[206] When this was said, brahmin, the brahmin high priest said this to King Mahāvijita: "The realm of the honorable king is beset with thorns and beset with oppression. Raids on villages are seen, raids on towns are seen, raids on cities are seen, and brigandage on the highways is seen. Now, if the honorable king were to levy a tax (baliṃ uddhareyya) while the realm is thus beset with thorns and beset with oppression, by doing so the honorable king would be doing what ought not to be done. Now, it might occur to the honorable king: 'I shall eradicate this plague of brigands by execution, or by imprisonment, or by confiscation, or by censure, or by banishment.' But that is not the right eradication of this plague of brigands; for those who remain after the slaughter will afterwards harass the king's realm. Rather, it is by relying on the following arrangement that this plague of brigands will be rightly eradicated. Therefore let the honorable king grant seed and food to those in the honorable king's realm who exert themselves in agriculture and cattle-keeping; let the honorable king grant capital to those in the honorable king's realm who exert themselves in trade; let the honorable king assign food and wages to those in the honorable king's realm who exert themselves in the king's service. Then those very people, being devoted to their own work, will not harass the king's realm; and great will be the king's accumulation of revenue. The realm, established in security, free of thorns and free of oppression, and the people, glad and rejoicing, dancing their children on their breasts, will dwell, one would think, with their houses left open."
Brahmin, King Mahāvijita, saying "So be it," assented to the brahmin high priest; and to those in the king's realm who exerted themselves in agriculture and cattle-keeping King Mahāvijita granted seed and food; to those in the king's realm who exerted themselves in trade King Mahāvijita granted capital; and to those in the king's realm who exerted themselves in the king's service King Mahāvijita assigned food and wages. Then those very people, being devoted to their own work, did not harass the king's realm; and great was the king's accumulation of revenue. The realm, established in security, free of thorns and free of oppression, and the people, glad and rejoicing, dancing their children on their breasts, dwelt, one would think, with their houses left open.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.