The Competitiveness of Nations
in a Global Knowledge-Based Economy
H.H. Chartrand
April 2002
Herbert H. Gowen
“The Indian Machiavelli” or Political Theory in
Political Science
Quarterly
Volume 44, Issue 2 (Jun., 1929),
173-192.
HHC: special letters in Arabic,
Sanskrit and German words did not scan
well.
Care is advised in the use of their
spelling.
MOST of the gaps in our text-books of political theory
are gradually being filled by the labors of the experts, but one gulf still
yawns so widely, and, thus far, with so little attempt to fill the void, that I
hope I may be pardoned a very humble intrusion into an unfamiliar field when I
ask attention to one of the most remarkable survivals from ancient Indian
literature, the Arthaçastra, or Text-book on Polity, ascribed to
Kautilya, a Brahman of the 4th century B. C.
The omission of
It should, however, hardly be necessary to say that this
view of
1. Dr. W. W. Willoughby’s Political Theories of the
Ancient World devotes only 10 pages to the Orient, in the course of which
“
173
that at a certain period of Indian history, possibly as
early as B. C. 1000, there was a decided reaction of early Vedic religion
and life in the direction of mysticism. Karma-kanda (the religion of
doing) did give place in various quarters to (F)*nana-kanda (the religion
of knowing). But of this two things
may be said: first, that this retirement from the world of a certain number of
people for a certain period of life was in itself productive of a reaction
towards the material; and, secondly, that the philosophical movement did not
interfere seriously with the trend of life on the part of India at large. As J. J. Meyer puts it, the old Indian
was “ein diesseitiger Mann”. The Brahman, in particular, was never
lured from practical considerations by any special tendency to speculation on
the part of others. His
preoccupation with courtly life was based on the belief that Throne and Altar
must stand together for mutual support. His traditional interest in the
meticulous ritual of post-Vedic times, while it made him “ein geborener
Tifiler”— a hair-splitting dialectician—when it came to putting things into
categories, yet retained his feet on the solid earth. Hence it comes to pass that, in the
exposition of political science, and in the actual work of administration, we
find the Brahman always an outstanding and extremely practical
figure.
Perhaps the matter is stated more fairly and
comprehensively if it be said that the Indian ideal of life was a much more
fully rounded one than may be accounted for merely by some theory of reaction or
natural trend. Indian writers
insist continually on the importance of recognizing the trivarga, or
threefold way of life. This
includes, first, dharrna, or religious duty; secondly, artha, or
the cult of the useful; and, thirdly,
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ever been conspicuously lacking. The Indian has at all times and in many
various ways deified earthy good as well as spiritual
reality.
The proof of this statement is to be found in a large
selection of literature. We find
it, for example, in the great epic, the Mahabharata, of which the 12th
book is itself what might be called an arthacastra, or text-book of
political science. We find it,
again, in some of the dramas, particularly in such an one as the
Mricchakatika, or Clay Cart. More especially we find it in the
fable collections, such as the Pancatantra and Hitopadeça, which
really owe their preservation and their transmission to other lands mainly to
their use as nitiçastras, or manuals of polity, rather than to their
popularity as literature of entertainment.
But the most important body of literature upon which we
may base the claims of India for consideration in the field of political science
is to be found in the books known as arthçastras, which may be accurately
defined as dharmaçastras (law books) concerned with the secular rather
than with the religious side of life, and still more particularly with the
science of kingcraft. The author
whose remarkable treatise it is the purpose of this paper to discuss mentions no
less than ten predecessors in his chosen field, so it is plain that what has
survived is but a small part of the political writing which had once its
vogue.
There is, however, the less reason to lament our loss in
the satisfaction aroused in the possession of one book which, recovered in the
last twenty years, is now acknowledged by Indologists, whatever their views on
authorship or date, as throwing more light on the actual details of old Indian
life than any other in the whole extent of literature. This is the Kautiliya, or
Arthaçastra of Kautilya, the text of which has been accessible since
1909, and of which we now have the excellent German translation completed by
Johann Jacob Meyer in 1926.
