Tirukural

CHAPTER 69

Ambassadors

681

Kindliness, high birth and a nature congenial to kings comprise the innate disposition of an ambassador.§

682

Kindliness, knowingness and deliberateness of speech are three necessities a diplomat finds indispensable.§

683

An envoy sent to announce to lance-bearing monarchs his own king’s imminent victory must be a pandit among pandits.§

684

Send him on mission who possesses three attractive traits: well-winnowed wisdom, modest dignity and ample learning.§

685

Whatever good an ambassador procures derives from succinct speech, cheerful conversation and avoidance of argument.§

686

An envoy is educated, eloquently persuasive, unafraid of the fiercest stare and knows what befits the moment.§

687

He is unsurpassed who knows duty and place, judges the suitable time and thinks before he speaks.§

688

Integrity, influence and intrepidity—these three and truthfulness are qualities of one who faithfully delivers his monarch’s message.§

689

Commission him to deliver the monarch’s mandates who has a steady gaze and never blurts out flawed words.§

690

An ambassador fearlessly extends his king’s glory, though he might thereby expend his own life.§