401. i.e., yield with ease.
402. Grammatically, the last line may mean,—'The very robbers dread a king destitute of compassion.'
403. Their wives and children ought to be saved, and their habitations and wearing apparel and domestic utensils, etc., should not be destroyed.
404. i.e., 'he that has wealth and forces.'
405. The sense seems to be that a poor man can have only a little of all earthly things. That little, however, is like the remnant of a strong man's dinner.
406. It is always reproachful to accept gifts from persons of questionable character.
407. The king should similarly, by punishing the wicked, cherish the good.
408. The sense seems to be that sacrifice proceeds more from an internal desire than from a large sum of money lying in the treasury. If the desire exists, money comes gradually for accomplishing it. The force of the simile consists in the fact that ants (probably white ants) are seen to gather and multiply from no ostensible cause.
409. The meaning is that as regards good men, they become friends in no time. By taking only seven steps in a walk together, two such men become friends.
410. Virtue prolongs life, and sin and wickedness always shorten it. This is laid down almost everywhere in the Hindu scriptures.