Right for rulers is not what is right in the eyes of the people. The people thrive by comradeship: but for a king, equals are enemies. They are obstacles ahead, they are terrors from behind. There is no place for brothers or friends in a king's polity; its one solid foundation is conquest. DHRITARASHTRA I refuse to call a conquest what was won by fraud in gambling. DURYODHANA A man is not shamed by refusing to challenge a tiger on equal terms with teeth and nails. Our weapons are those proper for success, not for suicide. Father, I am proud of the result and disdain regret for the means. DHRITARASHTRA But justice---- DURYODHANA Fools alone dream of justice--success is not yet theirs: but those born to rule rely on power, merciless and unhampered with scruples. DHRITARASHTRA Your success will bring down on you a loud and angry flood of detraction. DURYODHANA The people will take amazingly little time to learn that Duryodhana is king and has power to crush calumny under foot. DHRITARASHTRA Calumny dies of weariness dancing on tongue-tips. Do not drive it into the heart to gather strength. DURYODHANA Unuttered defamation does not touch a king's dignity. I care not if love is refused us, but insolence shall not be borne. Love depends upon the will of the giver, and the poorest of the poor can indulge in such generosity. Let them squander it on their pet cats, tame dogs, and our good cousins the Pandavas. I shall never envy them. Fear is the tribute I claim for my royal throne. Father, only too leniently you lent your ear to those who slandered your sons: but if you intend still to allow those pious friends of yours to revel in shrill denunciation at the expense of your children, let us exchange our kingdom for the exile of our cousins, and go to the wilderness, where happily friends are never cheap! DHRITARASHTRA Could the pious warnings of my friends lessen my love for my sons, then we might be saved. But I have dipped my hands in the mire of your infamy and lost my sense of goodness. For your sakes I have heedlessly set fire to the ancient forest of our royal lineage--so dire is my love. Clasped breast to breast, we, like a double meteor, are blindly plunging into ruin. Therefore doubt not my love; relax not your embrace till the brink of annihilation be reached. Beat your drums of victory, lift your banner of triumph. In this mad riot of exultant evil, brothers and friends will disperse till nothing remain save the doomed father, the doomed son and God's curse. _Enter an Attendant_ Sire, Queen Gandhari asks for audience. DHRITARASHTRA I await her. DURYODHANA Let me take my leave. [_Exit._ DHRITARASHTRA Fly! For you cannot bear the fire of your mother's presence. _Enter_ QUEEN GANDHARI, _the mother of_ DURYODHANA GANDHARI At your feet I crave a boon. DHRITARASHTRA Speak, your wish is fulfilled. GANDHARI The time has come to renounce him. DHRITARASHTRA Whom, my queen? GANDHARI Duryodhana!