om the cradle to the grave.]

BOOK II

_Good Government--Filial Piety--The Superior Man_

Sayings of the Master:--

"Let a ruler base his government upon virtuous principles, and he will
be like the pole-star, which remains steadfast in its place, while all
the host of stars turn towards it.

"The 'Book of Odes' contains three hundred pieces, but one expression
in it may be taken as covering the purport of all, viz., Unswerving
mindfulness.

"To govern simply by statute, and to reduce all to order by means of
pains and penalties, is to render the people evasive, and devoid of
any sense of shame.

"To govern upon principles of virtue, and to reduce them to order by
the Rules of Propriety, would not only create in them the sense of
shame, but would moreover reach them in all their errors.

"When I attained the age of fifteen, I became bent upon study. At
thirty, I was a confirmed student. At forty, nought could move me from
my course. At fifty, I comprehended the will and decrees of Heaven. At
sixty, my ears were attuned to them. At seventy, I could follow my
heart's desires, without overstepping the lines of rectitude."

To a question of Mang-i, as to what filial piety consisted in, the
Master replied, "In not being perverse." Afterwards, when Fan Ch[']i
was driving him, the Master informed him of this question and answer,
and Fan Ch[']i asked, "What was your meaning?" The Master replied, "I
meant that the Rules of Propriety should always be adhered to in
regard to those who brought us into the world: in ministering to them
while living, in burying them when dead, and afterwards in the
offering to them of sacrificial gifts."

To a query of Mang Wu respecting filial piety, the Master replied,
"Parents ought to bear but one trouble--that of their own sickness."

To a like question put by Tsz-yu, his reply was this: "The filial
piety of the present day simply means the being able to support one's
parents--which extends even to the case of dogs and horses, all of
which may have something to give in the way of support. If there be no
reverential feeling in the matter, what is there to distinguish
between the cases?"

To a like question of Tsz-hia, he replied: "The manner is the
difficulty. If, in the case of work to be done, the younger folks
simply take upon themselves the toil of it; or if, in the matter of
meat and drink, they simply set these before their elders--is this to
be taken as filial piety