning, should bring
the young king to his senses.

"Ere long, what they had expected came to pass; for the King of
Asmaka, who had for some time coveted the country, but did not dare
openly to invade it while it was strong and prosperous, took measures
in secret to weaken the authority of Anantavarma, and diminish his
resources; and, lest he should perchance see the error of his ways and
abandon his vicious courses, he secretly gave a commission to the son
of one of his ministers, a young man of great abilities and agreeable
manners, an eloquent flatterer and amusing companio