Sacred Books of the East/Volume 3/The Hsiao/Chapter 5

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Sacred Books of the East, Vol. III, The Hsiâo King
translated by James Legge

Chapter V: Filial Piety in Inferior Officers

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3757742Sacred Books of the East, Vol. III, The Hsiâo King — Chapter V: Filial Piety in Inferior OfficersJames Legge

Chapter V. Filial Piety in Inferior Officers.

As they serve their fathers, so they serve their mothers, and they love them equally. As they serve their fathers, so they serve their rulers, and they reverence them equally. Hence love is what is chiefly rendered to the mother, and reverence is what is chiefly rendered to the ruler, while both of these things are given to the father. Therefore when they serve their ruler with filial piety they are loyal; when they serve their superiors with reverence they are obedient. Not failing in this loyalty and obedience in serving those above them, they are then able to preserve their emoluments and positions, and to maintain their sacrifices^[1]:—this is the filial piety of inferior officers^[2].

It is said in the Book of Poetry^[3],

'Rising early and going to sleep late,
Do not disgrace those who gave you birth.'

↑ These officers had their 'positions' or places, and their pay. They had also their sacrifices, but such as were private or personal to themselves, so that we have not much information about them.
↑ The Chinese Repository has here, 'Such is the influence of filial duty when performed by scholars;' and P. Cibot, 'Voilà sommairement ce qui caractérise la Piété Filiale du Lettré.' But to use the term 'scholar' here is to translate from the standpoint of modern China, and not from that of the time of Confucius. The Shih of feudal China were the younger sons of the higher classes, and men that by their ability were rising out of the lower, and who were all in inferior situations, and looking forward to offices of trust in the service of the royal court, or of their several states. Below the 'great officers' of ch. 4, three classes of Shih—the highest, middle, lowest—were recognised, all intended in this chapter. When the feudal system had passed away, the class of 'scholars' gradually took their place. Shih (士) is one of the oldest characters in Chinese, but the idea expressed in its formation is not known. Confucius is quoted in the Shwo Wăn as making it to be from the characters for one (一) and ten (十). A very old definition of it is—'The denomination of one entrusted with affairs.'
↑ See the Shih, II, iii, ode 2, stanza 6.

[1] These officers had their 'positions' or places, and their pay. They had also their sacrifices, but such as were private or personal to themselves, so that we have not much information about them.

[2] The Chinese Repository has here, 'Such is the influence of filial duty when performed by scholars;' and P. Cibot, 'Voilà sommairement ce qui caractérise la Piété Filiale du Lettré.' But to use the term 'scholar' here is to translate from the standpoint of modern China, and not from that of the time of Confucius. The Shih of feudal China were the younger sons of the higher classes, and men that by their ability were rising out of the lower, and who were all in inferior situations, and looking forward to offices of trust in the service of the royal court, or of their several states. Below the 'great officers' of ch. 4, three classes of Shih—the highest, middle, lowest—were recognised, all intended in this chapter. When the feudal system had passed away, the class of 'scholars' gradually took their place. Shih (士) is one of the oldest characters in Chinese, but the idea expressed in its formation is not known. Confucius is quoted in the Shwo Wăn as making it to be from the characters for one (一) and ten (十). A very old definition of it is—'The denomination of one entrusted with affairs.'

[3] See the Shih, II, iii, ode 2, stanza 6.

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