Dhammapada verse 323
Chapter 23, Elephants (Nāgavagga) · verses 320–333
“For not on those mounts would you go to the untrodden place, whereas, with the help of one <j>whose self is well tamed, you go there, tamed by the tamed.”
Na hi etehi yānehi, gaccheyya agataṁ disaṁ; Yathāttanā sudantena, danto dantena gacchati.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 323 mean?
Verse 323 belongs to chapter 23, Elephants (Nāgavagga), which gathers verses 320–333 on the elephant, and companionship. It is filed under no theme. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 322 and verse 324 are part of the same passage.
Fourteen verses that use the elephant as their figure — the elephant in battle, the untamed elephant, the elephant that carries its own load. It is also the chapter about companionship: it contains the verses on finding an alert friend to travel with and on walking alone when no such friend can be found.