But before discussing the book and its probable date,
let us summarize what is known of the traditional author, Chanakya, or
Vishnugupta, generally spoken of as Kautilya. To this Chanakya is attributed in a
number of writings (of which the
175
Vishnu-purana is one) the successful revolution by which Chandragupta,
an Indian camp-follower in the army of Alexander the Great, established the
Mauryan dynasty on the ruins of the Nanda dominion. Says the Purana: “The Brahman,
Kautilya, shall root out the nine Nandas, inaugurating Chandragupta in his
kingdom.”
The next step, of course, is to connect this Brahman
kingmaker with the treatise which bears his name. This tradition does unmistakably,
declaring furthermore that the work was compiled in the evening of Kautilya’s
days, when he desired to put into writing the principles which had been his
guide as Chandragupta’s minister. He also wanted to compare his system with
that of his predecessors which seemed in many respects deserving of
condemnation. The traditional
authorship is further attested by passages in the Arthaçastra itself, by
the statements of the Nitisara of Kamandaka, and by a passage in the
Daçakumaracarita (Story of the Ten Princes) of Dandin. In this latter it is expressly stated
that “the science of dandiniti (politics) has been abridged into 6,000
çlokas by Acarya Vishnugupta for the benefit of the
Maurya.”
The discovery of the Kautiliya and the
publication of the Sanskrit text by Mr. Shamasastri in 1909, followed by the
discovery of other manuscripts by Mr. Ganapati Sastri, has naturally aroused a
vast amount of interest in
176
1. No such person as Kautilya is mentioned by the Greek
writer Megasthenes, who visited the court of Chandragupta.
2. The Arthaçastra contains no concrete reference
to the empire of Chandragupta or to his capital
Pataliputra.
3. The conditions described in the treatise seem to suit
small, independent states rather than a vast empire such as the Mauryan. They certainly do not agree with what we
know of the empire of Açoka, Chandragupta’s grandson.
4. Terms are used which can hardly belong to so early a
period as the 4th century B.C. For
example, we have a reference to the name
5. The language
is not archaic enough for the period claimed as its date.
6. The name Kautilya (falsehood) is hardly one to be
voluntarily assumed by one wishing to be regarded as a distinguished authority
on political science.
To all these objections detailed answers have been given
by Indian scholars and by Meyer. It
is not necessary to discuss these further than to say that a theoretical
treatment of the subject may be explained through Kautilya’s desire to traverse
the theories of his predecessors, and that the abounding pedantry is not
unnatural to the Brahman. It may be
claimed also that reference to the overlordship of a great empire is not really
as infrequent as some suppose. Ganapati Sastri, as mentioned above, has
contended for the form Kautalya, the proper designation of one belonging to the
kutala gotra (tribe), but Dr. Meyer pertinently reminds us that the term
Kautilya might not appear at all objectionable to the upholder of a system which
regarded fraud as high policy of state. Bible readers will recall that the
patriarch Jacob bore for many years without apparent resentment a name – “
tripper up” - which signifies much the same as Kautilya. Again, the argument from the silence of
Megasthenes is by no means conclusive, since the Greek did not come to
On the whole, while doubts cannot be altogether
excluded
177
there appears to be no absolute bar to the acceptance of
the Mauryan date, even if we feel, with Lippmann, that additions have been made
to the kernel of the work. Yet,
even if we take the latest date which has been assigned to the work, say the 4th
century A. D., the importance of the Arthaçastra is not measurably
diminished.
So we come to the book itself, a document whose
interest, as already stated, is by no means confined to the history of Indian
literature. On the contrary, it
must be regarded as the crown of all earlier Indian experiments in the
exposition of political theory, and also the predecessor - crude, if you will -
of our modern treatises on the subject. It is, at any rate, an astoundingly frank
and ruthless piece of writing, by one who is doubtless a pedant but a pedant who
reveals himself, not only in his elaborate classifications, but as outside the
boundaries of ordinary morality – “jenseit von Gut und Bose “. It is for this reason that Kautilya has
been termed “the Indian Machiavelli”, though there are, it is perhaps needless
to say, very profound differences between the great Florentine, with his respect
for history, and the Indian writer with his theoretical obsessions. In spite, however, of these differences,
one may with good warrant describe the system of the Arthaçastra as
“den Machiavellismus, die bedingungslose Verkundigung des ‘Willens zur
Macht’”.
