sh foes much superior to them in number. The
collision of battle is not desirable as long as it can be avoided. The
policy of conciliation, or producing disunion, and making gifts should
first be tried, the battle, it is said, should come after these. At the
very sight of a (hostile) force, fear paralyses the timid, even as at the
sight of the blazing bolt of heaven they ask, 'Oh, upon what would it
fall?'[306] Having ascertained that a battle is raging, the limbs of
those that go to join it, as also of him that is conquering, perspire
profusely.[307] The entire country, O king, (that is the seat of war),
becomes agitated and afflicted with all its mobile and immobile
population. The very marrow of embodied creatures scorched with the heat
of weapons, languishes with pain. A king should, therefore, on all
occasions, apply the arts of conciliation, mixing them with measures of
severity. When people are afflicted by foes, they always show a
disposition to come to terms.[308] Secret agents should be sent for
producing disunion amongst the allies of the foe. Having produced
disunion, it is very desirable that peace should then be made with that
king who happens to be more powerful than the foe (sought to be crushed).
If the invader does not proceed in the way, he can never succeed in
completely crushing his foe. In dealing with the foe, care should be
taken for hemming him in from all sides. Forgiveness always comes to
those that are good. It never comes to those that are bad. Listen now, O
Partha, to the uses of forgiveness and of severity. The fame of a king
who displays forgiveness after conquest spreads more widely. The very
foes of a person that is of a forgiving disposition trust him even when
he becomes guilty of a grave transgression. Samvara has said that having
afflicted a foe first, forgiveness should be shown afterwards, for a
wooden pole, if made straight without the application of heat in the
first instance, very soon assumes its former state. Persons skilled in
the scriptures do not, however, applaud this. Nor do they regard this as
an indication of a good king. On the other hand, they say that a foe
should be subdued and checked, like a sire subduing and checking a son,
without anger and without destroying him. If, O Yudhishthira, a king
becomes severe, he becomes an object of hatred with all creatures. If, on
the other hand, he becomes mild, he becomes disregarded by all. Do thou,
therefore, practise both sev