Note 127 — Chapter II
David Shea translation
Manu (ibid., ch. VIII. sl. 304-305) determines the recompense or punishment of good or bad kings as follows: “A sixth part of the reward for virtuous deeds, performed by the whole people, belongs to the king who protects them; but, if he protect them not, a sixth part of their iniquity lights on him.” The legislator redoubles the amount of punishment to a bad king in a subsequent sloka (308): “That king who gives no protection, yet takes a sixth part of the grain as his revenue, wise men have considered as a prince who draws to him the foulness of his people.”