Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/107

Rh sovereign's commands emanating from Pâtaliputra were obeyed without demur on the banks of the Indus and the shores of the Arabian sea. The immense heritage thus created by the genius of the first emperor of India Was transmitted intact to his son and grandson, and all three monarchs were in a position to assert their equality with the leading Hellenistic princes of the age. The ﬁgure of Bindusâra, hidden in the darkness, eludes our view, and we can only assume that his capacity must have been equal to the task imposed upon him by his birth, because otherwise it would have been impossible for him to enlarge and pass on to his famous son the splendid dominion which Asoka ruled with so much distinction.

Dim though the picture be in many of its details,the figure of Asoka takes an honourable place in the gallery of the greatest kings known to history. In a sense we know him better than we know any other ancient monarch, because he speaks to us in his own words. It is impossible, I think, for any student to read the edicts with care, and not to hear the voice of the king himself. The abrupt transitions from the third to the first person, from oratio obliqua to oratio directa, which embarrass the translator, and produced on early interpreters the erroneous impression of clumsy composition, are of the deepest interest when regarded as devices for inserting in oﬂicial proclamations the very words of the sovereign. We can discern a man of strong will,