Kauṭilya, answered from the texts and cited to the page.
The rod is the only thing that stands there; but whether it protects depends on how it is lifted. My teacher holds that whoever wants the world to progress must keep the sceptre ever raised, since no better instrument exists to bring people under control.1 I say No. Whoever imposes severe punishment becomes repulsive to the people, whoever awards mild punishment becomes contemptible, and whoever punishes as deserved becomes respectable.1
The rod protects only when the measure is kept. Awarded with due consideration, it makes the people devoted to righteousness and to works productive of wealth and enjoyment; ill-awarded through greed, anger or ignorance, it excites fury even among hermits and ascetics in the forests, not to speak of householders.1 A rod lifted without measure is itself a form of the strong preying on the weak.
Now the alternative. Let the law of punishment lie in abeyance and you have the proverb of the fishes: in the absence of a magistrate the strong swallow the weak, but under his protection the weak resist the strong.2 Note what this says. The weak do not become strong; they are given something to stand on when they resist. No gentleness of temper in the powerful supplies it, and no sermon.
Still, the rod does not work alone. Harmlessness, truthfulness, purity, freedom from spite, abstinence from cruelty and forgiveness are duties common to all.3 But these are duties; the strong man who neglects them is not prevented by them. And the order I describe rests on the king's keeping the four castes and four orders of life to their own duties: governed by the king with his sceptre, the people keep to their respective paths, devoted to their duties and occupations.4
So the rod is the guard, and the observance of duty is what the guard preserves. When the rod is slack, duty swerves; when duty swerves, the strong take what they please. Hence it is neither the mild hand nor the heavy one that holds the fishes in check, but the hand that punishes as deserved.
Daṇḍa, the rod, is both the instrument and the name of the science of government: a means to make acquisitions, keep them secure, improve them and distribute the profits. Without it the law of the fishes rules and the strong swallow the weak; under the magistrate the weak resist the strong.5 It must be awarded as deserved: severe punishment makes the king hated, mild punishment contemptible, deserved punishment respected. Kings were made by a people tired of the fishes, and they are paid for protection.6
No," says Kauṭilya; for whoever imposes severe punishment becomes repulsive to the people; while he who awards mild punishment becomes contemptible. But whoever imposes punishment as deserved becomes respectable.Arthasastra
in the absence of a magistrate (danadharabhave), the strong will swallow the weak; but under his protection the weak resist the strong.Arthasastra
Harmlessness, truthfulness, purity, freedom from spite, abstinence from cruelty, and forgiveness are duties common to all.Arthasastra
This people (loka), consisting of four castes and four orders of religious life, when governed by the king with his sceptre, will keep to their respective paths, ever devotedly adhering to their respective duties and occupations.Arthasastra
But when the law of punishment is kept in abeyance, it gives rise to such disorder as is implied in the proverb of fishes (mstsyanyayamudbhavayati) for in the absence of a magistrate (danadharabhave), the strong will swallow the weak; but under his protection the weak resist the strong.Arthasastra
Harmlessness, truthfulness, purity, freedom from spite, abstinence from cruelty, and forgiveness are duties common to all. The observance of one's own duty leads one to Svarga and infinite bliss (Anantya). When it is violated, the world will come to an end owing to confusion of castes and duties.Arthasastra
The foundation of the whole treatise and its most reasonable-sounding doctrine; the same science prescribes torture to elicit confession, mutilation and death.