From the general description of the book by some Indian
writers we might gain but an imperfect conception of its real scope and
significance. Mr. Bandyopadhyaya,
for example, says it was written “to procure peace at home and prestige abroad”,
which sounds very well until we go into details of the process. Mr. Ganapati Sastri is more explicit.
The book, he says, provides for
“the protection of one’s own kingdom first and, when that is ensured, enterprise
for the acquisition of enemies’ territories “, but his “first” is not
necessarily a note of time. He says
further that the Arthaçastra is “a method of government by which a king should rule for the
welfare of his millions of subjects, cautious and dexterous in preventing
treachery, watching over the conduct of subjects and officials”. There is a world of meaning in the two
concluding participial clauses.
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It is needless now to say that the art of government,
according to our author, is conceived largely as concerned with the prerogative
of the king, who rules with or without the advice of his ministers. The king’s authority is a matter of
divine right, and no misgivings must be permitted to intrude themselves such as
may weaken the exercise of the ruler’s will. The king must have no scruples, even when
expediency compels him to be cruel. Indeed, “he who would be great must be
cruel.” Hesitancy, out of a feeling
of humanity, is weakness. As King
Richard III expresses it in the play:
“Conscience is but a word that cowards
use,
Devised at first to keep the strong in
awe.”
Nevertheless, as under other despotic systems, kingship
was considered as involving service. The Indian monarch even, in some ways,
anticipated the dictum of
But the king was not the only element to be regarded.
A kingdom needed six things in
addition to the king, namely, Ministers, People, Fortifications, Armies,
Treasury and Allies, though of all these the king was the foundation and source.
He was the embodiment of all
sovereign authority, both morally and legally. “Gods and kings are alike” affirmed the
law-books. As all other footsteps
vanish in the footprints of the elephant, so all other dharma (law)
disappears in the raja-dharma (the royal law). But, as already stated, the royal law is
not mere caprice. The king, as the
protector of the people, may be punished (in certain cases thirty-fold) for
neglect of the popular welfare. To
secure the general well-being it is necessary to lead a strenuous existence.
Each
twenty-four
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hours is divided into sixteen parts by the water-clock,
and each division has its inescapable duty. Yet, at bottom, all this care for the
people is but consideration for the royal prestige. For the people is “the cow which gives
the milk “, and if there is no cow there is no milk. For all practical purposes, the Indian
king, with as much assurance as Louis XIV, could declare:
“L’etat c’est moi.”
There were four objects of government, each of which
involved obligations serious enough to prevent the king from being a “leather
elephant”. The first was to obtain
the kingdom. To this end war and
conquest were among the primary duties, and in pursuit of territory right might
easily become unright and unright right. Kautilya would have thoroughly agreed
with Mark Twain’s “Pudd’n-head
Nick Machiavel had ne’er a trick
Though he gave his name to our Old
Nick.”
Thirdly, it was proper to increase what had been
acquired, and this, of course, meant further conquest. Kautilya anticipates the saying of Sir
Francis Bacon: “The increase of any state must be upon the foreigner.” Fourthly, there must be the proper
enjoyment of what has been acquired.
For the carrying-out of these four objects there were -
to adopt the pedantic classification of our writer - six kinds of policy,
namely: Peace, War, Neutrality, Invasion,
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Naturally we begin with what concerns the royal
establishment. The protection of
the king’s person from poisons was managed by an elaborate series of tests, in
which certain animals, supposed to be extraordinarily sensitive to poison, such
as the heron, cuckoo and partridge, were employed. We have also comprehensive arrangements
for the regulation of the harem, including such provision as was deemed
necessary against palace intrigues. The princes had, for the most part, to be
kept away from temptation by being employed upon the frontiers, or anywhere away
from the capital. The proper method
for the selection of ministers is given in detail, and the salaries of officials
set forth, from the highest to the lowest, even to soothsayers, barbers and
poison-mixers. An important
function of the king, such as comes under this head, was what is picturesquely
described as “the eradication of thorns “, a phrase which implies the ridding of
the court (by methods as drastic as they were unscrupulous) of any persons
likely to prove troublesome.
