Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/200

 CHAPTER V

SECTION 1The Seven Pillar Edicts

EDICT I THE PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT

Thus saith His Sacred and Gracious Majesty the Kill:—

'When I had been consecrated twenty-six years I caused this scripture of the Law of Piety to be written.

Both this World and the next are difficult to secure save by intense love of the Law of Piety, intense self-examination, intense obedience, intense dread, intense effort. However, owing to my instructions, this yearning for the Law of Piety, this love of the Law from day to day, have grown and will grow.

My Agents, too, whether of high, low, or middle rank, themselves conform to my teaching and lead others in the right way—fickle people must be led in the right way—likewise also the Wardens of the