The great king Dábishlím said to the Bráhman Pílpáí, ‘The purport of the first precept was, that when one is exalted by being honored with the confidence of kings, he will assuredly be envied by his peers, and those who envy him, endeavouring to destroy the pedestal of his honor, will, by deceitful words, work a change in the king’s disposition towards him. Wherefore it behoves a king to ponder well on the speech of interested persons; and, on discovering that it is not devoid of an admixture of falsehood and corruption, not to conduct it to the confines of acceptance.

And I make my request to the Bráhman, that he may be pleased to relate a story suitable to this case, and may detail the history of some one who was the intimate counsellor of a king, and the basis of whose dignity was injured by the interested words of an envious person, and with whom friendship terminated in enmity, and concord in contention.’ The Bráhman said, ‘The centre of the basis of dominion, rests on this precept, and if a king does not deter interested persons from mischief and injurious acts, they will bring the majority of the nobles, to misery and disgrace; and hence complete disorder will find its way into the empire, and spread even to the prince; and when a mischief-maker has found the means of coming between two friends, the conclusion of their affairs will assuredly draw towards a terrible and disastrous catastrophe, as befell between the Lion and the Ox.’ The king asked, ‘How was that?’