Brahmans, and he avoided favouritism amongst his friends. In war
he never slew a suppliant, a spectator, a person asleep or
undressed, or anyone that showed fear. Whatever country he
conquered, offerings were presented to its gods, and effects and
money were given to the reverends. But what benefited him most
was his attention to the creature comforts of the nine Gems of
Science: those eminent men ate and drank themselves into fits of
enthusiasm, and ended by immortalizing their patron's name.

Become Vikram the Great he established his court at a delightful
and beautiful location rich in the best of water. The country was
difficult of access, and artificially made incapable of supporting a
host of invaders, but four great roads met near the city. The capital
was surrounded with durable ramparts, having gates of defence,
and near it was a mountain fortress, under the especial charge of a
great captain.

The metropolis was well garrisoned and provisioned, and it
surrounded the royal palace, a noble building without as well as
within. Grandeur seemed embodied there, and Prosperity had made
it her own. The nearer ground, viewed from the terraces and
pleasure pavilions, was a lovely mingling of rock and mountain,
plain and valley, field and fallow, crystal lake and glittering
stream. The banks of the winding Lavana were fringed with meads
whose herbage, pearly with morning dew, afforded choicest
grazing for the sacred cow, and were dotted with perfumed clumps
of Bo-trees, tamarinds, and holy figs: in one place Vikram planted
100,000 in a single orchard and gave them to his spiritual advisers.
The river valley separated the stream from a belt of forest growth
which extended to a hill range, dark with impervious jungle, and