OPPRESSION AND MISRULE

The tyrant's request for gifts from his people is like the armed highway-robber's demand couched in the language of politeness.

What is given to the armed dacoit is not a gift, though it is in response to a request worded as from a beggar asking for alms. What is given to a tyrannical prince in the form of gifts is like-wise given in fear.

As the rainless sky dries up the earth, so does a king devoid of compassion destroy the people giving thereon.

The absence of rain dries up the non-sentient earth. What rain is to the non sentient earth, so to the sentient beings thereon is royal concern for their welfare. Its absence dries them up, i. e., destroys them.

Under a ruler who does not follow the law, it is a greater misery to be possessed of wealth than to be poor.

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