'The ancient kings, seeing how their teachings[1] could transform the people, set before them therefore an example of the most extended love, and none of the people neglected their parents; they set forth to them (the nature of) virtue and righteousness, and the people roused themselves to the practice of them; they went before them with reverence and yielding courtesy, and the people had no contentions; they led them on by the rules of propriety and by music, and the people were harmonious and benignant; they showed them what they loved and what they disliked, and the people understood their prohibitions.
'It is said in the Book of Poetry[2],
"Awe-inspiring are you, O Grand-Master Yin,
And the people all look up to you."'
Chapter VIII. Filial Piety in Government.
The Master said, 'Anciently, when the intelligent kings by means of filial piety ruled all under heaven, they did not dare to receive with disrespect the ministers of small states;—how much less would they do so to the dukes, marquises, counts, and barons!' Thus it was that they got (the princes of) the myriad states with joyful hearts (to assist them) in the (sacrificial) services to their royal predecessors[3].
- ↑ Sze-mâ Kwang changes the character for 'teachings' here into that for 'filial piety.' There is no external evidence for such a reading; and the texture of the whole treatise is so loose that we cannot insist on internal evidence.
- ↑ See the Shih, II, iv, ode 7, stanza 1.
- ↑ Under the Kâu dynasty there were five orders of nobility, and the states belonging to their rulers varied proportionally in size.
