Virtue’s eternal law is this (Mahābh. xii. 5997).
Gentleness and forbearance towards good and bad alike are thus recommended in the Hitopadeça:—
Even to beings destitute
Of virtue good men pity show:
The moon does not her light withdraw
Even from the pariah’s abode (i. 63).
The Panchatantra, again, dissuades thus from thoughts of revenge:—
Devise no ill at any time
To injure those that do thee harm:
They of themselves will some day fall,