Chapter I: Remarks on Dealing with Enemies

Until your diplomacy terminates right,It is better to flatter your foe, than to fight.When, by force, you're unable to vanquish your foes,By favours, the portal of strife you must close !If you fear lest you be by an enemy stung,With the charm of munificence, tie up his tongue !Give your enemy money ! not thorns from a hedge !For munificence blunts all the teeth that have edge.By skill, you can coax and enjoy earthly bliss ;The hand you can't bite, it is proper to kiss!By management, Rustam will come to the noose,From whose coil, Asfandyar could not cast himself loose.You can find the occasion your foe's skin to rend;Take care of him! then, as you would of a friend.Be cautious in fighting with one you despise!From a drop, I have oft seen a torrent arise.While you can, let not knots on your eyebrows be seen !An opponent is best as a friend, although mean.His foe shows delight, and his friend shows distress,Whose friends are, in count, than his enemies less.With an army exceeding your own, do not fight!For you can't with your finger a lancet's point smite.And should you be stronger in war than your foe;To the weak, 'tis unmanly oppression to show !Though you've lion-like hands and an elephant's force,Peace is better than war, as a matter of course.When the hand has by ev'ry deception been torn,The hand to the sword may be lawfully borne.Should your foe wish for peace, his request do not spurn !And should he seek battle, the reins do not turn !For should he resolve to resist in the field,The strength and the awe of a thousand you'll wield.If his foot he has placed in the stirrup of war,You won't be arraigned at the Great Judgment Bar.Be prepared, too, for war, should sedition awake !For kindness to blackguards is quite a mistake.If you talk in an affable way to a wretch,His presumption and arrogance higher will stretch.When your enemy, vanquished, approaches your gate ;Cast revenge from your heart and cast ire from your pate!You should kindness bestow when he asks for your care ;Be gracious ! and of his deceptions, beware !From an aged man's counselling turn not away !For he knows his work well who has lived to be grey !And should they remove from its site the strong-hold—The youth with the sword and with wisdom the old—In the thick of the fight, bear a refuge in mind!What know you which side will the victory find?When you see that your army has lost in the strife,Alone, do not cast to the wind your sweet life !Should your place be the border, make running your care !And if in the middle, the foe's raiment wear!If you number two thousand—two hundred your foe,—When night has arrived from his clime you should go !At night, Fifty horsemen from lying in wait,Like Five Hundred, a noise on the ground will create.When you wish to accomplish some marches by night,First, look for the ambushes, hidden from sight !When one of two armies has marched for a day,The strength from his hands will have dwindled away;At your leisure the army exhausted attack !For the fool has himself placed a load on his back.When you've vanquished your foe, do not lower your flag!Lest again he should gather his forces, and brag.In pursuit of the fugitives, go not too far !For you should not lose sight of your comrades in war.When the air, from war's dust, like a cloud to you shows,Around you, with spears and with swords, they will close.From searching for plunder, the soldier refrains,Who, alone, at the back of the monarch remains.To an army, the duty of guarding the king,Is better than fight in the battle-field's ring.