the great ministers revolt, and smaller ones begin pilfering. Punishments (then) are made severe, and manners deteriorate. Thus the laws become irregular, and the rules of ceremony uncertain. When these are uncertain, officers do not perform their duties; and when punishments become severe, and manners deteriorate, the people do not turn (to what is right). We have that condition which may be described as "an infirm state."
12. In this way government is the means by which the ruler keeps and protects his person, and therefore it must have a fundamental connection with Heaven. This uses a variety of ways in sending down the intimations of Its will. As learned from the altars of the land, these are (receptivity and docility) imparted to the earth. As learned from the ancestral temple, they are benevolence and righteousness. As learned from the altars of the hills and streams, they are movement and activity. As learned from the five sacrifices of the house, they are the statutes (of their various spirits). It is in this way that the sage rulers made provision for the safe keeping of
their persons[1].
- ↑ On this paragraph M. Callery has the following note:—"Trés difficile à comprendre dans nos idées, ce passage ofFre un sens tout simple et naturel aux Chinois, dont la bizarre métaphysique va chercher dans la nature une analogie essentielle entre les accidents divers des êtres, et les phénomènes rationnels ou psychologiques. Ainsi, suivant les philosophes Chinois, tant anciens que modernes, la société présente des indgalités dans ses classes d'individus, comme la terre présente à sa surface des montagnes et des vallées; telle loi provoque l'action et le mouvement, comme les rivières pleines de poissons et les montagnes couvertes de forêts sont des foyers de vie et de développement; telle autre loi
