Kauṭilya, answered from the texts and cited to the page.
Begin with what artha is, for the word is wider than coin. The subsistence of mankind is artha; the earth that holds mankind is artha; and the science that treats of acquiring and maintaining that earth is the Arthaśāstra.1 The ground a man stands on and the grain he eats come first, and every other pursuit is carried on from them. That is why the book argues that charity and enjoyment of life depend upon wealth.2
The sacrifice, the gift, the protection of the helpless and the upkeep of every class and order need a treasury. A king whose treasury is ruined keeps no dharma, and a hungry people keeps none either. Nor does the science of government swallow the other sciences. There are four, and the teachers disputed their number. The school of Manu admits three and makes reasoning a branch of the Vedas; the school of Bṛhaspati admits two; the school of Uśanas holds that government alone is the science.
I hold four, and only four, because from these alone is learnt all that concerns righteousness and wealth.3 The triple Vedas teach what is righteous and unrighteous, trade and husbandry teach what is wealth and what is not, and the science of government teaches what is expedient and inexpedient, what is strength and what is weakness.3 Reasoning stands over them all, keeps the mind steady in weal and woe alike, and bestows excellence of foresight, speech and action.3
Government is the one on which the others depend. The rod, daṇḍa, is the sceptre on which the well-being of reasoning, the Vedas and husbandry rests, and daṇḍanīti is the means to make acquisitions, keep them secure, improve them, and distribute the profits among the deserved.4 So dharma has no safe footing unless someone holds the rod. Without a magistrate the strong swallow the weak, as the proverb of the fishes has it.5
Under his protection the weak resist the strong, and the people of four castes and four orders keep each to their own paths and duties.6 Does the king then answer to success alone? No. I give the duties common to all, harmlessness, truthfulness, purity, freedom from spite, abstinence from cruelty and forgiveness, as the ground the whole people stands on.7
The observance of one's own duty leads to heaven and bliss, and when it is violated the world comes to an end through confusion of castes and duties. Hence the king shall never allow people to swerve from their duties.7 He is the keeper of dharma, and he can keep it because he holds the means. His own measure is stricter than success. The king's religious vow is readiness to action, the discharge of his duties is his sacrifice, and equal attention to all is his consecration.8
In the happiness of his subjects lies his happiness. Whatever pleases himself he shall not consider good; what pleases his subjects he shall.8 A king who makes himself inaccessible and leaves his work to officers breeds confusion and public disaffection, and becomes a prey to his enemies.8 Wealth alone is chief because the other two ends depend on it for their realisation.
It is no ruler's licence to put his own success above the duties of the classes. Success of that kind is lost within a reign.
Of the three ends of life, dharma, artha and kāma, artha is chief, because the other two depend on it for their realisation; the king enjoys all three in equal degree, since any one pursued to excess hurts the other two and itself. The science of government is one of four sciences, and the other three depend on it for their well-being; reasoning, ānvīkṣikī, examines them all. The king keeps each class and order to its own duty, and by his rule dharma survives in the world.9101112
that science which treats of the means of acquiring and maintaining the earth is the Arthasastra, Science of Polity.Arthasastra
For charity and enjoyment of life depend upon wealth.Arthasastra
Righteous and unrighteous acts (Dharmadharmau) are learnt from the triple Vedas; wealth and non-wealth from Varta the expedient and the inexpedient (Nayanayau), as well as potency and impotency (Balabale) from the science of government.Arthasastra
It is a means to make acquisitions, to keep them secure, to improve them, and to distribute among the deserved the profits of improvement.Arthasastra
in the absence of a magistrate (danadharabhave), the strong will swallow the weak; but under his protection the weak resist the strong.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
Hence the king shall never allow people to swerve from their duties; for whoever upholds his own duty, ever adhering to the customs of the Aryas, and the following rules of caste and divisions of religious life, will surely be happy both here and hereafter.Arthasastra
Of a king, the religious vow is his readiness to action; satisfactory discharge of duties is his performance of sacrifice; equal attention to all is the offer of fees and ablution towards consecration.Arthasastra
Ravana, unwilling under the influence of vanity to restore a stranger's wife, as well as Duryodhana' to part with a portion of his kingdom; Dambhodbhava as well as Arjuna of Haihaya dynasty being so haughty as to despise all people. Vatapi, in his attempt under the influence of overjoy to attack Agastya, as well as the corporation of the Vrishnis in their attempt against Dvaipayana.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
Light' to all kinds of knowledge, easy means to accomplish all kinds of acts and receptacle of all kinds of virtues, is the Science of Anvishaki ever held to be.Arthasastra
The sentence that made modern readers call the book amoral, and the point where its realism meets its brahmanical passages; McClish reads the two as layers of the text.