[A]ppoint an ambassador who is versed in all sciences, who understands hints, expressions of the face and gestures. . . . The army depends on the official placed in charge of it . . . peace and its opposite, war, on the ambassador. For the ambassador alone makes and separates allies; the ambassador transacts that business by which kings are disunited or not. —THE MANUSMRITI, HINDU SCRIPTURE, CA. 1000 BCE
