Page:The Kural or The Maxims Of Tiruvalluvar.pdf/39

should give full liberty of speech to his subjects and to his ministers to criticise him and his rule when he goes wrong (389, 447, 448). The king should not loll in luxury but should be alert and watchful and accessible to all who demand justice, should develop the resources of his kingdom, and protect his subjects from internal and external enemies (Chh. 39, 54, 60, 61, & 62 and verses 549, 550). He should be learned in all the arts of peace and war. He should choose his friends from among the good and the great and avoid the company of the low and the vulgar (Chh. 45 and 46). He should examine his own mind constantly and never allow any vice to enter and obtain a foothold in it (Ch. 44). He should select his officers with due care (Chh. 51 and 52) and supervise everything personally (520 and 553) as well as by means of secret agents (Ch. 59). He should look after his kindred and treat them worthily. And being almost all-powerful in the State, he should cultivate the quality that should be an automatic check on the extravagant use of his power, the quality, namely, of considerateness towards all (Ch. 58). But above all he should