An important section of the Arthaçastra deals
with the settlement of new districts and the building of new cities. These required a multitude of
regulations. The land had to be
graded according to its productiveness, and the wild lands, especially the
elephant forests, rigorously preserved. The sites of cities were chosen largely
for strategic reasons, especially near the borders. In building the greatest care was taken
to have the streets and gates properly adapted for the different classes of
traffic, with secret ways provided for rapid exit in case of
emergency.
The raising of revenue was, of course, a matter of great
importance. Most things were taxed,
though there were certain immunities in the case of Brahmans, and in the case of
things imported for temples and for various festal occasions. The customs service seems to have been
extraordinarily efficient, and served for espionage among other things. A great deal might be said of this, and
of the financial side of administration as a whole, but further mention involves
more detail than there is space for. I may say, however, that great stress is
laid upon the method as well as the matter of official
reports.
181
These must be well written, properly composed, with the
use of known words. The qualities
of a good piece of writing are stated with true Brahmanic
meticulousness.
The raising of revenue made necessary an extensive and
comprehensive system of inspection. Practically everything was under
scrutiny, from the gold and jewels in the royal treasury downwards. Men who had business in the government
departments were most thoroughly searched on leaving, lest by any chance they
should have had opportunity to conceal a diamond or two. The rates of interest were regulated,
generally amounting to about fifteen per cent. Weights and measures were standardized
and offenses against just measurement severely punished. Provisions were inspected at the
appointed markets and could be sold at these alone. Meat had to be sold without the bones.
The products of spinning and
weaving were inspected and the labors of the employees checked up, with a
suitable penalty for the lazy. The
manufacture and sale of intoxicating drink was regulated, home-brew being
regarded as legitimate. The
drink-houses had to be properly furnished, with garlands for the drinkers. No spoiled liquor might be sold, though
it might be given to slaves, or used as fodder for the swine. In the light of the statement of modern
theorists that the only form of government for which the philosopher can find no
defense is a bureaucracy, this paternal despotism of ancient
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Elephants were particularly looked after, and an
elephant-killer suffered the extreme penalty of death.
In matters of agriculture nothing was left unregulated,
at least in theory. The royal lands
were under the care of a multitude of officials, down to the merest
serpent-catcher. Magical rites were
performed at the proper seasons for the promotion of field fertility, and all
other measures taken sufficient to ensure the three annual plowings. As in the Code of Hammurabi, there were
many laws respecting irrigation, and water-rights became the cause of much
litigation as well as legislation.
The legal system of ancient
The oversight of trade was far-reaching. The trade-routes were classified, from
the
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classes of boats. And, of course, plenty of attention was
bestowed upon the long list of provisions and foodstuffs which had to be
imported from abroad and inspected at the frontier posts.
Labor, again, was inspected, to an extent sufficient to
arouse enthusiasm with the most jaded of bureaucrats. Boards of Arbitration and Conciliation
operated for the settling of strikes, and, it is cheering to note, not only
repressed tyranny on the part of employers, but also compelled the employees to
fulfill contracts upon which they had already entered. Failure of many varieties was penalized.
Even the physician, as in the Code
of Hammurabi, was punished for an unsuccessful operation.
In his role as protector of the people, the king was
responsible for providing against the eight visitations which were regarded as
“the act of God “, namely, Fire, Flood, Plague, Famine, Rats and Mice, Beasts of
Prey, Snakes and Evil Spirits. Generally speaking, too, the ascetics,
the sick and the aged were assisted from the royal treasury. But Kautilya was shrewd enough to see
that a check was necessary upon would-be ascetics who used their vocation for
the purpose of escaping liability for the support of relatives. As, again, in the Code of Hammurabi,
communities seem to have been held liable for losses incurred by individuals
through banditry, and many ingenious measures - including the employment of
carrier-pigeons - were devised to hinder the robbers from a too successful
pursuit of their trade.
A very large part of the Arthaçastra is concerned
with the relations of a ruler to the neighboring states, which are significantly
classed as stronger, weaker and equal in strength. This classification determined the policy
to be adopted towards each, and all sorts of academic questions are raised and
discussed in this connection, such as the comparative value of a legitimate weak
king and a strong illegitimate one, and the like. Cold-blooded estimates also are made as
to the respective value of friends, gold, ability, army and so on. Of the elaborate spy system, of which
ambassadors themselves were but a single link, I shall have something to say
later, also of the various
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methods of proceeding against an enemy stronger than
oneself. These included very
detailed arrangements for the sowing of discord between allies, for
assassination, the use of wizardry, and so on.
