False Friendship
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pakainaṭpāṅ kālam varuṅkāṉ mukanaṭ / ṭakanaṭ porīi viṭal.
When a time comes in which enemies act as friends, meet them with outward friendship while withholding inward trust, and afterward let that posture go.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“When time shall come that foes as friends appear, / Then thou, to hide a hostile heart, a smiling face may'st wear.”
“When thou canst not yet break openly with thy foe, feign friendship to his face but keep him off from thy heart.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
பகை நட்பாம் காலம் வருங்கால்= தம்பகைவர் தமக்கு நட்டாராய் ஒழுகுங்காலம் வந்தால்; முகம் நட்டு அகம் நட்பு ஒரீஇ விடல்= தாமும் அவரோடு முகத்தால் நட்புச்செய்து, அகத்தால் அதனைவிட்டுப் பின் அதுவும் தவிர்க.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar explains that when enemies come to behave as friends, one may meet them with friendship in the face while remaining inwardly separate from that friendship; afterward, when the occasion passes, even that outward posture should be left behind.
This verse is in tension
AI draft · pending scholar review