Assessing Enmity
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uyirppa vuḷarallar maṉṟa ceyirppavar / cemmal citaikkalā tār.
Those rulers who fail, when able, to break the pride of active enemies certainly will not remain alive even for the measure of a breath.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“But breathe upon them, and they surely die, / Who fail to tame the pride of angry enemy.”
“Verily they shall not last long, those who humble not the pride of men who defy them.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
செயிர்ப்பவர் செம்மல் சிதைக்கலாதார்= தம்மொடு பகைப்பாரது தருக்கினைக் கெடுக்கலாயிருக்க இகழ்ச்சியான் அது செய்யாத அரசர்; உயிர்ப்ப உளரல்லர் மன்ற= பின் உயிர்க்கு மாத்திரத்திற்கும் உளரல்லர் ஒருதலையாக.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar gives the line its full severity: rulers who, although able, contemptuously fail to destroy the arrogant power of those waging enmity against them will afterward not remain alive even for the measure of a breath. This is ancient royal-war rhetoric, not an empirical prediction of immediate death. A humane modern analogy warns that when a responsible leader can lawfully contain verified active harm but neglects to do so, the institution the role should protect can become functionally lifeless.