Open warfare was, of course, frequently resorted to, and
on this subject nothing is left unnoticed. The four arms were elephants, cavalry,
chariotry and foot-soldiers. Each
of these is elaborately dealt with, and the proper method for employing them in
battle. There are also descriptions
of the orthodox way of forming a camp, choosing the time and place of battle,
laying siege to a fortress, storming a fortress, and the general strategy of
attack. It is interesting to note
that the Indian army had something like the equivalent for a Red Cross
organization, since a body of physicians attended the march, provided with
medicines, oil, bandages and instruments. There were also women who went from point
to point with supplies of food and drink.
Following upon the discussion of the proper way to
conquer a country, there is much debate as to how the conquered land should be
treated. It is deemed exceedingly
important that the displaced dynasty should be covered with as much contempt and
obloquy as possible, while the new order must be correspondingly
glorified.
In all this a good deal has to be effected by the use of
magic. The repertoire of the weird
sisters in Macbeth seems crude and limited by comparison with that of a
poison-mixer in the old Indian court. The variety and loathsomeness of the
decoctions manufactured in the pursuit of some occult end are beyond
description. Some of the
preparations were poisons pure and simple, but arranged under heads, so that
some could be relied upon to kill on the spot, others in “half a month “, and
others operating still more slowly. Some decoctions, again, were devised to
make a man mad, so that he could be guaranteed to bite ten men and make them mad
also, these in turn continuing the endless chain as carriers of hydrophobia.
Others were magically potent,
enabling men to change their shape, produce flames from their body and limbs,
walk upon fire, see in the dark, attain invisibility, open doors, ride the
air,
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cut the bowstrings of enemies, and other feats of the
sort. Magic devices for the harming
of others seem to have been much more popular than magic remedies for the
healing of human ills. Of these
latter, however, there were recipes for the curing of fatigue by the application
of magic foot-salves, and for enabling men to fast for some weeks at a time.
Among therapeutic agencies we may
note the use of music, and also the reliance upon the healing qualities of
waving banners and uplifted standards. 1
It would be tedious further to particularize the methods
catalogued by Kautilya for the protection and strengthening of kingcraft, but,
before concluding, I would like to refer to two or three special aspects of the
whole subject. Of course, it is
easy to spot barbarities which might be adduced as evidence of an inferior
civilization. The various
mutilations and brandings to which criminals were subjected is evidence enough
of this, though such continued long after in lands deemed more civilized than
the
However, with all evidences of barbarity, we come across
certain signs of advanced thought in legislation and administration which are
worth our attention. Among these we
note the consideration given to animals, especially, of course, the cow, which
was spared compulsory drawing of carts and similar indignities. Village communities had a considerable
degree of self-government and in fact constituted a number of little republics
with whose administrative system there was the minimum of interference. Sanitation was surprisingly advanced, and
medical men were placed in all the chief centres of life. Great pains were taken to prevent the
spread of conflagrations, and at certain seasons of the year people were not
allowed to
1.
Cf. the story of the Brazen Serpent in the Old
Testament.
186
light a fire in the house. Relief was extended by the government to
widows, orphans, the sick and the infirm. Cornering in trade was severely
repressed, as well as the adulteration of foodstuffs. Foreign merchants had extended to them a
kind of extraterritoriality, or at least “freedom from being tried in the common
courts”. Slavery, while not
unlawful, was much ameliorated, and it was maintained as a principle that “no
Arya could be a slave.” Naturally
the social status of the Brahmans was well looked after. It was, as we learn from other codes,
considerably overdone, as the Brahman lived practically tax-free and in the
enjoyment of a variety of other privileges.
When we have taken all the above into consideration, the
main impression left upon the mind of a student of the Arthaçastra is
still that of highly refined cunning employed in the interest of kingship, craft
developed to the position of a fine art. It is this aspect of the work I desire
particularly to stress, both for its own intrinsic interest and because of the
influence this type of diplomacy has had upon the history of political science
in general.
