[363] Even but once, great king,² there is a meeting with the good;
that association protects him; much company with the bad does not.
One should associate only with the good; with the good one should form intimacy;
having come to know the true Dhamma (saddhamma) of the good, one becomes better, not worse.
Royal chariots, brightly adorned, do indeed wear out,
and the body too comes to old age;
but the Dhamma of the good does not come to old age—
so indeed the good proclaim along with the good.
The sky is far, and the earth is far;
the far shore of the ocean, they say, is far;
farther than that indeed, they say, O king,
are the Dhamma of the good and that of the bad.
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¹ Sī. (Sinhalese ed.) and Yu. (European ed.) read "vipateyya" — the marker for this note falls in the text preceding this item.
² Sī. and Yu. read "Sutasoma" in place of "mahārāja" ("great king").
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.