They declare that king to be a just inflicter of punishment, who is truthful, who acts after due consideration, who is wise, and who knows (the respective value of) virtue, pleasure, and wealth.
तं राजा प्रणयन् सम्यक् त्रिवर्गेणाभिवर्धते । कामात्मा विषमः क्षुद्रो दण्डेनैव निहन्यते ॥ २७ ॥
A king who properly inflicts (punishment), prospers with respect to (those) three (means of happiness); but he who is voluptuous, partial, and deceitful will be destroyed, even through the (unjust) punishment (which he inflicts).
दण्डो हि सुमहत्तेजो दुर्धरश्चाकृतात्मभिः । धर्माद् विचलितं हन्ति नृपमेव सबान्धवम् ॥ २८ ॥
Punishment (possesses) a very bright lustre, and is hard to be administered by men with unimproved minds; it strikes down the king who swerves from his duty, together with his relatives.
ततो दुर्गं च राष्ट्रं च लोकं च सचराचरम् । अन्तरिक्षगतांश्चैव मुनीन् देवांश्च पीडयेत् ॥ २९ ॥
Next it will afflict his castles, his territories, the whole world together with the movable and immovable (creation), likewise the sages and the gods, who (on the failure of offerings) ascend to the sky.
सोऽसहायेन मूढेन लुब्धेनाकृतबुद्धिना । न शक्यो न्यायतो नेतुं सक्तेन विषयेषु च ॥ ३० ॥
(Punishment) cannot be inflicted justly by one who has no assistant, (nor) by a fool, (nor) by a covetous man, (nor) by one whose mind is unimproved, (nor) by one addicted to sensual pleasures.