An English secretary of state for foreign affairs once
aroused some ire by rebuking a
foreign statesman for his use of lying as “high policy of state”.
It is clear that Kautilya would in
no way have been abashed by such an indictment. “An honest politician,” says the
Arthaçastra, “is a no-thing.” It is by cleverness, divorced from all
morals, that kingship is to be vindicated. To quote Kautilya again: “He who shoots
an arrow kills but one at best, but he who uses clever thoughts kills even the
babe within its mother’s body.”
Hence a considerable part of this remarkable treatise is
engaged in describing the “clever” ways in which a king may be expected to secure
peace at home and prestige abroad. The tortoise, which at the least sign of
danger withdraws its head into the shell, is to be the model for true
statecraft. No one is to be
trusted, not even wife or child. One might even say, particularly
wife and child. The harem must
be filled with spies and agents provocateurs, to get wind of the
intrigues which it was expected would mature in this superheated atmosphere.
As for sons, it is cynically
affirmed that it is the
187
nature of princes, as of crabs, to devour their parents.
Therefore these, too, must be kept
under surveillance and deprived as far as possible of opportunity for
insurrection. Ministers, too, and
all officials from the highest to the lowest, must be used as instruments for
espionage, if they would not become its victims. Every public servant was subjected to
tests such as only the most diabolical ingenuity could invent. He was tempted by love, by fear, by
greed, by ambition, even by the obligations of his religion. If he did not succumb he must have been
endowed either with more than human fidelity - or with superhuman cunning. All the affairs of the kingdom were
transacted in a poisonous cloud of espionage. Disguised spies were to be found on every
hand - ascetics, begging nuns, traders, foresters, peasants, prostitutes, cooks,
bed-makers, jesters, dwarfs, tumblers. Even the ambassadors were spies - the
most highly trained and least scrupulous of all. Nor were these spies mere observers and
informers. It was theirs, by every
means that could be devised, to plot and consummate the end of anyone suspected.
False charges appear to have been
but a commonplace method. To invent
some picturesque appointment with some supposed holy man and thereupon create
the occasion for employing blade or poison, was much worthier of their undoubted
talents in this direction. Even the
device of causing a heavy stone to fall on the intended victim’s head, or to
arrange for the collapse of a convenient wall, had its allurements and was worth
describing in detail.
The king personally was surrounded with a choice
assortment of means for the disposal of “thorns “. Poisons of strange potency were always at
hand, and, through the use of mantrayuddha and the entire Geheimlehre
of a superstitious court, terrible revenge could be exacted at short notice
and on the slightest of grounds. All kinds of trickery were practised in
order to make men believe that the king was omniscient and that he worked
continually in partnership with the gods.
Of course, when a war was in progress, there was still
less restraint in the use of treachery. Incredible pains were taken to separate
allies by the use of false witness, to stir up insurrection in the enemy’s rear,
and to win over the hostile corn-
188
manders by bribes. The handsome present of 100,000 pieces of
money was offered for the slaying of a king, while even the slayer of a single
foot-soldier might expect to be rewarded with twenty. The acme of political success was
achieved when a king could boast that he was able “to bind the princes with
fetters of cleverness and play with them at his pleasure.”
And now, what is the historical importance, to which I
have more than once alluded, of these revelations? Chiefly this, that the Arthaçastra
is not only related to conditions in India, but that the niti of the
old Indian rulers, as embodied in such treatises, became in course of time a
system coveted and adopted by foreign potentates. It was exported chiefly in the form of
the Beast Fables which, after the decline of Buddhism, became the manuals
par excellence of statecraft for lands outside as well as within the
bounds of the peninsula.
The Beast Fables had already had an exceedingly
interesting history. Originally
they were illustrations of genuine human delight in the dispositions and habits
of animals, with whom companionship in the jungle was easy and familiar. It was natural, too, at this stage, that
interest in the instincts of animals for their own preservation (such as finds
illustration, for example, in the Book of Proverbs) should be taken as
the basis for much primitive morality. In the preaching of the Buddha, however,
another role was assigned to the beast stories. Gautama used them (much as Christ used
the parables) for religious ends, especially for the purpose of linking his
mission with experiences in earlier incarnations. Then, again, as Buddhism waned, the
collections became nitiçastras, instead of fatakas, and such books
as the Pancatantra and the Hitopadeça were compiled not as
sutras, or as literature of entertainment, but for the instruction of
princes in the way they should go. Such instruction was bound to take the
form of inculcating craft and shrewdness rather than the higher human virtues.
