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Part I: On Virtue

Section I: Prologue

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Chapter 52: Testing and Employing Men

Verse 513
Here we see four different situations that indicate how trustworthy a man is. He is helping an injured boy who has fallen from a mango tree; he is settling a dispute that threatens to erupt in violence; he stands firm though he has been attacked by a thief and he is sending a businessman away who has offered him a bribe.

TAKA Presents the Tirukural

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Weaver's Wisdom

Verse 511

Employ men who discern the good and the bad
in every situation and naturally choose the good.

Verse 512

Let him do the work who can increase profits,
spread prosperity and search out problems.

Verse 513

He alone is trustworthy who fully possesses these four:
kindness, intelligence, assurance and freedom from greed.

Verse 514

Though tested fully in simulated settings,
many men function differently under working conditions.

Verse 515

Work should be entrusted to men based on their knowledge
and diligence and not merely on bonds of affection.

Verse 516

Consider the work, choose the workman,
calculate the timing with care, then commence.

Verse 517

Having decided, "This man is qualified to do this
work in this way," leave him alone to perform it.

Verse 518

After ascertaining what work befits a man,
assign him to a fitting function.

Verse 519

Wealth withdraws from the man who refuses to acknowledge
the informal friendliness his workers wish to share with him.

Verse 520

The king should scrutinize his staff's conduct daily.
If they do not go astray, the world will not go astray.