Sacred Books of the East/Volume 3/The Hsiao/Chapter 13
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Chapter XIII. Amplification of 'the Perfect Virtue' in Chapter I.
The Master said, 'The teaching of filial piety by the superior man[1] does not require that he should go to family after family, and daily see the members of each. His teaching of filial piety is a tribute of reverence to all the fathers under heaven; his teaching of fraternal submission is a tribute of reverence to all the elder brothers under heaven; his teaching of the duty of a subject is a tribute of reverence to all the rulers under heaven.
'It is said in the Book of Poetry[2],"The happy and courteous sovereign
Is the parent of the people."
'If it were not a perfect virtue, how could it be recognised as in accordance with their nature by the people so extensively as this?'
- ↑ The Kün-zze, or 'superior man,' here must be taken of the sovereign. P. Cibot translates it by 'un prince.'
- ↑ See the Shih, III, ii, ode 7, stanza 1. The two lines of the Shih here are, possibly, not an interpolation.