A policy of divide et impera
was the inevitable corollary to such stories as that of the two jackals who
broke up the friendship between the lion and the bull. 1 It seemed perfectly
1. See the Pancatantra.
189
natural for a Brahman, like Vishnusharman, when called
upon to instruct the sons of King Sudarsana in the principles of polity, to
start in with the story:
“Sans way or wealth, wise friends their purpose
gain
The Mouse, Crow, Deer and Tortoise make this
plain.”
So it came to pass that lands outside of
The fable literature of
Perhaps it is not altogether fair, as in the implication
of my title, to take Machiavelli and II Principe as an isolatedly
outstanding example of this method. It must be remembered that the great
Florentine wrote much else beside The Prince. Moreover, even within the bound of
190
scientific basis, treating them as having a proper and
distinct value of their own, entirely apart from their moral value” is certainly
in the spirit of Kautilya. The
following quotation from Il Principe might almost have been abstracted
from the Arthaçastra:
It must be evident to everyone that it is more
praiseworthy for a prince always to maintain good faith, and practise integrity
rather than craft and deceit. And
yet the experience of our own times has shown that those princes have achieved
great things who made small account of good faith and who understood by cunning
to circumvent the intelligence of others; and that in the end they got the
better of those whose actions were dictated by loyalty and good faith. You must know, therefore, that there are
two ways of carrying on a contest: the one by law, and the other by force. The first is practiced by men, and the
other by animals; and as the first is often insufficient, it becomes necessary
to resort to the second. A prince,
then, should know how to employ the nature of man and that of the beast as well.
… A prince should be a fox, to know the traps and snares; and a lion to be able
to frighten the wolves: for those who simply hold to the nature of the lion do
not understand their business. A
sagacious prince, then, cannot and should not fulfil his pledges when their
observance is contrary to his interest, and when the causes that induced him to
pledge his faith no longer exist. If men were all good, then indeed this
precept would be bad; but, as men are naturally bad, and will not observe their
faith toward you, you must in the same way not observe yours toward them; and no
prince ever yet lacked legitimate reasons with which to color his want of good
faith.
Nor, of course, was Machiavelli doing anything more than
to express - after the manner of “honest Iago” - the frank belief of the time.
Nearly a century later than the
time of the Florentine, Sir Henry Wotton wrote in the album of Mr. Christopher
Fleckamore the oft-quoted epigram: “Legatus est vir bonus peregre missus ad
mentiendum reipublicae causa.” That statecraft remained “morally
suspect” long after this needs no proving by voluminous quotation. It is sufficient to remind the reader of
Dryden, with his:
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“We never valued right or wrong
But as they serve our cause,”
or his:
“Art thou a statesman,
And canst not be a hypocrite? Impossible.”
Or of Pope, with his:
Statesman, yet friend to truth I”
to illustrate the general drift.
Later still, Metternich, whom some have called the last
representative of the old haute diplomatie, spoke of the “new diplomacy
“, with its tendency to rely upon public opinion, as “a malevolent meteor hurled
by divine providence upon
To what more recent times this age-long preference for
the method of the beast rather than that of a moralized humanity, in matters of
statecraft, may have lingered, our own experience may suggest. Chicane is by no means dead; the slogan,
“Open covenants openly arrived at” is still very much of a phrase, perhaps even
an illusion. “Open diplomacy” must
necessarily be more or less impracticable, so long as the details of a
precarious negotiation are at the mercy of an unscrupulous and partisan
press.
Nevertheless, with the gradual extension of an
international mind, and the coincident acquisition of an international
conscience, the “old Adam” in political theory and procedure must in time be
overcome and expelled. When that
day dawns, we shall not have to consider the Arthaçastra as bearing with
it the reproach of an immoral ideal, too long associated with “the dismal
science “, but shall rather, perhaps with some amusement, treasure it as the
curious survival of a long discredited and discarded
method.
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