So by virtue of native intelligence I intend to get him into my power this very day."
"Why," said Cheek, "you do not know how to make yourself useful to a superior. So tell me. How can you establish power over him?"
"And why, my good fellow, do I not know how to make myself useful?" said Victor. "The saintly poet Vyasa has sung the entry of the Pandu princes into Virata's court. From his poem I learned the whole duty of a functionary. You have heard the proverb:
No burden enervates the strong;
To enterprise no road is long;
The well-informed all countries range;
To flatterers no man is strange."
But Cheek objected: "He might perhaps despise you for forcing yourself into a position that does not belong to you." "Yes," said Victor, "there is point in that. However, I am also a judge of occasions. And there are rules, as follows:
The Lord of Learning, speaking to
A false occasion,
Will meet with hatred, and of course
Lack all persuasion.
And again:
The favorite's business comes to be
A sudden source of king's ennui,
When he is thoughtful, trying scents,
Retiring, or in conference.
